New report says renewables could supply 25% of power for southeast US

More than 25 percent of the Southeast U.S. electricity could come from renewable energy supplies by 2025, according to a new report released today by the World Resources Institute (WRI), Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), and Southface.
If the right actions are taken these renewable technologies could also create tens of thousands of high-paying new jobs, the report says, while protecting the environment.

The report is especially timely as the Florida legislature is currently debating the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard, to determine how far far to push power companies down the renewable path. Renewable energy currently only supplies about 5 per cent of power for the southeast (less than 4% in Florida).

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has proposed that utilities produce 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, but there is debate about how to achieve this goal, and whether nuclear should be included.

A cautionary lesson in the green energy gold rush. The tale of Green Power Systems and Controlsud.

In order to explain his clean energy policy Florida Governor Charlie Crist likes to say "there's gold in green."
That was his pitch on Day One of a trade mission to Brazil in late 2007, part of the
state's efforts to boost alternative energy.
Crist got the trade mission off to a bright start by announcing a $182 million investment by a Brazilian company Controlsud International in a Florida start-up, Renewable Fuels of Tallahassee, to produce clean energy for the state capital.

But things didn't turn out the way everyone hoped. Instead, the failed deal became a cautionary lesson in the dangers of rushing into green energy without doing proper due dilligence.
Read the full story here.

(in the photo: left to right: Ingo Krieg, Green Power Systems; Charlie Crist; Alberto Grosso, Controlsud International at the signing ceremony in Brazil, Nov 2007. Photo from the official website of Gov Crist.)

- David Adams, Times staff writer.

A portable waste-to-energy machine.

A company in Massachusetts has come up with a portable waste-to-energy converter, which it is calling the GEM (Green Energy Machine).
It's a nifty idea. The GEM can turn 2-3 tons of paper, plastic, food, wood and agricultural waste into electricity and gas heat every day, with an estimated reduction of greenhouse gasses by 540 tons per year.
Made by IST Energy, the GEM also powers itself with the clean energy it produces. Standing only eight feet high and about 20 feet long, it's makers say it can be transported on site for special events. As an example, the company cites this past New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square which produced 40 tons of trash. Next year, the GEM could be placed on site and convert the celebration’s trash into energy, enabling a cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly alternative,” said spokesman, Ben Haber.

Here's a link for more information on the GEM.

- David Adams

'Recession-busting' investors looks to renewable energy

A British firm, Keydata, is one of several fund managers seeking to offset the current recession with investments in renewable energy sources.

The company is seeking to raise $244.1-million for a new fund investing in small-scale power plants in Europe that generate electricity from wood waste, according to Reuters. (See my previous post on Florida Crystals wood waste power plant at Okeelanta, neat Lake Okeechobee.)

Keydata says wood waste power plants are currently more efficient than wind farms. In the UK, providers of renewable electricity are awarded a Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) for every megawatt hour they produce. The ROCs are then sold to mainstream electricity suppliers aiming to meet a renewables output quota each year.

David Adams, Times staff writer

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Florida offers grants for energy projects

The state of Florida is seeking proposals for renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects under a $15-million grant program. The program is open to local governments, state agencies, universities, as well as private firms and nonprofit organizations.
Each grant is worth up to $2.5-million, with at least $8-million going to bioenergy projects.

-- David Adams, Times staff writer

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University of Florida unveils cellulosic ethanol pilot plant

A new cellulosic ethanol pilot plant was formally unveiled at the University of Florida last week, designed to find efficient means to produce fuel ethanol from plant waste, from agriculture and yard trimmings. 

The plant is one of many efforts around the country to make ethanol fuel from non-food sources, thereby eliminating one of the major criticisms of current corn-based ethanol production in the U.S..

Research at the plant is being led by microbiologist Lonnie Ingram, director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels, (see profile in the St Petersburg Times) who has conducted pioneering work on genetically engineered bacteria that are capable of breaking down plant material to extract ethanol.

Ingram estimates that half of Florida’s imported petroleum could be replaced with cellulosic ethanol if the state begins to grow more specialized energy crops and exploits existing plant waste.

“The mission of agriculture has always been to produce food, feed and fiber,” Ingram said. “Today, that needs to be food, feed, fuel and fiber.”

The biofuels pilot plant was made possible as part of $4.5 million awarded by the Board of Governors of the State University System to the University of Florida as part of its Centers of Excellence program.

