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Edited by
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Charlotte Batson
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Project and Location News
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Evergreen Solar Files for Bankruptcy (Chapter 11)
After receiving hundreds of millions of MA state incentive funds, Evergreen Solar has just announced plans to file for bankruptcy, citing "massive overcapacity" in manufacturing solar PV, with increased competition from China. Taimerica first reported on this company in January (see here) when they announced the closure of their MA facility and loss of 800 jobs. Top creditors include MassDevelopment, the Massachusetts economic development organization. Click here to find out who could be next! Read the entire article. Read more here. |
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Event News New Webinars!!
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What's the Future of Alternative Energy Projects in a Budget-cutting World? (Webinar for Economic Developers) Sept. 13, 2011 10 am CDT
In response to lower revenues in this difficult economy, budgets across the country are being cut. Every public entity from Congress to the smallest municipality is going through their budgets with a fine-tooth comb, cutting everything that can be cut. Despite the emphasis on developing alternative energy sources, those programs are not immune. And Evergreen Solar proves that not every company is a viable investment for your public funds. And yet, Alternative Energy sources are with us to stay, due to Renewable Portfolio Standards in many states. So what does this mean for the AE project(s) in your community? For the industry in general? For more information, click here, email Charlotte, or call 985-626-9868.
Click here for more information or to register.Myths and Realities of Shale Oil and Gas for Economic Developers (Webinar) Sept. 27, 2011 10 am CDTThe phenomenon of Shale Oil and Shale Gas has been receiving a lot of press coverage lately, with mixed messages. On the one hand, it seems to have "come out of nowhere" recently and proponents claiming it's the solution to our nation's energy problems, a plentiful, inexpensive, domestic source of energy that can help North America reduce carbon emissions. On the other hand, detractors maintain that the process to extract it from the ground, called hydraulic fracturing, will destroy the environment and our groundwater resources, cause earthquakes, and harm our quality of life in a number of ways. We will separate the hype from reality in this 1.5 hour webinar, with the information that Economic Developers and others in the community need to know to prepare for the phenomenon. For more information, click here, email Charlotte, or call 985-626-9868.Click here for more information or to register. |
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More Project and Location News
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First Cellulosic Ethanol Project Receives Loan Guarantee
DOE has finally made its first conditional commitment for a loan guarantee for a cellulosic ethanol project. On July 7, the agency announced it is offering a conditional commitment for a $105 million loan guarantee to Poet LLC for the development of its 25 MMgy corn cob-to-ethanol facility, dubbed Project Liberty, at Emmetsberg, Iowa. Construction of the facility, which will be co-located with Poet's 57 MMgy corn-based facility in Emmetsberg, is expected to begin in August, according to the DOE, and production is slated to begin in May 2013. Read the entire article. |
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Policy Update
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Carbon Capture Expansion Project Cancelled Due to Policy Environment
AEP has decided not to proceed with plans to expand CO2 capture and storage technology (CCS) efforts at its Mountaineer power plant in West Virginia, citing the "current uncertain status of US climate policy". The project at Mountaineer had captured as much as 5.5 metric tons of CO2 per hour (1.5% of its emissions) and pumped it more than 2,000 meters deep for storage in porous rock. All told, the demonstration phase of the project sequestered 37,000 metric tons of CO2 since 2009, according to AEP. Read the entire article. |
| Market Trends | |
Automakers Hope to Develop Used Battery Market
At $10,000 each, electric car batteries are too expensive to throw out or recycle into scrap materials. However, even after a decade of use, they could still be valuable for other uses. Nissan and GM have both recently announced ways they might make some money from reusing and recycling them.
Read the entire article.
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| Technology Update | |
Food Waste and Manure Generates Biogas
Barham Farms recently began construction of a digester to process 90 to 140 tons/day of food waste from area grocery stores, including a Walmart, with manure from about 4,000 hogs, and the digester is scheduled to start up this fall. The food will be blended with crop waste from the greenhouses, ground and directed to a 750,000-gallon complete mix high temperature anaerobic digester designed and supplied by Brinson Farms LLC in Prentiss, Mississippi. Biogas from the Brinson digester will be used to produce energy for the greenhouse operation. He said an agreement with Walmart to provide food waste has been essential to digesting and composting projects it is involved with in Mississippi.
Read the entire article (scroll down).
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| Workforce Trends |
New Resource Available for Educational MaterialsThe National Training & Education Resource (NTER) is an open source platform that serves learners by allowing them to acquire new skills at a time, place and pace that is convenient to them. Additionally, it serves instructors by providing a full range of instructional tools and an easy-to-use system for finding, creating, and modifying content. NTER is designed to revolutionize how online training and education is delivered.
Learn more here.
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