92 MW Solar Plant & Biomass Plant Announced For New Mexico

Solar thermal, woody biomass plants coming to New Mexico

By Matthew Reichbach 6/12/09 7:29 AM

There were two announcements on Thursday about renewable energy plants coming to New Mexico.

Gov. Bill Richardson announced a solar thermal plant which will be built in Santa Teresa, and members of the state’s congressional delegation announced a woody biomass plant in southern New Mexico.

The solar thermal plant, which a Richardson press release called “New Mexico’s Suntower” will be a 92 megawatt concentrating solar thermal facility.

This plant will not be operating with the photovoltaic panels that many think of when they hear about solar energy.

Solar thermal power, according to the Economist , is created when “mirrors concentrate sunlight to produce heat. That heat is then used to create steam, which in turn drives a turbine to generate electricity.”

U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman and U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, meanwhile, announced today that a woody biomass facility will be coming to New Mexico because of the stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama earlier this year.

The $2.5 million in funding will go towards a Woody Biomass Energy Development project. The project includes 5 megawatt wood pellet production plant which will work with a Mescalero Apache Tribe sawmill.

The plant will run from wood from forest-thinning designed to protect the Lincoln National Forest from fire danger.

“It not only helps us continue our shift toward renewable energy, it also allows us to responsibly thin forested communities,” Bingaman, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said of the biomass plant, is quoted as saying in a statement.

“This cutting-edge facility will turn New Mexico’s renewable energy potential into reality, and it will add a green boost to our economy,” Richardson said of the solar thermal plant in a release.

Richardson also said that the plant will keep “our state on the path toward efficiently utilizing our natural resources and moving us toward a clean energy economy.”

So why solar thermal? Again from the Economist:

Solar-thermal power stations have several advantages over solar-photovoltaic projects. They are typically built on a much larger scale, and historically their costs have been much lower. Compared with other renewable sources of energy, they are probably best able to match a utility’s electrical load, says Nathaniel Bullard of New Energy Finance, a research firm. They work best when it is hottest and demand is greatest. And the heat they generate can be stored, so the output of a solar-thermal plant does not fluctuate as wildly as that of a photovoltaic system. Moreover, since they use a turbine to generate electricity from heat, most solar-thermal plants can be easily and inexpensively supplemented with natural-gas boilers, enabling them to perform as reliably as a fossil-fuel power plant.

The solar thermal plant will provide 220 “green” construction jobs in southern New Mexico, and will provide more than 20 permanent, full-time jobs when the plant is fully operational.

Bingaman, Udall and Teague, all New Mexico Democrats, each praised the fact that the biomass plant would create jobs, but a specific number was not provided.

Big Wind in San Diego

Wind-farm project set for Campo reservation

160 megawatts to power 104,000 homes at peak

By Onell R. Soto

Union-Tribune Staff Writer

Subcontractor Keith Phillips walked out of a giant turbine tower on the Campo Indian Reservation. (2006 file photo / Union-Tribune) -

An Indian tribe, an energy company and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. are announcing today that they are partnering to build California's second-largest wind-power project in the mountains east of San Diego.

When completed in two years, the 160-megawatt wind farm on the Campo Indian Reservation would produce more than three times the power generated by a similar project on the same reservation 60 miles east of San Diego.

That 25-turbine project, visible to motorists on Interstate 8 since its completion in 2005, is the only wind farm on an Indian reservation in the country, although more are in the works.

The location of as many as 100 new windmills on the reservation depends on the results of tests involving meteorological towers and an environmental review.

Chicago-based Invenergy will build and run the $300 million project and SDG&E will buy the power, enough for 104,000 homes at peak production. Energy production will depend on how often and how hard the wind blows.

The tribe will have an equity stake and hopes to eventually own the project, tribal Chairwoman Monique La Chappa said.

SDG&E's participation beyond buying the power is undetermined.

“We're still negotiating the final details of the terms,” spokesman Brian Brokowski said.

