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Building Turbines' New Partner ATG-LED, Announces Sale of Approximately $250,000 to Physicians Center Project, in Houston, TX
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=55938666&symbol=BLDW
Low floater, moves with ease.
Share Structure
Market Value1 $6,198,962 a/o Jan 18, 2013
Shares Outstanding 182,322,416 a/o Sep 30, 2012
Float 10,382,824 a/o Jun 30, 2011
Authorized Shares 500,000,000 a/o Sep 30, 2012
Par Value 0.001
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/BLDW/company-info
only a brainwashed fool would disagree with any of that.
Greengate gets green light to build Halkirk wind farm
By Richard Froese - Stettler Independent
Published: February 10, 2010 10:00 AM
Updated: February 10, 2010 10:43 AM
Halkirk-Castor will have Alberta’s largest wind energy farm in about one year, following the approval of the Greengate Power Corporation project by the Alberta Utilities Commission.
Greengate expects to begin to construct the $350 million project later this year, with a target commercial date of spring 2011.
“We are very pleased to receive AUC approval for what will be the largest wind energy project in Alberta,” said Dan Balaban, president and chief executive officer of Greengate, a privately-held renewable energy project developer based in Calgary.
“The AUC was satisfied that approval of this project is in the public interest and that the project complies with all regulatory requirements.”
When completed, the wind farm will supply a clean source of electricity for approximately 50,000 homes, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 300,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to removing 60,000 cars from Alberta’s roads.
Greengate plans to plant 100 wind turbines 80 metres tall on 20,000 acres construction is expected to take nine to 12 months.
Each turbine would have a rotor with a diameter of 77 meters.
Under the proposal, turbines would be located between Halkirk and Castor on four areas:
• Sections 34 and35, Township 37, Range 15, west of the 4th meridian.
• Sections 1 to 30 and 32 to 36, Township 38, Range 15, west of the 4th meridian.
• Section 3, Township 39, Range 15, west of the 4th meridian.
• Sections 5 to 7 and 15 to 20, Township 38, Range 14, west of the 4th meridian.
The project is divided into two 150MW phases.
Located in a wind swept area of Alberta consisting of flat cultivated land and grazing land, initial Microscale Modelling indicates a very good wind resource of approximately 7.5 m/s.
The project is 10 kilometers from a 240kv transmission line with available capacity.
Halkirk wind project will provide substantial economic benefits to the County of Paintearth and east central Alberta with new jobs, increased tax revenues and royalties to landowners.
Once the project is operating, landowners with turbines would benefit economically, with each turbine requiring about two acres for siting and accesses, he said.
Property owners would get compensation for their land out of use, and they would get royalties based on the amount of money the project generates.
Greengate initially filled an application with the AUC for the project in February 2009.
Since then, the AUC conducted an extensive review of the project’s participant-involvement program, environmental impact assessment, potential visual and noise impacts, proposed gathering system routing, potential impacts on pipelines and other pre-requisite project approvals.
Winds of change in green power
Electricity from pressurized gas could do away with power lines, firm says
By Dave Cooper, Edmonton Journal
When the wind blows power flows, but what if electricity could still flow when the air is still?
Storing energy has long been a dream of wind-energy producers hoping to supply a consistent source of green power to the electrical grid -- without using expensive batteries.
A Nisku firm thinks it has the answer, a revolutionary concept that could change the face of energy distribution.
Lancaster Wind Systems says by turning wind energy into hydraulic power, inert nitrogen gas can be compressed in thousands of kilometres of unused pipelines across North America -- creating a sort of giant pressure tank.
Wind turbines would add pressure to the network, and small electricity-creating turbines tied into the system would draw off that pressure, producing power in a closed-loop system right where the electricity is needed.
"You might have 200 generators in a major city, each in the 1.5-megawatt to four-megawatt range. And since the nitrogen is returned to the pipeline, there are no emissions," said Dave McConnell, president and CEO of Lancaster.
He thinks electricity transmission lines will one day be a memory, with the continent's energy moving around as pressurized gas. The project has attracted funding from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada fund, and also raised millions from private investors.
With 18 patents already filed and more on the way, Lancaster has a working one-megawatt wind turbine producing hydraulic power, and plans to open a pilot project this summer in which 42 minutes of energy will be stored in a short pipeline section. A major pipeline company is supplying the material.
A wind turbine today is basically blades turning a shaft in a generator unit that creates electricity, with all the heavy equipment at the top of a strong mast.
Lancaster has turned that around. Its unit acts more like a windmill, with a lighter mast supporting the blades and hydraulic tubing, and the heavy equipment on the ground.
Currently the research focus is on details of transferring the energy to storage.
"That is where we are at, the mechanism of transferring this energy into a vessel. We can't talk about it, except that when the fluid comes down it is under pressure," said Arnie Barr, a field supervisor.
McConnell points out there is no hydraulic fluid in the storage system; it is simply moved into a tank and then sent back up the mast to be recompressed by the power of the wind.
"There is a pressure exchanger to convert the energy in the (hydraulic) fluid into the storage medium (nitrogen gas)," he said.
And that is about the limit of what Lancaster will say.
"There is a lot of concern about intellectual property. People drive in here and we kick them out. We have never spoken of this system to the media before," McConnell said.
However, he will discuss the turbine system, which is now fully patented.
All wind-power units today must govern their turbine speed in an effort to produce the appropriate 60-hertz supply frequency required by the power grid.
But because Lancaster is capturing energy in hydraulics and not directly producing electricity, this is not an issue. It can take all the power of the wind at any time of the day or night, and create its electricity at a steady rate.
"We aren't trying to restrict ourselves by feathering our blades. We don't care if the wind goes up or down, we don't have to worry about fluctuations. We just take the energy and store it," said systems analyst Terry van Gemert.
After a lifetime in the offshore-oil business, McConnell said he returned to Canada with the idea of buying a couple of drilling rigs. But then he had a better idea.
"The oilpatch is all feathers and chickens (bad and good years). My forte is hydraulics, and I spent time in Europe in the 1990s, where they are very concerned about green energy."
McConnell said it shouldn't be a surprise that Lancaster staff are oil people, as are most of the backers.
"The reality is the change in public thinking. Just look at Texas," which has 20 times more wind power installed than Alberta, as well as most of the U.S. petroleum industry.
"They will be one of the biggest players in green energy.
Fighting a wind farm
By Brenda Kossowan - Red Deer Advocate
Published: October 23, 2009 7:16 AM
More names are being added to the list of people taking legal action to stop a wind farm from being built near their rural homes.
Earlier this year, farmers around Huxley and Trochu learned that FPLE Canadian Wind, an Ontario-based subsidiary of Nextera Energy Resources, is making plans for the Ghostpine Wind Farm in Kneehill County.
Located on the west side of Hwy 21, the system would require up to 54 wind turbines to generate 81 megawatts of power.
The issue has formed a rift between rural residents, including those who support the program and have signed deals to accept them on their property and those who are opposed to having the turbines erected near their homes, says Kneehill County Councillor Ken Hoppins.
As one of the farmers who has signed a deal with the wind farm, Hoppins excused himself from debate when the project went to the county’s municipal planning commission to seek a development permit.
Since then, the development permit has been issued and the county has amended its land-use bylaw to allow the project, Hoppins said.
But while some are in favour, a growing number are expressing concerns about the potential health effects of noise and vibration from the turbines.
Calgary lawyer Gavin Fitch notified the Alberta Utilities Commission this week that two more families have joined the three families who hired him earlier this year to take action preventing the company from erecting towers near their homes.
Their letters of objection have been placed on file with commission as part of the application process.
However, the company has not yet made a formal application, said Jim Law, an external affairs and communications officer for the commission.
Current Alberta power production:
1st column is Maximum Continuous Rating
2nd column is Total Net Generation
3rd column is Dispatched (and Accepted) Contingency Reserve
Coal 5893 5093 0
Gas 4838 2727 155
Hydro 869 94 273
Other 264 192 0
Wind 563 17 0
TOTAL 12427 8122 428
Wind contributing a whole 17 MW at this moment.
http://ets.aeso.ca/
The windmill madness continues
By Will Verboeven - Stettler Independent
Published: October 07, 2009 11:00 AM
Updated: October 07, 2009 11:22 AM
Some time ago I commented on the bogus nature of the rush towards wind power by means of constructing more and more unsightly eyesore wind mills. A observant reader noted that there is some irony in my anti-windmill comments, being that my ancestry is from a country that built its very existence and vast prosperity, 400 years ago, on wind mill technology of the day. Well they did, but they were wise enough to switch to steam power as soon as it became available due its consistency and reliability.
Although, being Dutch, they preserved a number of those old wind mills for the purpose of harvesting millions of tourist dollars. I could only hope that history will repeat itself and a couple of the behemoth windmill monstrosities that exist today will be preserved soon as monuments to human folly and a waste of taxpayer dollars. But I digress.
Perhaps political-correctness with wind power has reached new heights of absurdity with recent TV and print advertising by the City of Calgary. Those advertisements trumpet the goal of the city in becoming the first in Canada to obtain all its public power requirements from sustainable wind power.
City politicians and senior bureaucrats were no doubt congratulating each other for such an environmentally brilliant achievement. The truth be known the only thing they achieved was bamboozling the city taxpayer by paying a premium for green power they don’t get and insulting the livelihoods of thousands of tax-paying citizens.
I have noted before that most wind power produced in southern Alberta is sold to the BC grid at a discount because our own grid can’t handle the wide fluctuations in electrical supply produced by wind mills. Besides, windmills produce only 30 per cent of the time. Both of those factors would see that almost zero wind power would actually reach the city of Calgary for which it pays a premium. No wonder utilities and commercial wind power companies are falling over themselves selling wind power at a premium to gullible consumers. You get to overcharge for a commodity that you do not have to deliver. In fact, you get to substitute much cheaper coal-fired electricity. What a boondoggle and it’s perfectly legal.
The real travesty with the city of Calgary wind power boondoggle is this - I would suspect that wind mills provide almost zero to the city’s tax base. Wind mills aren’t built in Calgary, most are manufactured in faraway China, Denmark and Germany - no taxes of any kind from those places. Those big wind mill farms are all located in the south of the province, so there are no property taxes to be gleaned for Calgary. Yet the city harvests millions of tax dollars from an industry that could produce electricity much cheaper and much more reliable than wind power - but it’s an industry the city disdains and dishonors with its untruthful advertising.
Thousands of Calgary citizens and businesses derive their living from the natural gas industry. Those same citizens and businesses pay countless millions of dollars of taxes of every kind, - a considerable chunk of which ends up in the coffers of the city of Calgary. Without batting an eye, Calgary city politicians and bureaucrats turn around and spend those hard earned dollars from the natural gas industry on expensive wind power that they actually do not receive. Did I mention that those tax dollars are also spent subsidizing the capital expenditure of wind mill farm construction?
So let’s see - our genius city politicians, instead of supporting a local industry that pays taxes and supplies cheap reliable electricity, would rather use tax dollars to support foreign manufacturers that don’t pay city taxes and support a wind power industry that produces electricity that is expensive and unreliable for which the city pays a premium.
What an insult to the thousands of tax payers who derive a living from the natural gas industry. You would think the city would support its own citizens first rather than use their tax dollars against them on bogus green power schemes.
But there is some irony to all of this and it’s all part of the wind power madness. The more wind power that comes on stream, the more natural gas fired electrical plants we need. That’s because wind power is so unreliable that these plants are needed for backup when wind power dies. It’s probably why utility companies aren’t crying too much about wind mill subsidization - they have a vested interest in more wind power - in fact, in many cases they are partners or owners in those ventures. At the end of the day, it would seem the power users get screwed either way. Think about that as you pass by those environmentally sustainable politically-correct wind mills.