- David Adams, Times staff writer

Renewable credits extended -- thanks to the Wall Street bailout bill

As the Fueling Station has previously reported, the folks in the business of producing energy from wind, solar and other renewables were sweating out the end of their federal tax breaks, due to expire Dec. 31. The House and Senate were at an impasse as recently as last week, and there was talk that a new president would have to deal with the situation next year.

But then the folks in the Senate got the bright idea of attaching those $17-billion in credits to the big Wall Street bailout bill (big news here, by the way, since Florida Power & Light is the biggest solar and wind power producer in the country).

"The House of Representatives passed legislation on Friday extending billions of dollars in tax credits for the solar, wind and biodiesel industries, ending months of uncertainty for renewable energy companies," Reuters is now reporting. "The House voted 263 to 171 in favor of the tax breaks Friday as a part of the $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street. This package was overwhelmingly passed by the Senate earlier this week."

Want the nuts and bolts? Reuters says: "The legislation extends for one year the production tax credit for wind energy, with an eight-year extension for investment tax credits for businesses and homeowners to install solar energy equipment. Buyers of plug-in electric cars would receive tax credits ranging from $2,500 to $7,500. The bill also extends a $1 per gallon production tax credit for biodiesel through 2009."

While the credits hung fire, "dozens of large wind and solar projects, originally scheduled to be built in 2009, had been put on hold," U.S. News and World Report pointed out. "Now, once again, they may start to move forward."    

Of course, there won't be as many players on the field now to back those renewable projects. "The only kinds of people who could take advantage of these tax credits were the largest, most profitable corporations, like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, or other big players like General Electric," a lawyer specializing in renewable energy financing told the magazine.

--Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

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New ethanol project in Florida using sweet sorghum

Farmland around Lake Okeechobee is attracting the interest of companies hoping to make ethanol for blending with the state's gasoline.
A Fort Lauderdale company plans to build three plants in the lake area to produce up to 100 million gallons of ethanol using locally grown sweet sorghum, a plant similar to sugar cane.
"We are currently negotiating with four top farming entities in the state," says Aaron Pepper, CEO of Southeast Renewable Fuels (SRF), a start-up company hoping to break into the growing biofuels market. Earlier this year Florida passed legislation requiring that all state gasoline contain at least 10 per cent ethanol, creating a market for one billion gallons. (see photo of Pepper inspecting sweet sorghum field trials)
"This is an untapped market," Pepper adds, noting that the state's ethanol is currently imported by truck or ship from Midwest plants that make it from corn. Some sugar-cane ethanol is also imported from Brazil and the Caribbean.

Florida sugar company pushes renewables debate

There's an emerging player in the renewable energy debate in Florida, according to an article today in the St. Petersburg Times. The sugar company, Florida Crystals, is mounting an offensive to get rules changed in the state to encourage greater renewable energy.

That's because the company operates a large biomass power plant next to its Okeelanta sugar mill that produces energy for the mill and sells excess power to the grid. The company says it wants to expand its renewable energy business.

The company is also looking into using the sugar cane waste (bagasse) to make ethanol, rather than burn it. Using its sugar cane for ethanol wouldn’t make sense, the company says, because of the price it gets for refined sugar under a federal program.

Crist endorses building ethanol plant at U.S. Sugar mill being bought for Everglades restoration

Gov. Charlie Crist has endorsed a plan to build an ethanol plant on land that the state is trying to buy from U.S. Sugar for Everglades restoration.

Because he’s concerned about the fate of the 1,800 U.S. Sugar employees who depend on the company to survive, converting that land to ethanol production “is one of the things I’d like to see,” Crist said Wednesday in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times.

Although Crist did not endorse a project by a specific company, an ethanol manufacturer backed by General Motors has already spent several months negotiating with U.S. Sugar to build a plant on its land.

Negotiations with the ethanol company, Coskata, have been on hold while talks about the buyout proceed, said Robert Coker of U.S. Sugar, “but depending on what happens in the next month or so, we’ll probably be sitting back down with them.”

Most ethanol manufacturing plants are built to produce 50 million gallons a year, Coker said. “We were talking about a facility that was substantially larger,” the sugar executive said.

Coskata, an Illinois-based firm, is backed not only by GM but also by Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, who was one of the keynote speakers at Crist's 2007 climate change summit in Miami. The company specializes in turning waste products such as sugar cane leaves into ethanol, and its executives boast that when their demonstration plant in Madison, Penn., opens next year they will be able to produce ethanol for about $1 a gallon.

[AP photo of U.S. Sugar's mill in Clewiston]

--Craig Pittman and Steve Bousquet