The project will provide revenue for the tribal government at a time when the economic slump has hit its Golden Acorn Casino & Travel Center, La Chappa said.

“I'm just thankful we have the opportunity to expand and to utilize the environment to provide a service to not only our community, but also to the outside community and the state of California,” she said.

Invenergy will help the tribe build two turbines to power the casino, La Chappa said. Other projects on the reservation have been delayed, including a hotel and a landfill.

Because the energy project is on a reservation, it will require approval from federal and tribal governments, but not state officials.

“We anticipate a very thorough permitting process where the public will be able to comment on the project,” La Chappa said. “We look forward to a dialogue with the community.”

Experts say the county could produce 1,000 to 2,000 megawatts from wind, but many of the windiest areas have not been developed for energy production because they are protected as parks, forests or wilderness, or because the transmission lines don't exist.

Wind developers are now looking to put turbines on ridge tops — primarily on federal or tribal land — to capture steady breezes and cash in on a movement toward green energy production.

“Development in the region will be on tribal land first,” said Scott Debenham, a Lakeside businessman whose company develops wind projects. On reservations, miles of ridges are under the same ownership and the permit process is more streamlined.

Federal land, including vast tracts owned by the Bureau of Land Management, will be next, Debenham said.

The Obama administration is supporting wind projects on reservations and is holding Campo up as an example.

“Indian country offers some of the premier wind-energy sites in the United States,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told Indian leaders in March, when he announced that his department has identified 77 reservations that could support “wind-based economies.”

Activists in East County's backcountry have warned that big wind projects threaten to industrialize a rural and sparsely populated part of the county.

Donna Tisdale, who heads a local planning advisory group, has complained that the wind turbines are ugly and noisy, and could cause fires. She has long worried about an expansion on the Campo reservation.

“It would be pretty devastating to property values,” Tisdale said in an interview a few months ago. She couldn't be reached for comment last night.

Tisdale's fear is that the area would replicate the landscape in Riverside County's San Gorgonio Pass, where developers have built electric windmills that stretch seemingly to the horizon.

That and two other regions — the Tehachapi Pass north of Los Angeles and the Altamont Pass east of San Francisco — dominate the state's wind production, which totals 2.6 gigawatts. Texas and Iowa produce more power from wind.

The largest wind project in California is in Solano County.

Invenergy Vice President Mick Baird said the effects of wind turbines have to be looked at in context.

“It's in the eye of the beholder,” he said when told that some people find windmills ugly.

The company will work with tribal and federal officials to place the windmills where they will affect the fewest people and limit the possibilities of fires and injuries to wildlife, Baird said.

He said an increase in wind energy will mean less electricity produced from burning natural gas or coal — helping SDG&E meet its goal of providing more than one-third of its power from renewable sources by 2020.

State law requires investor-owned utilities to get 20 percent of their power from non-fossil-fuel plants. SDG&E won't meet that goal, but it said yesterday that it has contracts to get 26 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2012 and is seeking more.

Right now, it buys the production from the 50-megawatt Kumeyaay wind farm on the Campo reservation. It also gets power from two projects in Los Angeles and Riverside counties that total 88 megawatts of capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

SDG&E says it plans to seek more power from wind in East County. A sister company, Sempra Generation, is building a 150- to 200-megawatt wind farm just across the border in Mexico that it says will be the first phase of up to 1,000 megawatts from the wind there.

Onell Soto: (619) 293-1280;

Union-Tribune

In the Union-Tribune on Page A1

Fuel Cell Success Story in Sonoma

FuelCell Energy Sells Power Plant In Sonoma County, California

June 9, 2009

June 9, 2009 (FinancialWire) — FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) has sold a megawatt-class Direct FuelCell(r) (DFC(r)) power plant to California’s Sonoma County to supply 100 percent of the baseload electricity needed to operate a county jail and county office buildings in Santa Rosa.