Modified engine 20% fuel, 80% water.
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://hydronica.blogspot.com/
Bay of Fundy's waves to be put to work
Nova Scotia, Ottawa grant environmental clearance for three firms to undertake turbine tests
Oliver Moore
Halifax — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2009 11:06PM EDT
The first of three turbines is expected to go into the Bay of Fundy next month in spite of concerns raised by some local fishermen after the government approved the initial phase of a tidal energy project.
Nova Scotia's Minister of the Environment, a long-time fisherman himself, acknowledged those concerns and admitted that the possible effects are unknown. But Sterling Belliveau said the only way to identify problems is to start installing turbines and monitor closely the result.
“These questions are only going to be addressed [if] you have a demonstration project,” he said Tuesday after approving the trial based on an environmental assessment.
“I think you basically cannot sit in a conference room and get the answer to that, you have to go out in the real life, in the real world.”
A full-scale tidal energy project, if viable, would involve hundreds of turbines and could produce about 100 megawatts from the bay's huge tides. That would be 10 per cent of the province's energy needs, but such a system is years away.
The demonstration phase of the project, involving three turbines, is expected to cost $60-million to 70-million. Each of the three companies involved – which will co-operate on environmental monitoring and onshore development – intends to test a different type of turbine.
Minas Basin Pulp and Power will suspend its equipment between the bottom and the surface. The turbine will float until the best current is found and then be fixed to the bottom with anchors. Company vice-president John Woods said yesterday that his firm aims to have the turbine operational this time next year.
The president of Clean Current, a British Columbia company, would not comment yesterday on the project. Earlier information from the company suggested it would use a turbine designed to rest on the seabed.
The model chosen by Nova Scotia Power is similar. About six storeys high, with a turbine 10 metres across, it will use gravity to stay still underwater. This design is expected to be in place first, with the turbine going into the water late next month. It will not initially feed power into the grid.
“It's really a big science experiment,” said David Rodenhiser, a spokesman with the utility.
He said more than 200 turbines could follow, but that the company must assess the first one's effect on its surroundings, and how well it stands up to the environment it is placed in.
The unknowns are what worry some fisherman. Lobsterman Mark Taylor, president of the Heavy Current Fishing Association of Hall's Harbour, not far from the proposed sites, has expressed concerns about the effects on local catches.
“Two hundred machines in that area could mean that fishery is lost to us,” he said earlier this year.
Mr. Belliveau stressed that, under the terms of the environmental assessment approval, the companies must establish a monitoring body that includes stakeholders and keep close watch on the effects of the project.
“There's a number of questions, anywhere from salmon to plankton to herring and migrating whales, all [these] questions will be addressed,” Mr. Belliveau said, emphasizing that he would revoke the project's approval if significant environmental damage is found.
“I have the authority to stop [it] as simply as walking over and turning off that light switch,” he said. “And I would not hesitate if the science and adverse effects was there. I know that body of water and I understand the importance of getting this right.”
Garbage in, energy out
The plasma-gasification system at Plasco.
Shawn McCarthy
Ottawa — Last updated on Friday, Aug. 21, 2009 08:16PM EDT
On a hot summer day, the air hangs heavy inside Plasco Energy Group Inc.'s hangar-like building on the outskirts of Ottawa, with the pervasive stench of garbage more suggestive of a town dump than a leading-edge technology centre.
Municipal garbage trucks – diverted from the city landfill across the road – dump their loads of solid waste on the concrete floor, where a front-end loader moves the garbage into a shredder that also removes metals for recycling.
The shredded waste is then pushed into piles where it can be fed onto a conveyor belt that delivers it to the company's patented plasma-gasification system.
In harnessing that energy, Plasco chemically transforms Ottawa's residential garbage into a synthetic gas that is used to generate electricity – without emitting greenhouse gases. The process also produces some commercial byproducts such as sulphur, water and solid aggregate.
It's a 21st-century form of alchemy: garbage in, energy out. In a time when municipalities are desperate to reduce greenhouse gases and relieve overflowing landfills, gasification has the potential to be a world-changing technology.
But as with many green energy technologies, success depends on another modern dark art: raising capital.
If Plasco doesn't succeed on that front, it won't be for lack of trying. For the man in charge is Ottawa's most battle-scarred serial entrepreneur, Rod Bryden, late of SHL Systemhouse Ltd., Kinburn Technologies, WorldHeart Corp. and the Ottawa Senators.
But Plasco's technology has run into some serious glitches, which have hindered the company's ability to raise money.
Mr. Bryden, 65, is undaunted. “We believe that our manufactured product can be the most commonly used method of handling waste in the world.”
The landscape is littered with technologies that promised breakthrough advances in efficiency or environmental benefit, but failed to clear commercial hurdles. And it's already been a long haul for Plasco.
Five years ago, the company's founders, including current executive vice-president Christopher Gay and chief technology officer Andreas Tsangaris, realized they needed a savvy business partner and turned to Mr. Bryden for help.
The high-profile entrepreneur and civic booster was still recovering from a bruising battle in which he was forced to place the NHL's Ottawa Senators into bankruptcy protection, sell his controlling stake and cut a deal with creditors to avoid personal bankruptcy.
Mr. Gay, who was Plasco's CEO at the time, recalls that former Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli and local MPP Richard Patten put him in touch with Mr. Bryden, who has long been one of the city's leading venture capitalists.
In their first meeting, the veteran businessman seemed less than impressed, telling Mr. Gay “things that appear too good to be true usually are.”
Three weeks later, they met again, and this time, Mr. Bryden offered to work for a few months as acting CEO until he could make a proper assessment of Plasco's potential. But first, he had to clear up his own finances from the Senators' mess.
At an age when many Canadians are easing into retirement, the New Brunswick-born lawyer still relishes the challenge of building companies that bring innovative and socially beneficial technologies to market.
In addition to Plasco, he is chairman of a small biotechnology firm, PharmaGap Inc., that is developing new approaches to cancer treatment, and of Clearford Industries Inc., which is working on advanced waste water collection systems.
“It's much more satisfying to provide some leadership in making things happen which you can honestly feel that if you don't do it, it wouldn't get done, at least not right away,” Mr. Bryden says. “I'd rather do that than compete for the opportunity to do something where, if you don't get the job, somebody else will, and the job will get done anyway.
“I like doing things that I'm really proud of doing ... something that you would be quite proud to tell your kids: I did that, I helped make that happen,” he adds.
In that category, he includes his successful battle to keep the Ottawa Senators in the nation's capital, even though he ended up losing control and much of his personal fortune in the process. (The team is now owned by Eugene Melnyk, who made his fortune at drug manufacturer Biovail Corp.)
Mr. Gay said he was not bothered by Mr. Bryden's very public financial setbacks. “We were fortunate to be able to attract someone of his calibre,” he said.
Indeed, managerial weakness is a leading cause of mortality among startup technology companies whose founders – usually engineers, as at Plasco – insist on trying to build the business themselves.
And despite a reputation for sometimes overpromising, Mr. Bryden clearly knows what it takes to build a successful technology company, although his own career has also seen some high-profile failures.
“Plasco required somebody that could roll up their sleeves and work the company through the permitting process, introduce it to investors, get initial capital into the company, and then grow the company to the point where it could raise significant capital,” says Dan Phaure, an investment banker with Toronto-based Jacob Securities Inc., which has participated in Plasco financings.
“There wouldn't be very many people in Canada aside from Rod who would be able to do that.”
Quest for capital
The global waste-to-energy market is booming, though many municipalities are opting for older incinerator technology that raises pollution concerns.
Governments are looking to generate power from renewable sources in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to divert garbage from landfills, where tipping fees are expected to climb dramatically as available land becomes scarce.
Despite recycling efforts, North Americans currently throw out the equivalent of 99 million green garbage bags a day. The energy content from virtually all of that material can be recovered in the form of electricity, steam or even ethanol.
Plasco's quest to capitalize on all this dormant energy initially focused on tapping the federal government's Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) fund, which provides early round, pre-commercial funding for promising technologies that are potentially profitable.
A key moment came when the SDTC staff concluded their review of Plasco's application for funding in 2006 and decided to recommend it to the board. Even before the board approved a $9.5-million grant, investors took their cue from SDTC's due diligence process and agreed to finance the Ottawa demonstration plant, Mr. Bryden says.
The demonstration plant started operations in July, 2007 – and almost immediately ran into problems. The sorting and conveyor system simply couldn't handle the volumes of garbage required for a commercial operation.
In December, 2007, Plasco announced it had a new largest shareholder - First Reserve Corp., a Greenwich, Conn., private equity fund that specializes in energy. First Reserve invested $35-million (U.S.), leading a syndicate that contributed a total of $54-million (U.S.).
On top of that, First Reserve committed an additional $110-million to be invested over the course of 2008, as Plasco met performance targets. But the targets weren't met and that money never came.
Mr. Bryden says the lack of follow-up capital from First Reserve was not as critical as it might have been – the money would have been needed to build a commercial-scale plant, but Plasco couldn't proceed on that front until it ironed the wrinkles out of the demonstration plant.
The lack of capital and sales, however, forced him to lay off 53 workers in May, nearly a third of its employees. Critical work at Trail Road in Ottawa continued.
Mr. Bryden takes responsibility for the delay, saying he was focused on ensuring the plasma technology worked, and paid too little attention to materials handling.
“We underestimated the time it took to deal with the so-called simple stuff – the stuff that isn't rocket science,” he says. “Some of it is rocket science, and that worked. But it was a much more time-consuming process than we expected to integrate that into a real functioning system.”
Now the CEO insists Plasco is ready for prime time.
Since March, the materials feeding system has functioned smoothly, allowing the company to increase its waste handling by 43 per cent in the second quarter. The energy conversion unit has also performed well, and Plasco last week was rated top performer among nine waste-to-energy competitors by the California municipality of Salinas, which is prepared to enter contract discussions with the company.
To proceed with commercial plants, the company is deeply reliant on the health of capital markets, and the re-emerging appetite among international investors to plow money into unproven technologies.
Indeed, Plasco's business plan is predicated on taking the risk off the shoulders of its municipal partners, who will not contribute to the capital costs.
Instead, the company would tap the capital markets for project financing. To persuade investors, Plasco needs agreements with municipalities to obtain feedstock at a set price, and indications it will be able to sell the power to local electricity companies at the premium prices available to renewable-energy developers.
The problems at the Ottawa plant forced the company to delay its planned construction of a $96-million commercial plant in Alberta's Red Deer County, where a consortium of nine municipalities had agreed to provide land and deliver waste for a tipping fee of $60 a tonne.
In the current environment, public money is critical if Plasco is going to meet its ambitious targets, according to Mr. Bryden, who says investors are now demanding government support for capital-intensive, renewable-energy projects.
Plasco has applied under the federal “green infrastructure” program for financing of the Red Deer project and the CEO is hoping for an answer within weeks.
Although the company has tapped international investors for the vast majority of the $120-million it has raised in the past five years, foreign investors will be reluctant to finance 100 per cent of projects in Canada when refundable tax credits or grants covering 25 per cent of such projects' capital costs are available in the United States and Europe, Mr. Bryden says.
“It is unlikely a Canadian project will be built without a capital contribution from government, so long as other countries are routinely providing support for the same types of projects,” he says.
If it can get plants operational, Plasco will benefit from a different type of government support - the higher power rates being offered to renewable-energy producers.
Ontario's new feed-in tariff system, as yet not finalized, promises developers a high price for their power. Plasco also expects to generate revenue by selling carbon offsets, which are tradable credits created by renewable-energy projects that displace coal- or gas-fired power.
‘Holy grail technologies'
Plasco is just one of the many companies racing to mine the gold in garbage. Montreal-based Enerkem Inc. is partnering with the City of Edmonton to build a waste-to-energy plant that will produce ethanol. Calgary-based Alter NRG Corp., which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has two gasification plants operating in Japan, and is negotiating to build one in Ontario.
“It is one of those holy grail technologies,” says Rick Whittaker, vice-president of investments at SDTC. “Gasification is a technology that can take virtually any feedstock in, avoids all those air pollution problems you find with other technologies, and pulls off a very clean gas you can use to generate electricity.”
Gasification is a low-emissions method of extracting energy from a range of feedstocks, from coal, to forestry wastes, to municipal solid waste.
Incineration occurs in the presence of oxygen, which creates carbon dioxide, a key culprit in climate change, but gasification uses high temperatures and airless chambers to break down molecules into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which are then reformed into a synthetic gas.
Plasco's innovation is the use of a plasma, an ionized, superheated cloud akin to lightning and often referred to as the fourth state of matter. Plasco's plasma torches efficiently break down molecules into basic elements, that are then reformed into synthetic gas that is used to power generators.
Mr. Bryden insists the kinks in his company's technology have been worked out, and Plasco is ready to build in Red Deer, pending a decision on federal funding.
The company is also in the final stages of negotiations with the City of Ottawa for a commercial plant that would divert as much as two-thirds of the city's non-recyclable, residential garbage to a waste-to-energy plant that would generate 24 megawatts of electricity, enough to power a small town.
Ottawa City Manager Ken Kirkpatrick says Plasco's technology promises a clean and efficient method of extracting energy from municipal waste. The city is not interested in incineration, which can also produce electricity but raises concerns about emissions, particularly of dioxins and furans.
Several municipalities in Ontario have energy-from-waste incinerators, and Durham Region has filed for an environmental assessment for a planned 400-tonne-a-day incinerator to be built by New Jersey-based Covanta Energy Corp.
While incineration is controversial, Durham's Commissioner of Works, Cliff Curtis, says all emissions will be well below provincial standards, which he described as the toughest in the world.
Durham spent some time looking at Plasco's technology, but the company simply wasn't ready for a commercial project when the bids went out. “Conceptually, it is quite attractive,” Mr. Curtis says. “But as a municipality, we don't want to gamble with taxpayers' money. We wanted something that works, and we couldn't afford to wait.”
His colleagues in Ottawa believe the wait may be just about over, though they're not convinced yet. Mr. Kirkpatrick, for one, wants to see the demonstration plant function smoothly for another month before taking the proposal to city council.
“It is world-changing technology, if it can be viably commercialized,” he said.
Caldera sees growth in geothermal energy
Plans 2009 IPO
Reuters
July 9, 2009
Caldera Geothermal Inc., a geothermal exploration company, aims to go public as early as year-end as it seeks capital to grow in the budding alternative energy sector.
Caldera's comments came as Canadian geothermal company Magma Energy Corp. (MXY/TSX-V) raised $100 million in an initial public offering that closed on Tuesday and showed new renewed optimism in the sector that has been hobbled by the credit markets crisis.
"We are seeking capital now to acquire" new properties, said Richard Zehner, president of Caldera. "We aim to go public by the end of the year or in the first quarter next year." Executives at the Toronto-based company said they are working on a private placement led by Foundation Markets, a Toronto-based boutique investment bank and company shareholder, as they seek capital to buy new geothermal properties.
Geothermal and other renewable energy sources are being tapped as part of an effort to meet growing global electricity consumption with power sources that emit less carbon dioxide than fossil fuels such as coal or oil.
Geothermal energy taps into heat sources typically situated near geological fault lines to heat water to operate power generating turbines. Underground temperatures can range from slightly below room temperature just below the surface to more than 5,000C at the Earth's core.
Proponents say that unlike solar or wind generation, geothermal power provides uninterrupted electricity supply 24 hours a day.
Canada's alternative energy sector is showing signs of a budding recovery as companies resurrect financing deals and public offerings that withered in the credit markets crisis. The sector is also getting a boost in the United States under the Obama administration's stimulus plan that includes provisions such as a tax credit for new geothermal power plants through 2013.
Mr. Zehner said the company's strategy is to seek out new promising geothermal projects in the western United States to develop, put into joint ventures or sell off to power producers.
About one-third of the world's geothermal power is situated in that region and was discovered during oil and gas exploration projects. Caldera has one project in Nevada with the potential to produce between 19 megawatts and 49 megawatts of power.
It hopes the private placement will help it identify and acquire four or five others in the near term, and that going public will allow it to expand around the end of the year.
The costs of bringing geothermal-generated power online are seen between US$3-million and US$4-million per megawatt.
"We are going grassroots, where no one else thinks these projects are," Mr. Zehner said.
Wind farm myths and realities
Published: March 25, 2009 10:00 AM
Updated: March 25, 2009 10:22 AM
Ahead of the heard
By Will Verboven
Recently an Irish company announced that it was proposing an $850 million wind farm for southern Alberta. To those true believers in alternative renewable energy this would no doubt be greeted with self-righteous glee - once again showing that even in oil and coal favoured Alberta - politically-correct concepts can win. But as with everything else there is more to the story and as a taxpayer you are not going to like the conclusion.
Firstly, wind power promoters always fudge the figures when it comes to the amount of power that these projects allegedly will produce. This most recent project is supposed to generate 350 megawatts - that would be a significant output but that is only in theory.
The fact is there isn’t a wind power facility anywhere in the world that consistently produces anywhere near its theoretical capacity. The actual output is closer to 20 to 30% of designed capacity. That’s because you can’t count on the wind to be reliable. Much of the time there is either too little or too much wind and the windmills are shut down. Anyone within sight of a wind farm already knew that of course.
But capital investment in wind farms is based on full capacity - to compensate for the difference between fact and fiction - governments provide tax breaks and grants to wind farm projects. It gets worse - because wind farms produce unreliable intermittent power, the power is difficult to handle on the provincial grid which requires a steady predictable supply.
What Alberta utilities have had to do is sell wind power to the BC grid at high discounts, apparently the BC grid can better handle fluctuations in power supply. Ironically Alberta utilities have to buy power back from the BC grid at peak times - but at full price of course. To compensate for that pricing gap - governments try to force consumers to pay premium prices for wind power they never really receive. Governments also force utilities to buy wind power at a premium - the cost of which is then paid by all consumers.
That situation doesn’t just happen here in Alberta. Denmark is touted as being the wind power capital of the world. Apparently up to 25% of that country’s electrical needs is met by wind power. But that as it turns out is actually just theory and fudging of the facts. A report on that production noted that only 20% of the actual wind power generated was used in Denmark. The rest, you guessed it, was sold at discounted rates to the German grid. The Danes in turn bought the rest of their electrical needs from German coal-fired plants.
The Europeans also seem to have come to their senses about the realities of wind power. They are reducing or eliminating their subsidies. That has resulted in industrial-sized 50 wind mills being de-commissioned in the Netherlands. New wind mill projects are being cancelled. The Europeans have come to realize that windmills cost too much too build; are very inefficient compared to other electrical generation; they are an environmental disaster causing the deaths of countless thousands of birds and bats; and finally they are noise and sight polluters. The latter is becoming a major issue as citizens and landowners don’t want these giant eyesores ruining the landscape.
The eyesore issue has some irony. Governments everywhere go to great lengths to ban billboards along highways because they are considered a distraction and a blight on the scenery. Yet they approve wind farms which feature giant-sized industrial wind mills which exacerbate what they are trying to do by banning billboards. It boggles the mind but then wind mills have the advantage of being politically-correct and they are the darlings of duplicitous green groups.
That leads us back to the announcement of an $850 million wind farm project by an Irish company. Well hold onto your wallets poor bedraggled taxpayers. The reality is that European windmill companies have found that they have run out of sucker governments in Europe. Subsidies are disappearing and business has crashed over there - but wait there still seems to be some dumb governments left in the world.
Those governments still blinded by political correctness are still all too willing to provide subsidies and grants to build giant wind farms - well guess what - those European vultures are more than willing to separate taxpayers over here from their dollars. They will want to get these projects going soon - it will probably take our politically correct governments another ten years to figure out what the Europeans have already found out - windmills don’t work and are unsustainable. Contrary to that old Bob Dylan song - the answer is not blowing in the wind!!
http://www.albertalocalnews.com/stettlerindependent/community/null_41835912.html
Power to the people – with pellets
NEIL REYNOLDS
Globe and Mail Update
March 18, 2009 at 6:00 AM EDT
Sweden is the world's No. 1 producer of wood pellets (1.6 million tons a year) – and the world's No. 1 consumer (1.7 million tons a year). Although Canada is the world's No. 2 producer (1.4 million tons a year), it is an almost negligible consumer (300,000 tons a year). Canada, in other words, exports most of its wood pellet production, some of it to Sweden. The question is: Why? The answer is simple. Europeans are far ahead of Canadians in exploiting (according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) “one of the cleanest-burning, most-renewable energy sources in the world.”
Technically, wood pellets are amazing things. Manufactured from sawmill waste (mostly sawdust and shavings), they produce heat and electrical power at less cost than fossil fuels, require no cutting down of trees, support domestic economies, emit zero particulates, are fully “Kyoto-compliant” – and contain no artificial additives. (Compressed into tiny, pencil-thin pieces of wood under high temperatures, pellet technology needs no glue to hold them together.) Europe has adopted advanced wood pellet technology in a big way. Finland's production of pellets reached 330,000 tons in 2007, an increase of 70 per cent from 2005. The country expects to hit one million tons a year within the next two years. Germany's production (900,000 tons a year) will increase this year alone by 30 per cent. Russia's production has risen from 50,000 tons in 2005 to 550,000 in 2007. Europe's consumption of wood pellets now exceeds six million tons a year – three times North American consumption. (Vapo, the biggest pellet producer in Finland, says 400,000 tons of pellets a year generate electricity for 100,000 detached homes.) In its March issue, Renewable Energy World magazine reports that Upper (northern) Austria, a region with 1.4 million people, now gets 40 per cent of its home heating from renewable energy, mostly wood pellets. The region's energy agency co-ordinates the operation of 148 private pellet companies with 4,500 employees and revenues of €1.6-billion ($2.6-billion). The European Union expects Europe's pellet industry to create 300,000 new jobs in the next decade.
A pellet-fuelled central heating system can completely replace oil or gas furnaces – as they have, for example, for more than 800,000 Italian homeowners. These systems are fully automated, moving pellets from storage bin to furnace as directed by the homeowner's thermostat. Typically, in Europe, a tanker truck fills up the backyard storage bin once or twice a year in a convenient, dust-free delivery service. The homeowner needs only remove residual ash from time to time – three ounces per 40 pounds of pellets (ash that many people spread in their gardens). Otherwise, pellet-heat requires no manual labour.
But European countries, more and more, are using wood pellets to generate electricity, especially to substitute for coal in large power plants. Belgium, the Netherlands and Britain all have such operations – helping to supply heat and light to millions of homes. These plants consume enormous quantities of pellets, the supply of which eventually will be limited. When you run out of waste wood, you run out of pellets. Thus the public policy question is whether to allot pellets primarily to residential purposes or primarily to industrial purposes. The world is still a long way from “peak pellet” but temporary, regional shortages can send prices skyrocketing from time to time – much, for that matter, like oil.
Nevertheless, wood pellet biomass makes an important contribution to the supply of renewable energy in Europe. Stavros Dimas, Environmental Commissioner of the European Union, reports that 11,500 biomass installations have generated 260 million tons of CO{-2} credits. The EU now supplies 4 per cent of its electricity from wood waste – and expects this percentage to double by the end of 2010.