The DFC1500(tm) power plant will generate 1.4 megawatts of ultra-clean electricity and its byproduct heat will be recovered and used to replace approximately half the natural gas the County currently purchases to make hot water for space heating, cleaning, and cooking. Overall, the County of Sonoma expects significant energy cost savings during the first year of operation.

When operating in a combined heat and power mode such as this, DFC power plants can achieve up to 80 percent efficiency. This high efficiency will substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions. By comparison, typical grid electricity is only 33 percent electrically efficient. In addition, since DFC power plants produce electricity without combustion, they produce near-zero nitrous oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter, and are one of the most effective means of meeting air quality standards with around-the-clock electric generation.

The state of California is one of the country’s leading environmental advocates with over 75 different laws and incentive programs to further the use of clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas production. These include AB32 that caps carbon dioxide emissions; the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard requiring 33 percent clean energy generation by 2020; and its government office building initiative to reduce energy use by 20 percent (1,935 megawatts) by 2015 from a 2003 baseline. Additionally, the California Air Resources Board’s CARB07 strictly regulates distributed generation power plants, specifying limits for nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds. DFC fuel cells meet all of these limits.

Sonoma County considered numerous options before deciding that the DFC unit was the best solution for its needs. The fuel cell installation is a major component of the $22 million Comprehensive Energy Project to make Sonoma County buildings energy efficient, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and meet the reduction targets established in the County’s Climate Protection Action Plan.

Sonoma County’s purchase of the DFC unit through its site contractor AirCon Energy was partially funded with a $3 million grant under California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program administered by Pacific Gas and Electric company. Aircon Energy has been specializing in the design, engineering and installation of comprehensive energy solutions since 1974 with a focus on local governments in the state of California. The DFC power plant is scheduled to be in operation in spring of 2010.

FuelCell Energy is the world leader in the development and production of stationary fuel cells for commercial, industrial, municipal and utility customers.

FinancialWire(tm) is a fully independent, proprietary news wire service. FinancialWire(tm) is not a press release service, and receives no compensation for its news, opinions or distributions. Further disclosure is at the FinancialWire(tm) web site (http://www.financialwire.net/disclosures.php). Contact FinancialWire(tm) directly via inquiries@financialwire.net.

Free annual reports for companies mentioned in the news are available through the Free Annual Reports Service (http://investrend.ar.wilink.com/?level=279).

Ethanol Industry Update - Seeking Alpha

Ethanol Makers Still Trying to Catch a Break from Banks, Debt Holders

by: The Burrill Report June 07, 2009 | about stocks: PEIX / VRNM

The Burrill Report

by MARIE DAGHLIAN

A combination of lower oil prices and challenging financial markets continues to spell disaster for U.S. ethanol companies, with another 10 providers of this first-generation biofuel going belly up in the first five months of 2009. Among the latest was Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), which saw its shares swoon 44 percent to 32 cents on May 19 when five of its six ethanol-producing units filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company had gone public in 2005 with shares debuting at $12.95.

Since the bankruptcy filing, Pacific Ethanol’s share price has been inching up, trading at 46 cents a share on June 4. But like many of its competitors, the Sacramento, California-based company, which reported sales of $700 million in 2008, has been struggling with a shortage of cash, high corn prices, and lower ethanol prices. At the end of October 2008, VeraSun had one of the first companies to go bust, leading to a succession of firms like Pacific Ethanol that have had trouble staying afloat.

Despite government subsidies and clean-fuel mandates, first-generation corn ethanol companies have had a bumpy ride. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 paved the way for capital projects to ramp up ethanol production to meet the new mandate. But the initial euphoria evaporated when record-high spikes in energy and corn prices rocked the market.

The ethanol industry’s expansion had been an economic driver in 2008, according to industry research. A study commissioned by the Renewable Fuels Association said the industry spent $22 billion on materials and labor and another $2.5 billion on grain transportation services. The investment increased production capacity 34 percent to reach 12.5 billion gallons of ethanol a year, well above the federally mandated requirement of 10.6 billion gallons in the nation’s gasoline supply in 2009. The study also found the ethanol industry generated $21 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue.