Ontario is far, far behind. The province did call last year for “expressions of interest” from companies interested in getting supplies of wood wastes to exploit pellet technology. This belated, faint-hearted initiative aside, the province has failed to exploit pellet technology – an assertion inadvertently documented by an Ontario Power Generation (OPG) manager who told an energy conference last year that the province's major power utility only started to test biomass (in a single coal-fired plant) in 2007.
OPG has since conducted “aggressive testing programs” of wood pellets in all its power plants – with good results. “We can't believe,” the OPG manager said in a report, “how easy it was.” This is a thoroughly embarrassing confession, placing the wood-rich province a decade or more behind Europe.
One Canadian study, indicates that 70 per cent of the money that people and governments spend on wood pellet heat stays within the region – compared with 10 per cent of the money they spend on oil heat. Every province could profit from this finding but Ontario could profit the most. The economic crises at GM and Chrysler couldn't be averted. The economic crisis in Ontario's forest industry – starving amid plenty – is optional.
I am all for new ways to be green and this is one of them. We need to get on the bandwagon with getting more ways to be energy efficient.
I am all for new ways to be green and this is one of them. We need to get on the bandwagon with getting more ways to be energy efficient.
Home power systems set to become a consumer choice
Firm promises to take your lighting needs off the hydro grid forever
Scott simpson
Vancouver Sun
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Consumers looking to tap into green energy -- and cut their BC Hydro bills -- can find some solutions at this week's wind energy trade show in Vancouver.
Evergreen Technologies of Vancouver promises to take your home lighting needs off the Hydro grid, forever, with combination solar panel-wind turbine units that take advantage of the low energy draw of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in lieu of incandescent bulbs.
Evergreen already has a pilot model of its industrial-sized unit powering a 200-watt LED street light at Richmond's Gary Point, and several municipal governments are looking at the technology.
Company director Geoffrey Smith admits the units aren't yet cost-effective for residential applications -- but they soon will be as Hydro moves towards a new "distributed generation" policy that allows customers with their own green energy generation equipment to sell surplus power back onto the Hydro grid.
Utilities such as Ontario Hydro, and nations including Germany, are already paying more to consumers for the power they generate at home than they charge them to buy it off the public grid.
Smith said a package including turbine, solar panel, electricity storage battery and related equipment "can cost anywhere from probably a low of $7,500 up to a high of $15,000-$20,000 depending how elaborate you want to go with your lighting, and so on."
He expects the technology, and the generating systems, to show up first in new homes, which can be wired specifically to separate lighting from the Hydro system that will still be needed to run large appliances.
"The gold standard is going to be providing LED lighting in the interior of your home. Then you can run all your lighting off the grid if you want to."
Wind energy projects face a global shortage of turbines
More projects mean higher demand for equipment
Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun
Friday, October 17, 2008
Canada's booming wind energy sector is becoming a victim of its own success, says a spokesman for the Canadian Wind Energy Association.
A global surge in wind energy development is making it difficult for proponents to secure equipment for new projects, and waiting times for turbine blades and other components are increasing.
"Right now there is a shortage of turbines internationally," David Huggill, western Canada policy manager for the Canadian Wind Energy Association, said in a recent interview.
"There is a finite number of companies that are actually producing the technology."
Within Canada, a federal program providing a penny-per-kilowatt to green energy producers has touched off another kind of scramble, as wind power proponents across the country vie to take advantage of $1.5 billion in available funds.
B.C. is the last major Canadian province to join the fray, most notably with the EarthFirst Canada wind farm now under construction in northeast B.C.
EarthFirst expects to begin shipping electricity onto the BC Hydro grid in January, making it the first B.C. wind farm in commercial production.
It is likely to be recognized next week at CanWEA's annual conference and trade show, which is taking place in Vancouver.
"B.C. is currently a net importer of electricity and the province's energy-plan call for self-sufficiency by 2016 certainly plays very well into renewable generally -- and wind's hands in particular," Huggill said.
Huggill added that CanWEA members plan to be aggressive, rather than passive, in moving the industry forward.
Canada now has 14 times as much wind-energy capacity, as measured in megawatts of electricity generated, as there was in 2000. But that's just a drop in the bucket -- amounting to one per cent of total annual Canadian electricity production, CanWEA calculates.
A vast landmass and lengthy coastline mean Canada has "more top quality wind sites than it could ever use," the association notes in a recent Canadian wind resource fact sheet.
The federal government has provided some assistance in supporting expansion of the industry -- through a four-year, $1.5 billion ecoEnergy program for renewable energy that pays green energy developers one cent per kilowatt to make them competitive with large-scale gas, coal and large hydro utilities.
Response from wind and other green energy sectors has been tremendous, Huggill said.
The program began in April 2007 and "we are anticipating that the money will dry up before the end of 2009. It was set to go until 2011."
"There has been so much interest and so much activity that those funds will be fully allocated two years ahead of schedule."
A cornerstone event at the CanWEA conference, which starts Sunday and runs to Wednesday at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, will be the release of a strategic plan calling for continuation of the ecoEnergy funding through 2014.
"We are not advocating wind over all other renewables but I think there is a very strong case to be made that in the short- and near-term wind certainly provides a very viable option to meet those renewable targets that everybody is focusing their attention on," Huggill said.
Maple Leaf Reforestation creates energy subsidiary
2008-08-27 09:07 ET - News Release
Mr. Raymond Lai reports
MAPLE LEAF REFORESTATION INC. CREATES CHINESE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SUBSIDIARY
Maple Leaf Reforestation Inc. has created a separate wholly owned foreign subsidiary, Maple Leaf Energy China Ltd. Initially, this subsidiary will manage the development of the company's Xinjiang Yellowhorn biofuel project, which is developing more rapidly than anticipated. Also along these same alternative energy lines, the company is currently reviewing opportunities for involvement in other energy-related initiatives. All such further energy-related developments and projects of the company will be managed by this subsidiary.
According to the Energy Information Administration (a U.S. government agency), China is the second-largest consumer of energy after the United States. Since 1991, energy consumption in China has grown at a compounded rate of 10 per cent and is projected to continue growing at a rate of 5 per cent per year through 2030, almost twice the global growth rate. There is continued strong market demand for energy throughout China. The Chinese government is especially supportive of new products and technologies designed to increase the efficiency of the energy industry and decrease environmental damage caused by energy production and consumption.
Raymond Lai, president and chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Reforestation, stated: "Maple Leaf's diversification into the Chinese energy sector is very timely, given the continued and growing demand for energy throughout the country. The company intends to offer technologically advanced, cost-effective solutions and products to Chinese oil and gas producers and distributors. The combination of the company's geographical knowledge, operating experience and significant regional support in China should lead to solid growth in this sector. Our proven ability to develop and market environmentally friendly and superior products should provide Maple Leaf with the competitive advantages required to be a true energy sector market leader in China. We are very excited about launching this initiative and confident in its success!"
We seek Safe Harbor.
Lignol receives DOE approval for ethanol plant location
2008-08-27 09:24 ET - News Release
Mr. Ross MacLachlan reports
LIGNOL CONFIRMS SITE FOR ITS PROPOSED CELLULOSIC ETHANOL PLANT IN COLORADO
Lignol Energy Corp.'s U.S. subsidiary, Lignol Innovations Inc., is moving forward with its previously announced plan to construct a commercial demonstration cellulosic ethanol plant in Colorado. Lignol has recently received approval from the U.S. Department of Energy to locate the facility in Grand Junction, on the western slope of Colorado. The approved location is a change from the originally proposed site adjacent to Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc.'s refinery in Commerce City, Colo.
Lignol is expecting that Suncor will operate the facility, to be built next to Suncor's products distribution terminal in Grand Junction. The Grand Junction location offers logistical advantages, including access to feedstock and ethanol distribution efficiencies. Site specification decisions are subject to regulatory approval.
In January, 2008, the DOE approved Lignol's funding application for a proposed cellulosic ethanol plant, including up to $30-million (U.S.) in funding to construct the facility. Lignol continues to negotiate the final details of the DOE funding agreement and related party agreements.
The proposed facility will be designed to process hard and soft woods, and agricultural residues such as straw and corn stover. Lignol expects the facility, once operational, will process about 100 tonnes of feedstock per day and produce approximately 10 million litres of ethanol per year.
We seek Safe Harbor.
5N Plus Inc. Extends Supply Agreements with First Solar, Increases Minimum Quantities to be Ordered and Amends Definition of "Change of Control"
18:00 EDT Wednesday, August 27, 2008
MONTREAL, Aug. 27 /CNW Telbec/ - 5N Plus Inc. (TSX: VNP) today announced the extension of its supply agreement with First Solar, Inc. pursuant to which 5N Plus provides cadmium telluride and cadmium sulphide to First Solar from 5N Plus' Montreal facility. 5N Plus Inc. also announced the extension of its supply agreement with First Solar Inc., relating to the supply of similar product from 5N Plus' German facility, which agreement is subject to the execution of notarized documents in accordance with German law. Pursuant to these amendments, the previous supply agreements are being extended until July 31, 2012, representing approximately one additional year.
The agreements are being amended to increase by 50% the minimum prescribed quantities of cadmium telluride to be ordered by First Solar for most of the remaining term of the agreements. In addition, the definition of "change of control", which allows First Solar to exercise a purchase option over 5N Plus' German assets in certain circumstances, are being materially amended, such that a "change of control" will now occur only when a party acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding shares of 5N Plus.
About 5N Plus Inc.
5N Plus draws its name from the purity of its products, 99.999% (five nines or 5N) and more. 5N Plus, which has its head office in Montreal, Quebec, develops and produces high-purity metals and compounds for electronic applications and provides its customers with recycling solutions. The Company is an integrated producer with both primary and secondary refining capabilities. 5N Plus focuses on specialty metals such as tellurium, cadmium and selenium and on related compounds such as cadmium telluride and cadmium sulphide. The Company's products are critical precursors in a number of electronic applications, including the rapidly-expanding solar (thin-film photovoltaic) market, for which 5N Plus is a major supplier of cadmium telluride, and the radiation detector market.
Additional information about 5N Plus is available on its Web site at www.5nplus.com.
Electricity now a burning issue
Could make B.C. foresters power players
Nathan VanderKlippe, Financial Post Published: Thursday, August 14, 2008
WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. - In the forested heart of British Columbia, Geoff Wagner is walking through huge piles of woody debris, the kind of stuff once considered trash by an industry that turns less than half of every tree it cuts into 2x4s.
But no longer. Today, those piles are a vision of a future in which forests not only build houses but light streets, and in which forestry companies are no longer simple hewers of wood but rather power players.
It is already happening under Mr. Wagner's watch, as Edmonton-based power producer Epcor Power LP transforms chipped bark and railway ties into a constant stream of electricity powering this part of central B.C.
Soon, it will be happening elsewhere as the West's biggest forestry companies race to build new facilities that will turn wasted wood into cash. B.C. Hydro estimates companies could produce 470 megawatts of power this way, or about 10% of the province's annual energy production.
Forestry companies say this could be just be the beginning, as B.C. serves as the pilot for a model of forest power that could be replicated across the country.
Pilot project
It is, however, Mr. Wagner's plant that is in many ways the pilot for B.C. The largest biomass power plant on the continent, the Williams Lake facility produces 66 megawatts of electricity - enough to power 65,000 homes - from a steady stream of chipped wood burning in a 1,000-degree Celsius inferno.
The plant was built 15 years ago as an air-quality measure to replace industrial "beehive burners" that incinerated waste at local sawmills into a smoky haze that shrouded the community.
"There was a purpose to it," says Mr. Wagner, the plant manager. "But it's an economic plant and it's been an economic plant since Day One."
Now the question is whether other wood-fired plants can be equally economic.
Bio-energy push
The province certainly hopes so. B.C. has begun pushing bio-energy as a way to make use of its huge stands of pine beetle-killed timber, and as part of its bid to become energy self-sufficient from carbon-neutral power sources by 2016.
This year, B.C. Hydro collected 20 proposals from firms that together are bidding to produce 4,100 gigawatt-hours of bio-electricity - roughly equivalent to the province's estimated potential - per year.
Many of them are forestry players. Mercer International Inc. has already made down payments on a $55-million generator that will sell 35 megawatts to the grid. Tolko Industries Ltd. already sells 20 megawatts to the grid, and is looking to build more. Nexterra Energy Corp. is moving to build small wood-powered generators in urban areas. Canfor Pulp LP is considering at least four projects. In May, West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. announced a partnership with Epcor to develop a 50-to 70-megawatt project. The company is also proposing to sell 15 megawatts of electricity through its partnership with Cariboo Pulp& Paper Co.
Electrical production is nothing new for the industry. West Fraser, for example, already produces a total of 100 megawatts to power its own mills, and the company sees the new electrical rush as little more than an extension of how things are already done.
"What we do is we cut trees and make products and sell them," says Bill LeGrow, West Fraser's vice-president of transportation and energy. "This is just another product, really. So if there's an economic opportunity on that product, it seems like a logical extension."
Treasure from trash
Perhaps most attractive - apart from the green benefits, which environmentalists have lauded - is the prospect of creating treasure from trash. Only 45% of a typical sawlog actually becomes lumber. The rest is left as residue. Much is used as chips that fuel pulp mills, but a substantial portion of the wood - in some areas, as much as 20% - is burned off or left to rot in clearcuts.
In other areas, bio-electricity could tip the economic balance in favour of timber stands now considered too short on lumber potential, and could even lead to changes in forestry practice to more fully use existing trees.
"There's a certain amount of biomass potential in the forest, and we don't harvest or utilize a fraction of that potential," says Wayne Clogg, West Fraser's senior vice-president of woodlands.
"We don't do a lot of intermediate thinning in our stands, which the Europeans do, because we don't really have a market for that small product there. But if you had a bioenergy demand, there's an opportunity there."
It is, however, difficult to calculate how much power production will affect the industry's bottom line.
Zoltan Szucs, West Fraser's vice-president of panelboards, admits that "the return on these type of projects is probably lower than what you would anticipate in an industrial manufacturing process."
Tricky economics
Others in the industry are nervous about whether there will be much of a return at all.
"The economics are not as simple and straightforward as some people think," says Tom Sitar, Canfor Corp.'s chief financial officer. "Everybody presumes that fibre is just readily available in the form that it can be burned. It's there, and we all know it's there, but it takes significant dollars to bring that fibre into a source that will generate electricity."
Building electrical plants is not cheap, either. The rule of thumb used to be $2-million or $3-million per megawatt, "but the numbers have gone way up. It's probably upwards of four now," says Michael Towers, the manager of energy and supply systems at Tolko.
Ultimately, the success or failure of the wood electricity production will come down to the rates that provincial utilities are willing to pay, and those rates are likely to be steep.
B. C. Hydro estimates that the cost of producing bio-electricity will exceed the cost of all other forms of power save offshore wind. And those numbers are likely conservative, West Fraser executives say.
Provincial Cabinet members have made it clear that the province is more than willing to raise electricity rates, although the industry is currently tussling with B.C. Hydro over who will shoulder the financial risk if the cost of wood fibre rises unexpectedly.
Still, the prospect of stable new revenues is a rare glimmer of hope for an industry mired in a downturn that has been called the worst ever.
"Bio-energy," Epcor's Mr. Wagner says, as he looks out over a line of trucks delivering chopped trees that will soon fill the power lines, "is a great way to make electricity."
-----
HOW BIO-ELECTRICITY COSTS COMPARE:
B.C. estimates of future power costs:
• Major hydro development: $46-$97/ MWh
• Geothermal: $55/ MWh
• Offshore wind on B.C. north coast: $148-$176/ MWh
• Run-of-river hydro in the Lower Mainland: $53-$103/ MWh
B.C. estimates of wood-fired power costs:
• From sawmill residues: $105/ MWh
• From clearcut residues: $135/ MWh
• From lumber harvested specifically for power: $161/ MWh
Current B.C. electricity base charge: $65.50/mwh
MWh = megawatt-hour
Source: B.C. Hydro
Alberta has 'long way to go' for geothermal energy
Study says tech not yet 'cost-effective'
Dan Healing
Calgary Herald
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A new study concludes geothermal energy has more potential than previously believed to provide a clean source of electricity and steam for Alberta residents and industries, including the oilsands.
But bringing such a project on stream would take years of study and millions of dollars to drill test wells that are twice as deep as the deepest typical gas wells, according to author Michal Moore of the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy at the University of Calgary.
"People keep asking me if I know whether the technology works. We can say, at the front end, it works," he said in an interview, citing geothermal power generation demonstration projects in Australia and France.
"If the next question is, 'Is it cost-effective?' Not yet. We've got a long way to go."
Moore, an ISEEE senior fellow, co-authored the Alberta Energy Research Institute-funded report with Jacek Majorowicz, a consulting geologist in Edmonton.
Moore said he wants the federal government to commission a Canadian national survey to give companies a better idea of where they might best locate geothermal projects.
In the study, researchers mapped geothermal temperature zones in Alberta, using mainly existing well log data collected during the drilling of oil and gas wells.
The results are summed up in maps that have large empty areas where little drilling has been done. Furthermore, few of those wells were deep enough to provide complete information, so temperatures have had to be inferred, said Moore.
One exception is a famous well near Fort McMurray that provided solid information at depth, he added.
"That's one reason as you look at the map, it gets a little more refined (around Fort McMurray) because there's that one series of data we couldn't duplicate anywhere else," he said.
The well, drilled by former Calgary Stampeders owner Larry Ryckman in 1994 in an attempt to prove that oil seeps up from inside the Earth's crust, was abandoned short of its goal at about 1.6 kilometres when the venture ran out of money.
Shell Canada Ltd. spokeswoman Simone Marler said the company is very interested in using geothermal energy at its oilsands projects to reduce natural gas use and carbon emissions.
"Geothermal is a technology that we are looking at but this is a long-range possibility with commercial application probably a decade away," she said.
Eddy Isaacs, AERI's executive director, said the study has "set the stage for field studies to establish the technical and economic feasibility of geothermal energy."
Moore said rock formations have to be hotter than 150 C to heat injected water to the point that it's useful for power generation.
The study found that some regions of northwestern Alberta exceed that temperature at three to four kilometres -- but in southern Alberta, you have to drill down seven kilometres or more.
Moore worked on a similar U.S. project a few years ago while teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It found that establishing a working complex, with a six-kilometre-deep injection well and a second collecting well, would cost around $7.8 million US. The output would be about 60 megawatts, enough to power 60,000 homes.
Texas Approves $4.9-Billion Wind Power Project
JIM VERTUNO, The Associated Press, July 17, 2008 at 1:30 PM EDT
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials gave preliminary approval Thursday to the nation's largest wind-power project, a plan to build billions of dollars worth of new transmission lines to bring wind energy from gusty West Texas to urban areas.
Texas is already the national leader in wind power, and supporters say Thursday's move by the Public Utility Commission will make the Lone Star State a leader in moving energy to the urban areas consume it.
“We will add more wind than the 14 states following Texas combined,” said PUC Commissioner Paul Hudson. “I think that's a very extraordinary achievement. Some think we haven't gone far enough, some think we've pushed too far.”
Environmentalist and consumer groups called the move a critical expansion of the “renewable energy superhighway,” predicting it will spur wind energy projects, create jobs, reduce energy costs and reduce pollution.
Texas electric customers will bear the cost of the $4.9-billion (U.S.) plan over the next several years, paying about $4 more per month on their electric bills, according to Tom Smith, director of the Texas office of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
State officials, however, say those increases could be several years away, and the payments would be no different than the current system of paying for new transmission lines from power plants.
The 2-1 vote by the PUC, however, didn't commit to as large a project as some environmental groups and state lawmakers had wanted. The plan would transmit a little more than half the energy some advocated.
Texas already generates about 5,000 megawatts of wind power, more than any other state. The new plan would add transmission lines to boost capacity to about 18,000 megawatts.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says one megawatt of power provides enough electricity for 500 to 700 average homes under normal conditions in Texas, or about 200 homes during hot weather.
“The capacity for wind generation in west and north Texas is so great that we could position ourselves in Texas to be the world leader in wind and renewable energy in the next 100 years, just as we were the world leader in oil and gas for the past 100 years,” Democratic state Rep. Mark Strama said earlier this week.
I think some of you might find cypw's technology interesting
an engine that runs basically on all fuels and harly releases any pollutants
Ottawa can't see the forests for the fields
NEIL REYNOLDS
Globe and Mail Update
* E-mail Neil Reynolds
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July 16, 2008 at 6:00 AM EDT
Canadians tend to take wood – as a primary source of renewable energy – for granted. Perhaps it's because, with 0.5 per cent of the world's population, we possess 10 per cent of the world's forests. (As comparisons of this kind often show, we have much to take for granted.)
Whatever the reason, we always forget wood when we list the fashionable sources of sustainable energy that we hope will save us in the decades ahead: wind, tidal, geothermal, solar, biomass. In its 2007-2008 statistical report on climate change, for example, Statistics Canada names all of these sources of energy without once mentioning wood. Yet people are more apt to be throwing logs on the fire in the next 100 years than at any time in centuries past.
Depending on your definition of biomass, wood can get a quick mention here or there in this context – or not. Statistics Canada's Human Activity and the Environment: Annual Statistics, for example, defines biomass as bio-waste: agricultural wastes, forest wastes, municipal wastes, food wastes. Natural Resources Canada cites wheat straw, corn stover, wood residue and switchgrass. Although wood must necessarily be “bio,” its higher economic worth ensures its exemption from “biomass.” Hence, in evaluating renewable energy, wood is out of sight, out of mind. We don't see the forests for the fields.
In fact, as a primary source of energy (as opposed to a primary source of studs, planks, beams and posts), Canada's forests and woodlots provide lots of wood best used by burning. This wood is no longer limited to the traditional Yule log. It now comes in different shapes and sizes. British Columbia, for instance, has exported 80 per cent of its processed beetle-infested pines to Europe as pellet-sized firewood.
Wood smoke in days of yore contained more than 100 pollutants and the conventional country cook stove emitted more of them in nine hours than a passenger car now emits in 18,000 kilometres. But wood stoves and wood furnaces have gotten remarkably cleaner and more efficient. They are now 90 per cent cleaner and 90 per cent more efficient than the stoves once found in our grandparents' kitchens and living rooms. In the next generation, wood furnaces (and fireplaces, too) will emit zero pollutants, will burn so cleanly that they will have no need for chimneys and will leave behind no ashes.
Wood as fuel gets more respect in Europe and the United States these days than it gets in Canada. In a report last year, for example, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe asserted that wood energy was “reshaping the entire European forest sector.” The commission found that wood energy consumption was significantly higher in many countries around the world than earlier statistics had indicated; it cited growing shortages of supply and increases in prices.
The United States has kept comprehensive statistics on wood energy consumption for more than 200 years. In the past 60 years, for example, U.S. consumption of wood as a source of primary energy has increased by almost 50 per cent – from 1.5 quadrillion BTUs (British thermal units) in 1948 to 2.2 quadrillion BTUs in 2007. For comparison purposes, U.S. hydroelectric power consumption increased in the same period from 1.4 quadrillion BTUs to 2.4 quadrillion BTUs – almost precisely the same trajectory as wood. Thus, in 2007, U.S. hydro power supplied 36 per cent of the country's renewable energy consumption; wood supplied 32 per cent. In contrast, biofuels (as variously defined) supplied 1.4 quadrillion BTUs (20 per cent); geothermal and wind each supplied 0.4 quadrillion BTUs (5 per cent); and solar supplied 0.1 quadrillion BTUs (1 per cent).