However, market volatility ended up spelling disaster for companies that had borrowed heavily to increase production capacity. Surging energy and feedstock prices, which reached their peak in June 2008, increased both the demand for ethanol and the cost of production. But as the price of oil plummeted, so did the demand for ethanol and the price it could command. Increased production capacity also depressed ethanol prices. At the same time, the economy took a nosedive, quickly landing many ethanol players in trouble. As capital dried up, plants were idled, production projects stalled, and many producers became unable to make payments on their huge debt loads. Production in 2008 ended up falling slightly short of the 9-billion gallon mandate.

Among some of this year’s other casualties, Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings [AVRNQ.PK] was de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange in March and filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition two weeks later in April, saying it had had nearly $800 million of assets and nearly $491 million of debt at the end of 2008. Once a high flyer, the company's stock debuted at $39.27 in July of 2006. It has been trading around 15 cents a share in recent weeks.

“Ethanol demand has also been negatively affected by refiners and blenders using excess renewable identification numbers (RINs) to help meet their renewable fuels standard obligations instead of purchasing actual gallons of ethanol,” Avertine said in the April 8 statement announcing its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The company also blamed operating margins and high gasoline prices as having negatively affected the ethanol industry. As part of Aventine’s bankruptcy filing, the company and certain holders of its 10 percent senior unsecured notes agreed to a first priority secured debtor-in-possession term loan totaling $30 million so the company could continue operating. However, at the end of May, Aventine began publicly soliciting potential investor interest in order to recapitalize or sell its business, setting a deadline of June 17 the for submissions.

Then there is Cambridge, Massachusetts cellulosic ethanol and enzyme developer Verenium (VRNM), an advanced biofuel company that has attracted a lot of investment, including an ongoing partnership with oil giant BP. The company opened a demonstration-scale cellulosic production facility in Jennings, Louisiana in May 2008 and has plans to build a 36-million gallon commercial facility in Florida in collaboration with BP.

In March, Verenium received a going concern qualification as part of its 10-K form filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as result of doubt on behalf of the auditor that the company can continue to move forward under its heavy debt load and may ultimately need to file for bankruptcy. According to the filing, Verenium has had more than $300 million in net losses over the past three years and an accumulated deficit of $622.6 million as of the end of 2008. If the company is not able to raise additional capital, it will also be on the ropes. Although this has not yet happened, it is interesting to note that its shares went public in February 2003 at $103.88 and once traded as high as $149 a share. On June 4th, they were trading at 65 cents a share.

Even though President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan is focused on advanced biofuels development, which has not yet been commercialized, he has not forgotten first-generation biofuels producers, offering refinancing options to the industry. At the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency is considering a rule that would raise the amount of ethanol that must be blended into gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent. Still, many first-generation biofuel producers continue to struggle to survive, trying to catch a break from banks and debt holders who are reluctant to sell valuable property at fire sale prices. At the same time, oil companies, private equity players, and big agribusinesses are hunting for bargains among the troubled companies. Oil refiner Valero (VLO) paid $477 million in March for seven production facilities belonging to bankrupt VeraSun.

Recently, crude oil futures have been moving toward $70 a barrel, and a bullish oil price forecast to $85 a barrel, issued by Goldman Sachs in the past week, has boosted sentiment among energy investors. Observers might assume that should bode well for ethanol producers, but the recent business failures suggest they may be mistaken.

On a brighter note, not all first-generation ethanol producers are suffering. Privately held Poet, the largest U.S. producer of ethanol, has expressed interest in buying new plants, including ones from recently bankrupt companies, which it claims it can turn around, according to Chief executive Jeff Broin who spoke by telephone with attendees at a recent Reuters Global Energy Summit. The company has developed it own technology for distilling ethanol. Poet, which operates 26 plants in seven Midwest states, has managed to remain profitable even during these difficult economic times.

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