Within the next two or three years, wood will almost certainly supplant hydro as the No. 1 single source of renewable energy in the United States – for the simple reason that hydro power has been in episodic decline since 1974 (when it hit peak consumption of 3.1 quadrillion BTUs). U.S. hydro consumption has since fallen by 20 per cent. Wood consumption is now separated from hydro consumption by only 0.2 quadrillion BTUs (or twice the present consumption of solar power).
The U.S. Department of Energy, in its most recent global energy outlook, puts Canada's consumption of renewable energy (in 2005) – from all sources – at 3.7 quadrillion BTUs. On this basis, U.S. wood power consumption alone equals almost two-thirds of Canada's entire renewable energy consumption. The department suggests that Canada's production of renewable energy will grow by 1.6 per cent a year, assuming the federal government maintains its subsidies “even when it [the various forms of renewable energy] cannot compete economically with fossil fuels.”
In fact, in its eco-energy program, the federal government has provided $1.5-billion for precisely this kind of subsidy. Natural Resources Canada says the wind, geothermal, tidal and solar projects can qualify. Though it remains the only fuel that warms three times (when cut, when stacked, when burned), wood cannot qualify. This is an inexplicable mistake in a nation that possesses so much renewable firewood to hew.
Clean tech: the new kid on the block
'Next wave' category of companies that produce clean power and help reduce emissions added to ranking of top performers
BOYD ERMAN
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
June 19, 2008 at 12:00 AM EDT
The argument rages over global warming — is it happening or not? — but there's no argument about the performance of stocks in the clean technology industry: They are hot.
So hot, that companies focused on cleaner ways to produce power and other goods now warrant their own sector in the third annual TSX Venture 50. The 50 is a ranking of the top 10 performers in five industries on the TSX Venture Exchange from 2007: clean tech, mining, diversified industries, oil and gas, and technology and life sciences.
"It's a growing sector and we're seeing more of it all the time, so it's something that we thought the investment community would appreciate us focusing on," says Kevan Cowan, who heads the TSX Venture Exchange. "Certainly behind the scenes a lot of institutions are telling us they really see that as the next wave or one of the next waves."
The year 2007 shows ‘how far the Venture Exchange has come,’ says Kevan Cowan, president of the TSX Venture Exchange. (Philip Cheung for The Globe and Mail)
Investors are interested in the steady returns from companies that produce power from wind farms and other clean sources such as geothermal and water, and in the big gains possible from bets on companies with new technologies that can help reduce emissions in other sectors.
The biggest winners in 2007 fell into the latter category. The top performer was Zongshen PEM Power Systems Inc., a Chinese company that's listed on the Venture Exchange. Zongshen makes electric bikes, which have become a big hit as soaring gas prices push commuters to seek other ways of getting around. Questor Technology Inc., the No. 2 finisher, makes incinerators that burn waste gases.
Naikun Wind Energy Group Inc., which plans a wind farm off the coast of British Columbia, had the third-best return.
Those performances are starting to draw notice from investors here in Canada. Until recent years, almost all of the investors in Canadian-listed clean-tech companies came from Europe, where there are dedicated funds that seek out environmentally friendly plays.
But of late, that's starting to shift, said Sasha Jacob, an investment banker whose firm, Jacob & Company Securities, has a focus on clean tech.
"The U.S. are very big buyers with dedicated funds focused on the sector," said Mr. Jacob. "And finally you're getting Canadian interest."
Still, 2008 may be a tougher year for smaller companies in all sectors than 2007. Even with commodity prices booming and oil soaring, concerns abound.
Worries about the financial system's stability have made some investors leery of the kind of junior company in which the Venture exchange specializes.
The Venture exchange's benchmark index, which soared in the early part of 2007, slumped amid the credit crunch and has yet to recover. So far this year, the Standard & Poor's/TSX Venture Composite Index is down more than 7 per cent.
"2007 was just hitting the ball out of the park in every single category, so that's a tough benchmark to meet again, but it does show how far the Venture Exchange has come," said Mr. Cowan.
To ensure growth, the TSX Venture continues to look abroad for new companies to list.
Along with Zongshen, two other companies in the Venture 50 are from China, a fertile ground for the TMX Group Inc., which owns the Venture and senior TSX exchange.
Chinese companies "have really latched on to the idea of the Venture as a training ground to understand public markets in the West," said Mr. Cowan.
Investing in solar
Alternative energy needs a decade before it's ready for the 'big time'
By RON HIEBERT
With the price of oil soaring, investors are taking a hard look at solar power to see if the advantages are significant enough to be a realistic alternative to conventional production.
The future looks very bright.
Solar energy has a long list of pluses. Once a system is in place, the energy to run it is free.
It is environmentally friendly, abundant and reduces the need for foreign oil.
The energy the earth receives from solar radiation vastly exceeds that produced from fossil fuels, nuclear power and geothermal combined.
According to the International Energy Association (IEA), the earth absorbs more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world uses from these other sources in a whole year.
Famed venture capitalist John Doerr said that alternative energy is "the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century."
As an alternate source of energy, solar has seen huge growth.
The IEA says the annual rate of growth of installed solar panel capacity has increased at a steady 42% per year since the early 1990s.
The solar industry is beginning to attract some serious dollars. Last year alone, the sector raised nearly $10 billion in new capital through debt and equity financing.
Companies like Google, BP, General Electric, Sharp and Toshiba are just a few of the world-class corporations committing significant research and development dollars to it.
Yet don't ignore the risks. As an investment, solar photovoltaic power almost seems too good to be true, but there are major drawbacks to this technology that investors should seriously consider before committing capital.
The biggest negative is that it costs considerably more than power produced from conventional sources of energy such as coal, nuclear or natural gas, as well as being the most expensive of alternative energy sources (such as wind or hydro).
The critical question is: How long will it take before solar power gets to a point where it is cost competitive?
Currently, less than 0.1% of the world's energy needs are being met by solar power.
Until electricity produced by the sun reaches a price point where it is the same or less than power produced from conventional sources, it will remain marginal.
Families and businesses globally are seeing commodity inflation place huge pressure on their budgets. Green becomes a low priority when money is scarce.
Currently it costs 25 cents per kilowatt-hour to produce electricity from the best solar technology we have today. A new coal-fired plant can churn it out at 10 cents a KWH - a considerable advantage.
However, solar prices have declined on average by 4% per year for the last 15 years and these savings are expected to accelerate into the future.
Many experts believe that the Holy Grail of grid parity is possible sometime within the next 10 years. Until that time, the only way that solar power is economically viable is if governments subsidize it.
The sun is a fickle energy source. You can only produce energy when it is shining. Production stops completely at night and the efficiency of solar cells is reduced dramatically in cloudy weather.
Until scientists develop a way to effectively store solar power for later use, it can never be a major supplier of base power.
Still, investors have time. Solar energy will undoubtedly become one of the great investment stories of the 21st century.
However, 100 years is a long time to tie up capital waiting to be right.
Solar needs at least a decade before it is ready for the big time, giving investors plenty of time to watch and wait for the eventual winners to emerge.
Peat intends to sign big peat deal with Altentech
2008-05-27 11:05 MT - News Release
Mr. Peter Telford reports
PEAT RESOURCES LIMITED: STATEMENT OF INTENT WITH ALTENTECH POWER INC.
Peat Resources Ltd. has formed a statement of intent with Altentech Power Inc.
Over many years of intense international research and strategic relationship building, Peat Resources has distinguished itself as one of the pre-eminent experts in the field of environmentally sensitive, sustainable biomass energy fuel commercialization.
In addition to its worldwide connections, Peat Resources has contractually secured a strong, evergreen resource base in Ontario and Newfoundland, and is currently establishing a pilot plant facility in Stephenville, Nfld., for production of peat fuel pellets. In its 2007 energy plan, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador recognized the abundant peat resources of the province and its potential for contributing to future energy needs.
Peat Resources is seeking applications and markets for its peat fuel -- a biomass fuel that offers significant economic and environmental benefits.
Altentech Power is the developer of a unique, biomass-fuelled power generation system. Its proprietary technology results in vastly improved combustion efficiencies while substantially reducing critical emissions into the environment.
While there are many applications for Altentech's system(s), its business plan calls for establishment of the first of several 10-megawatt peat-powered plants in Canada before proceeding on in a timely manner to other international peat- and non-peat-fuelled energy systems.
Altentech will build and operate these Canadian plants to feed power into local and North American energy grids and/or potentially in some cases, to supply co-generated power and heat (steam) to remote off-line communities or industrial customers. For example, remote communities around the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador are potential locations for these peat-fuelled energy systems.
Clearly there is synergy between the two companies: Peat Resources as the holder of vast peat inventories and developer of a way to harvest them in an environmentally acceptable, even beneficial way; and Altentech Power with the groundbreaking technologies to convert said fuel into highly saleable electrical power in an efficient and environmentally superior manner.
To that end, Peat Resources is working with Altentech to facilitate location of Altentech's first plant adjacent to Peat's Newfoundland peatholdings and on consummating a long-term (20-year) contract that provides Peat Resources with a high-volume customer and Altentech Power with a consistent fuel supply.
Phase two of the engagement calls for similar mutually beneficial Altentech/Peat related projects in Ontario, linking established peat resources and bioenergy consumers.
AAER provides update following Hydro-Quebec's May 5, 2008 announcement
Mon May 5, 2:53 PM
MONTREAL, May 5 /CNW/ - AAER Inc. (TSX-V: AAE.V) ("AAER" or the "Company"), Canada's only original equipment manufacturer of wind turbines of 1 megawatt ("MW") and more, announced today that Hydro-Quebec has not selected projects for which AAER wind turbines were proposed within the context of Hydro-Quebec Distribution's 2000 MW request for proposals initiated on October 31, 2005.
In August 2007, AAER received an opinion of qualification by Hydro-Quebec for its A1500 1.5 MW wind turbine under the provincial utility's 2000 MW request for proposals. In September 2007, the Company signed agreements for the potential supply of wind turbines with seven developers, including Skypower Inc. and TransCanada Energy Ltd. These developers submitted wind farm projects representing a total of 2160 MW, all using AAER's 1.5 MW wind turbines. On May 5, 2008, Hydro-Quebec announced the selected wind farm projects that are to supply the 2000 MW and expected to be online between 2010 and 2015. The selection was based on previously established parameters including electricity prices.
AAER commercializes its utility size wind turbines in North America and Europe, specifically targeting onshore wind farm projects of up to 50 MW. As part of its normal course of business, the Company participates in various competitive requests for proposals by submitting wind turbine supply proposals to potential customers. The Company's business strategy and commercial success is not dependent on the outcome of any specific request for proposals. The Company is currently involved in other requests for proposals of various sizes and at various stages of development as well as direct sales in the United States and Canada.
About AAER Inc.
AAER is a wind turbine manufacturer located in Bromont, Quebec that manufactures and maintains high capacity 1 Megawatt or more wind turbines principally for the North American market. Its strategy is to progressively build its product's components to provide a high level of reliability and a competitive pricing to its customers. AAER uses proven European technologies to ensure the performance of its turbines in various wind conditions and complex terrains. Its stock is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (AAE). Additional information is available on the Company's Website at www.aaer.ca.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or AAER's future economic performance and reflect the current assumptions and expectations of management. Certain unknown factors may affect the events, economic performance and results of operations described herein. AAER undertakes no obligation, and does not intend to, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable law.
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this release.
Contacts
AAER Inc.
Dave Gagnon
President
Telephone: (450) 534-5155
www.aaer.ca
The Equicom Group Inc.
Danielle Ste-Marie
Telephone: (514) 844-6064
dste-marie@equicomgroup.com
One Can Only Hope -e-
"I think biofuels are going they way of the dinosaur."
IMO the use of biofuels is murder
You still here?
I think biofuels are going they way of the dinosaur.
http://www.woodlandbiofuels.com/
Toronto, ON, March 25, 2008 – Investeco Capital Corporation (ICC), a leader in environmental investing, today announced an investment in Woodland Biofuels, Inc. (Woodland) of Mississauga, Ontario.
Woodland has developed a patented and proprietary thermo-chemical process for the conversion of cellulosic biomass into fuel ethanol. Forest, agricultural or other common sources of biomass are gasified and processed through a series of catalytic reactions to produce ethanol, distillation water and steam.
“Based on Investeco’s due diligence, we believe Woodland’s patented Catalyzed Pressure Reduction technology is extremely efficient in its conversion of biomass and is highly scaleable”, stated Andrew Heintzman, President, ICC. “Woodland’s process is significantly more efficient than traditional ethanol production and its cellulosic competitors”, he continued.
“While the energy conversion ratios and greenhouse gas mitigation for traditional corn based ethanol is marginal at best, the potential for Woodland’s process of producing ethanol from waste streams is significantly superior.”
”Demand for this "next generation" ethanol is expected to be enormous over coming years. For example, the United States has set an objective of 36 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels by 2022; most of that would come from cellulosic ethanol”, concluded Mr. Heintzman.
“We are very pleased that Investeco is the first institutional investor to recognize the potential of our Catalyzed Pressure Reduction technology and is financing its further development and commercialization”, said Greg Nutall, President, Woodland. “Investeco’s recognized expertise in environmental investing will assist us as we seek other investors and partners in the future”.
Woodland is also a recently announced recipient of $9.8 million in assistance from Sustainable Development Technology Canada towards the commercialization of its technology and development of a demonstration plant.
TransCanada eyes $5-billion hydro project
Reuters
March 21, 2008
TransCanada Corp. is mulling development of a $5-billion hydroelectric project on the Slave River in the remote reaches of northern Alberta, Alex Pourbaix, president of the power and pipeline company's energy division, said yesterday. The company said it is in the early stages of planning for a run-of-the river hydro project on the Slave, an undeveloped river that carries more that two-thirds of Alberta's water flow north to Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. The project would likely generate 1,200 to 1,300 megawatts of electricity, and could be operating in a decade. TransCanada's partner on the project is a unit of Atco Ltd. Power from the project would be sold in Alberta as well as in export markets, Mr. Pourbaix said.
Sounds to me like they are going to need more fertilizer to replace the nutrients they are stealing to make ethanol.
More gov't money eh?
Iogen on track to get funding for biofuel refinery
With financing from the federal government, large-scale plant would be the first in Canada to use wheat straw to make ethanol
SHAWN MCCARTHY
GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER
March 15, 2008
OTTAWA -- Iogen Corp. said yesterday it is closing in on federal funding that will allow it to build Canada's first cellulosic ethanol refinery, a $500-million plant in northern Saskatchewan that will use wheat straw to produce biofuel, electricity, enzymes and fertilizer.
Ottawa's Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) confirmed yesterday that Iogen is eligible for financing under its next-generation biofuel fund, subject to the corporation completing its due diligence and a final decision from its board.
The federal government, in its 2007 budget, created a $500-million investment fund to finance as much as 40 per cent of eligible costs for next-generation biofuels plants. At the time, Iogen was mentioned specifically as a company that might benefit from such a fund.
Environment Minister John Baird said that, as a result of government funding and Iogen's progress, "Canada is one step closer to making our country's first full-scale cellulosic ethanol facility a reality.
"With technologies such as this, Canada is well-positioned to be a world leader in the renewable fuels sector," he said.
Ottawa-based Iogen has had a demonstration plant running for four years, producing 2.5 million litres of ethanol a year from agricultural waste products. It is the only plant in North America producing significant quantities of cellulosic ethanol.
Iogen now intends to build a bio-refinery in Prince Albert, Sask., that will process 750 tonnes of wheat straw a day into 90 million litres of ethanol annually, as well as electricity and other value-added products.
The company, which is backed by Royal Dutch Shell and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., is developing a similar project in Idaho after being selected as one of six companies that qualify for U.S. Department of Energy funding. It is still negotiating the terms of the funding.
Other Canadian companies as well are pursuing the dream of turning agricultural or wood waste into ethanol. Governments in North America and around the world are aggressively pursuing the replacement of gasoline and diesel with biofuels as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce reliance on imported oil.
Cellulosic ethanol is considered a major improvement over corn-based fuel because it does not compete with a food staple and achieves better reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the life of its production.
Iogen is years ahead of such competitors as British Columbia-based Lignol Energy Corp. or Quebec's Enerkem Technologies Inc., both of which have received funding from SDTC to build pilot projects to test their processes.
Iogen executive vice-president Jeff Passmore said he expects SDTC will provide financing once it is satisfied that the company's process is commercially viable.
"It is the intent of the parties, subject to the conclusion of due diligence, to proceed with the project," he said.
He said Iogen expects to follow the initial commercial demonstration plant with others that will not require government financing. "It makes it a lot easier [to be commercially viable] with high oil prices," he said, adding the U.S. government has set an aggressive target for fuel use from cellulosic ethanol and will subsidize the consumption of the fuel.
SDTC president Vicky Sharpe cautioned that the corporation still has a significant amount of work to do before it can sign off on support for Iogen.
"This is the first applicant to the fund that has been declared to be eligible, and that is very exciting for us," she said in an interview from Vancouver, where she and Mr. Baird attended the Globe 2008 environmental technology show.
"We hope that we're going to work together in terms of funding and support, but we've got to undertake our due diligence and we also have to take that due diligence to our board of directors for their approval."
I think it is a private venture.
Magenn Power is seeking $5 million USD. Proceeds will be used to finish building prototypes and bring the Magenn Air Rotor System (MARS) to market.
Funding will also be used to set up manufacturing, sales and marketing.
If you would like to have more information on investing in Magenn Power, please email: invest@magenn.com
http://www.magenn.com/
AMSC=Wind - For now the SP is retracing, after a recent recommend on CNBC, so we shall see when the base is formed.
BOL
Energy efficiency has investors seeing green
Nichola Groom
Reuters
Friday, February 01, 2008
Wall Street has piled billions into solar panels, wind farms and other alternatives to oil and gas, but many investors also see big opportunities in making better use of older, dirtier energy sources.
"Very few people will tell you that efficiency is a really green form of energy, but it's the greenest of all," said Kevin Landis, chief investment officer of San Jose, Calif.-based Firsthand Funds, which owns several energy efficiency stocks.
Energy efficiency companies may be top "green" initial public offerings this year due to growing corporate interest in efficiency programs.
Boosting efficiency could be the easiest, quickest way to reduce emissions of harmful greenhouse gasses, starting with the task of installing new metering hardware and usage control systems in every home and building, proponents say.
As U.S. energy consumption has skyrocketed in recent years, so-called demand response companies like Comverge Inc. and EnerNOC Inc. have helped utilities reduce peak demand, such as on hot summer days, when cranked-up air conditioners prompt utilities to bring their oldest coal-fired plants on line, or buy high-priced power on the open market.
Demand response companies have software that automatically adjusts an air conditioner's temperature or turns off a swimming pool pump when electricity supplies are tight. Customers are warned ahead of time about the changes with devices that broadcast signals from the utility.
Signal Hill alternative energy analyst Michael Carboy said energy efficiency companies will be among sought-after IPOs in 2008.
"The companies that are going to go public are not going to be those that are raising capital for yet another new energy source, but those that have products and services that focus on using energy more efficiently," said Carboy.
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Lignol receives $30-million (U.S.) government handout
2008-01-29 16:59 MT - News Release
Mr. Ross MacLachlan reports
LIGNOL AWARDED UP TO US$30 MILLION IN FUNDING FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY TO BUILD CELLULOSIC ETHANOL PLANT
Lignol Energy Corp.'s U.S. subsidiary, Lignol Innovations Inc., has been awarded up to $30-million (U.S.) in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build a commercial demonstration cellulosic ethanol plant. The DOE has approved a funding application submitted by Lignol Innovations for a proposed plant which is planned to be operated by Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc., which owns and operates a major refinery in Commerce City, Colo.
"We believe our successful application for DOE funding further validates the commercial potential of our unique biorefining process," said Ross MacLachlan, president and chief executive officer of Lignol Energy. "Through its cellulosic ethanol and biofuels funding program, the DOE is seeking projects that demonstrate potential to rapidly move to commercial-scale using breakthrough technologies, a sound business strategy, and collaboration between industry, universities and the DOE's national laboratories. We look forward to advancing this project with support from the DOE and our industry partners."
Lignol and Suncor will work together to finalize the site-specific plans and engineering and to determine the optimum plant location in order to leverage Suncor's Colorado-based marketing and operating capabilities. Suncor has a number of suitable properties in Colorado for this development, including Commerce City. Lignol and Suncor have yet to consider all of the details with respect to the final funding agreement and the determination of final dates for construction, however the DOE funding requires that the plant must be completed by 2012. Once completed, the plant is expected to produce in excess of two million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol, plus biochemical co-products, including high purity-lignin. Suncor will be the operator of the plant and the exclusive buyer of all of the ethanol produced. Plant capacity is expected to be 100 tons per day (dry basis) of hardwood and softwood feedstock. Lignol Innovations' proprietary solvent pretreatment process, integrated with saccharification, fermentation and product recovery processes, also has the capability to process agricultural residues and other feedstocks.
In May, 2007, the DOE announced that it will provide up to $200-million (U.S.) over five years to support the development of small-scale cellulosic biorefineries in the United States, under its cellulosic ethanol and biofuels funding program. Lignol Innovations announced that it had submitted a formal application to the DOE in August, 2007, for a grant of up to $30-million (U.S.). The DOE's announcement today represents the first round of funding ($114-million (U.S.) in total) awarded as part of the DOE's small-scale biorefinery funding program. Through this funding initiative, the DOE intends to support projects to develop biorefineries at 10 per cent of commercial scale that produce liquid transportation fuels such as ethanol, as well as bio-based chemicals and bioproducts used in industrial applications. Building on President Bush's goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost competitive by 2012, these 10 per cent of commercial-scale biorefineries will use a wide variety of feedstocks and test novel conversion technologies to provide data necessary to bring on-line full-size, commercial-scale biorefineries. Successful applicants are expected to have their projects operational within three to four years of DOE funding approval.
For further information on the DOE's small-scale biorefinery funding program, please refer to the DOE website.
We seek Safe Harbor.
Shoot, missed it this go round!
Hanwei Energy Services Corp (C-HE) - News Release
Hanwei to buy Chinese wind power company
2008-01-24 07:47 MT - News Release
Shares issued 59,895,581
HE Close 2008-01-23 C$ 4.49
Mr. Kim Oishi reports
HANWEI TO EXPAND ITS WINDPOWER BUSINESS BY ENTERING INTO MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FOR THE ACQUISITION OF DAQING DETA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
VHanwei Energy Services Corp. has entered into a memorandum of understanding to acquire 100 per cent of Daqing Deta Electric Co. Ltd., a company located in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, China, for 600 million renminbi ($85.3-million).
The MOU contemplates that Hanwei will pay the acquisition price as to 50 per cent in cash and 50 per cent in Hanwei common shares at $5.30 per share in a series of payments based on annual wind power equipment manufacturing contracts signed between Deta and Daqing Ruihao Technology Co. Ltd. Under the MOU, signed by Hanwei, Deta and Ruihao, Deta will enter into a contract (the wind power equipment contract) with Ruihao to provide 1,200 megawatts of wind power turbines, blades, towers and control systems (together the wind power equipment) valued at approximately 8.4 billion renminbi ($1.2-billion), and a right of first refusal to provide all future wind power equipment for wind farms that Ruihao owns or controls. Under the wind power equipment contract, Deta is to be guaranteed a 15-per-cent net-after-tax profit. In return, Hanwei will grant Ruihao the right to purchase, at market prices, all additional wind power equipment manufactured by Hanwei. Ruihao has also agreed to transfer to Deta all of its current wind power equipment technology and its rights to the land and building now being used by Hanwei to house its wind power equipment manufacturing plant.
The MOU does not affect the current 200 million renminbi ($28.4-million) wind power equipment manufacturing contract between Hanwei and Deta, but replaces the expression of intent from Deta to purchase from Hanwei an additional 1.5 billion renminbi ($213-million) of wind power equipment in 2008 and 2009. The terms of the MOU call for Deta to sign the 1,200-megawatt wind power equipment contract with Ruihao prior to the close of the acquisition with terms that include an annual manufacturing contract for 200 megawatts to 250 megawatts of wind power equipment at a price that guarantees Deta a 15-per-cent net profit after tax. The proposed contract would be over a five-year period with 200 megawatts for 2008 and 250 megawatts for each of the following four years. The contract has an option to be accelerated if approved by all parties.
Under the MOU, Hanwei will pay the shareholders of Deta a total of 300 million renminbi ($42.7-million) in cash and 8,051,746 common shares of Hanwei valued at $5.30 per share. Upon completion and execution of a share purchase agreement between Hanwei and Deta, the Hanwei common shares will be placed in escrow and distributed, along with the following cash payments, under the attached schedule:
1. Initial payment of 96 million renminbi ($13.7-million), as to 48 million renminbi ($6.8-million) in cash and 1,288,279 Hanwei common shares no later than April 15, 2008, subject to: a) the completion of due diligence by Hanwei; b) the signing by Ruihao and Deta of an agreement for the manufacture of 200 megawatts of wind power equipment for delivery in 2008; and, c) the concurrent transfer of all of the shares of Deta to Hanwei.
2. Four payments of 96 million renminbi ($13.7-million), as to 48 million renminbi ($6.8-million) in cash and 1,288,279 Hanwei common shares to be paid within 30 days after the signing by Ruihao and Deta of agreements for the manufacture of 250 megawatts of wind power equipment for delivery in each of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. This payment schedule can be accelerated by mutual agreement if Ruihao increases the amount of equipment ordered in any one year above the minimum purchase amount.
3. A payment of 120 million renminbi ($17.1-million) as to 60 million renminbi ($8.5-million) in cash and 1,610,351 in Hanwei common shares within 60 days after transfer of title to the land and building used for the wind power equipment manufacturing to Hanwei.
In addition, the MOU provides that after Hanwei acquires Deta, Ruihao will not establish, own or acquire other wind power equipment manufacturing companies, which may constitute competition against Hanwei. Similarly, Hanwei will agree not to establish, own or acquire a wind power farm, which may constitute competition against Ruihao.
The MOU is subject to satisfactory due diligence by all parties, and board and regulatory approval. In addition, Hanwei expects that it will need to raise additional capital to complete the acquisition, expand capacity and finance working capital.
"The Hanwei and Deta teams have been working closely together since early 2007 to secure the contract with Ruihao and to acquire and develop the technology and manufacturing expertise needed to deliver quality wind power equipment," stated Fulai Lang, president and chief executive officer of Hanwei. "The Deta acquisition will provide Hanwei with wind power equipment technology licences and an anchor customer that will complete our platform and will position us to achieve our goal of being one of the top three providers of wind power equipment in China by 2010. We will be focusing on strengthening our supply chain management and scaling up manufacturing capacity so we can go after new customers later in 2008."
In June, 2007, Hanwei announced that Daqing Harvest Longwall High Pressure Pipe Co. Ltd., its 82.15-per-cent-owned subsidiary, had signed a co-operation agreement with Deta that included an initial order to manufacture approximately 200 million renminbi ($28.4-million) worth of wind power products, including turbines, blades and towers, and an expression of intent to place additional orders with Harvest for wind power products in the amount of 600 million renminbi ($85.3-million) in 2008 and 900 million renminbi ($128-million) in 2009, subject to satisfactory completion by Harvest of the 2007 order. The co-operation agreement stipulated that Harvest is entitled to earn a net profit after tax return of 15 per cent on the 1.7 billion renminbi ($242-million) worth of wind power equipment orders intended to be placed over the three years. The June, 2007, press release also disclosed that Deta, a privately owned Chinese company, had signed an agreement with Ruihao, a privately owned Chinese company based in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, China to provide wind power equipment. Subsequent to the June release, Hanwei established a 100-per-cent-owned wind power equipment subsidiary in Daqing and commenced the production of wind power turbines, blades and towers. Ruihao has an exclusive right to develop wind power in Durbert Mongolia Autonomous county in Heilongjiang province and plans to develop over 1,200 megawatts of wind power in that region, and is in various stages of testing and development in other areas of the Heilongjiang province.
Wind power operations update
As of Dec. 31, 2007, Hanwei delivered three sets of blades, 30 towers and various electrical accessories under its current wind power contract. Four turbines have been completed and are being tested by Hanwei with a target delivery of Feb. 15, 2008. The previously announced revised delivery was to be 10 sets of blades, 30 towers and four turbines by Dec. 31, 2007, however in co-operation with Deta and Ruihao, the companies have mutually agreed to the attached delivery schedule:
* An additional 16 turbines by March 31, 2007, completing the first order of 20 turbines;
* Field testing of the three sets of wind power blades to be completed in early March, 2008, with blade manufacturing recommencing upon satisfactory field testing. It is expected that delivery of the remaining 17 blade sets will be completed after March 31, 2007, and the final delivery schedule for the blades will be agreed upon after the field testing.
The delays were caused primarily by supply chain issues on the turbines and by production delays on the blades. Hanwei has taken several steps to address these issues including the hiring of additional technical personnel with experience working for Chinese wind power companies in blade manufacturing, turbine manufacturing and control systems. Hanwei now has 170 employees in wind power, including 22 in engineering and quality control, 23 in administration and accounting, and 125 in production (technicians, skilled labour and production support). In addition, the company is investigating potential licence agreements and joint ventures that would further strengthen its technology and manufacturing capabilities.
We seek Safe Harbor.
Weather station feeds Naikun data for B.C. Coastal wind farm location
Nathan Vanderklippe , Financial Post Published: Saturday, September 29, 2007
A $2.5-million offshore weather station installed off the windy northern coast of British Columbia is the first of its kind in North America and a major milestone for NaiKun Wind Energy Group Inc., a company focused on building a 320-megawatt wind farm off the coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
The bright-yellow weather station -- called a meteorological mast -- is fitted with such high-tech instruments as an acoustic Doppler current profiler, used to measure waves and currents, and wind gauges, which will allow NaiKun to determine the best spots to build wind turbines in Hecate Strait, the waterway between the Queen Charlottes and the B.C. mainland.
NaiKun installed the mast earlier this week. Its share price has risen from under a quarter to nearly $3 in the past year, and while it remains a high-risk stock, Northern Securities analyst David Brill wrote in a research note this week that the company is well-positioned to plug into B.C.'s growing power demands.
"This is very much a milestone and a harbinger of things to come from NaiKun," he wrote, and maintained his "speculative buy" rating on the company.
One concern is the delay in BC Hydro's 2007 call for power, which will now not likely pick winners until spring of next year, delaying NaiKun's plans.
"But, the call is now a 'clean' call; that is, BC Hydro is looking for clean, renewable energy, exactly what NaiKun will produce," Mr. Brill wrote.
"While we do not expect much more news to drive the price of the stock up in the near future, we are of the opinion that NaiKun will get a [power purchase agreement] and consequently, we are reiterating
our 12-month target price of $4.20."
Seeing green in cleantech - Wendy Tanaka
Cleantech investing reached critical mass this year , based on the dollars dumped into such companies by venture capital investors.
Venture investment in North American and European cleantech companies for the first three quarters rose to US$3.6 billion--up 28% in contrast to the same period a year ago, according to Cleantech Group, a research firm in Brighton, Mich. The organization estimates that venture investments in China, another hotbed of cleantech innovation, will reach US$580 million for all of 2007, up 38% from 2006 investments.
And given that many venture investors hope to see their bets pay off in roughly five years' time, those investments should be strong clues about what companies bear watching over the next few years.
As environmental concerns grow worldwide, investors have been steadily investing in the sector for the past decade, says Ron Pernick, author of The Cleantech Revolution. He estimates that less than 1% of total venture capital investment went to cleantech in 1999; this year, investment could exceed 10%.
Of course, it's not just about saving the environment. Investors are hoping for huge returns. But to make a dent in energy markets, even young companies need scale, requiring investors to plow enormous sums in often fledgling businesses. Recycled Energy Development of Westmont, Ill., raised an eye-popping US$500 million this year--the biggest investment so far in 2007, according to Cleantech Group. Others such as Brazilian Renewable Energy, Spain's Isofoton and Palo Alto, Calif.-based Project Better Place raised about US$200 million apiece.
Industry experts say cleantech investment amounts typically far exceed those for software or Web 2.0 companies because cleantech companies are more labour and capital intensive. These companies often need to build factories and buy expensive industrial equipment to produce environment-friendly electricity, gasoline and other types of power.
Software and Web 2.0 companies, by contrast, can be bootstrapped with more modest funds and less overhead. The main investment is a computer. "The financial instruments for the high-tech market cycle don't work as well in cleantech," says Cleantech Group Managing Partner John Balbach. "The typical venture pattern in high-tech was that you put US$25 million to US$30 million tops in a company. In cleantech, Series A [funding] might be US$5 million; Series B might be US$50 million." And it's not uncommon for cleantech companies to raise several more rounds of funding.
The payout for cleantech investments so far have been stock market pops. Demonstrating consistent revenue growth and profits takes most such companies five to eight years, says Stephan Dolezalek, a managing director at VantagePoint Venture Partners.
"Cleantech investing is mostly large in scale, large in risk and large in potential rewards," Dolezalek says. "If you're investing hundreds of millions for an outcome that can be billions, [the investment is] not out of balance."
The relative flood of money flowing into cleantech has also drawn investors and executives from diverse high-tech fields looking for opportunities. This has caused some industry experts to question whether investors and executives really understand what they're getting into.
Dolezalek is sceptical of investors who lack the right background. "You certainly can't take somebody who was an Internet investor and go after all of cleantech," he says.
Samir Kaul, a founding general partner at Khosla Ventures, one of the premier cleantech venture firms, says investors likely will have done their homework out of necessity. "As you build more and more companies, your bar for investing continues to rise and rise" because investors can't spend a lot of time on marginal business, he says.
Still, the odds of making it in cleantech might be tougher than other areas of tech. "I don't think you're going to see as many successful companies in cleantech compared with Internet and software," Dolezalek says. "In cleantech, you might see a half-dozen successful solar companies. The lowest cost provider wins. You don't need as many flavours of energy they way you need flavours of Internet."
Winfield downgraded to NEX, symbol change
2007-12-24 13:57 ET - Symbol Change
In accordance with the TSX Venture Exchange Policy 2.5, the company has not maintained the requirements for a TSX-V Tier 2 company. Therefore, effective the opening on Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007, the company's listing will transfer to NEX, the company's tier classification will change from Tier 2 to NEX, and the filing and service office will change from Vancouver to NEX.
As of Dec. 24, 2007, the company is subject to restrictions on share issuances and certain types of payments as set out in the NEX policies.
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