Client plug

While composing some notes and comments from the Fifth Conference on Clean Energy (my attendance at which was cut short due to illness), a little plug for Treeno Software, a Portsmouth based maker of enterprise content management (ECM) systems.

The firm’s recent push into the SaaS area has been a success, and after launching and integration unit with Salesforce.com earlier this fall, they have now launched a QuickBooks integration module. Tax season is not too far away, and I think it will take until the aftermath of the tax season for people to realize truly how useful automated document management can be when integrated with a program like Quick Books. Check the link here.

Mass Lightening Up?

Just a quick note to point out yesterday’s Globe story that reports the state (Commonwealth) of Massachusetts has proposed a bill that would ease the permitting process for wind projects in the state.

The bill has been proposed by the Governor’s office, which has conceded that without such permitting and process reform the Governor’s quest to reach 2,000 megawatts of wind power in the state by 2020 is virtually unattainable, according to the Globe story. With a current production rate of about seven megawatts, and project after project getting mired in legal wranglings, that seems to go without saying.

See a kind of synopsis of the bill here.

Without getting into the sometimes very emotional debate of turbine siting, nor the specific procedures of the bill, the very action of trying to streamline this process is a good thing. I am happy to see the state finally take a look at this, even if it means some sites will be denied more quickly, it could save developers time and money in project development, allowing them to allocate those resources to areas that may be more successful.

The fact is that Massachusetts is very short on natural resources when it comes to fossil fuels, and alternatives are going to have to be developed and grown in the state if it is to stay on the leading edge of both energy production and  environmental responsibility.

What I don’t see included in the bill is a stipulation for ocean, wave or current driven power sources. A personal favorite of mine, I understand they are taking it one step at a time, and with the Cape Wind debacle the national and international identifier for the Massachusetts wind community, I can’t blame them for focusing on wind. However, I wish they put a little more forward thinking into it.

Ocean, wave and even river power may be a ways away, in terms of large-scale deployment, but developers of such technology are going to run into the same problems as wind developers, and it is going to take years to get the wording of this bill, which i assume will be the one that covers hydro-turbines, to include them, and that will be a loss.

I Live! The Conference on Clean Energy and Other Bits

My apologies for the extended hiatus – through from the looks of readership, not many people noticed. Trying to generate revenue in other areas while also keeping up with the blog has been challenging, but I am getting there.

 

Just because I have been quiet on the blog of late, that doesn’t mean I have been out of the game completely. I should have brief updates with a handful of New England based clean tech companies with which I have spoken in the coming days, including EnerNOC, Mascoma and 1366 Technologies.

 

Today, I simply wanted to pass along some information.  If there is anyone out there interested in the clean technology/clean energy sector in New England, it is pretty much a requirement that they attend next week’s Fifth Conference on Clean Energy at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Check the site for details, as there are clean energy related events happening all week.

 

I have attended this event for the past four years and it has grown leaps and bounds every year. It is a great place to see what new technologies will be working towards commercialization over the next few years and boasts a who’s who of the local clean tech community. If anyone wants to meet me at the conference, drop me a line and we’ll see if we can set something up.

 

Tidal Power, Power Shifts and Corn Dogs

Some news highlights to get me current after a week of vacation in scenic Des Moines, Iowa (more to follow).

- First, in one of my favorite clean power segments, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the state of Maine have agreed to work together to review possible tidal power energy projects off the coast of Maine. For FERC, which holds a lot of power when it comes to getting the physical plant of any new power project up and running, this is the first such agreement on the East Coast. The Commission already has similar MOUs with Oregon and Washington.

But the announcement also bodes very well for Maine-based Ocean Renewable Power Co., which has already tested a tidal power system in the Bay of Fundy, and the University of Maine, which landed $1 million in funds this past spring for such initiatives. (Which I covered here at my previous employer).

Ocean Renewable Power’s earlier test was a 40 kilowatt unit. But according to a story by GreenTech Media, the new FERC agreement has the firm looking for a pilot test license for a stack of four 250-kilowatt units that could yield a megawatt of power in 2010.

I am a big fan of both tidal and wave power, and while I realize the runway for these technologies to get to being a significant part of the energy portfolio could be very long, it is great to see FERC moving encouraging the testing and research.

- Cellulosic ethanol developer Mascoma has embarked on a search for a new CEO in its quest to both land new funding and take its next step to commercialization. Current CEO Bruce Jamerson will transition to chairman, while Dr. Jim Flatt will serve as acting president until a new CEO is brought on board.

So break out the resumes, folks. Mascoma is looking for someone with experience in the commercialization of biotechnology and/or chemicals, and I assume experience with raising funding wouldn’t hurt.

- And it would not be mid-summer without and Iowa State Fair reference, as it my wife’s home state and our pilgrimage to the fair Fair has become a yearly tradition. Without detailing the social aspects of the trip (corn dogs and pork chops on a stick were involved), it should be noted that Iowa is working hard to become a leader in wind power, evidenced by the wind turbine erected at the center of the fairgrounds, and the state’s recent surge to the second most prolific generator of wind power in the country.

But it has also not forsaken other environmental improvements, as detailed here in a story from the Des Moines Register. So take note, New Englanders, much of the country is hot on our heels when it comes to promoting a green lifestyle, and evangelists are not just located on the coasts.

UMass, MIT land share of $377 million in DOE funds

The Department of Energy yesterday announced  a round of $377 million in funding to the nation’s universities and research community for the development of “Energy Frontier Research Centers” – and since it is a government project, it of course has an acronym, EFRCs.

The program sound intriguing. According to the release distributed by the DOE and Secretary Steven Chu, the EFRCs will be established at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms across the nation with the goal of accelerating “the scientific breakthroughs needed to build a new 21st-century energy economy.”

Details of the actual investment below, but of the 46 organizations granted awards, which were chosen last year, only three are located in New England, two for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one for the University of Massachusetts.

Each award, which range from $10 million to $22.5 million over the next five years, is being allocated to fairly specific technology development program. In the case of the three Massachusetts awards, all three are aimed, to varying degrees, at the development of solar energy and materials.

At MIT, for example, $17.5 million will go to the school’s Solid State Solar Thermal Conversion Center (another unwieldy acronym – S3TEC Center), led by Gang Chen, who is one of the leads of MIT’s NanoEngineering Group. The group is working on using nanomaterials for thermal electric conduction.

The other MIT group receiving funding – $19 million – is Marc Baldo and the Center for Excitonics, which is researching “charge carriers” and their relation to new materials which could help in the conversion of solar energy and electricity storage.

At UMass Amherst, Thomas Russell’s Polymer Science  group will receive $16 million for the development of “self-assembled polymer materials in systems for the conversion of sunlight into electricity,” which in layman’s terms, I assume, means thin-film, polymer-based photovoltaic materials.

In fact, solar and photovoltaics seems to be the technology of choice for researchers, with 19 of the 46 organizations working in some way with the conversion of sunlight into electricity.

Some of the funding – $100 million – comes from the 2009 federal budget, while $277 million is coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Package). All told, 31 universities, 12 DOE National Labs and two non-profit organizations will recieve funding under the program. One corporate entity – General Electric Global Research – is also included in the program.

I think the message here is that the DOE, as well as the nation’s research community, feel the meeting of solar power and nanomaterials has the potential to yield very significant technological gains, and soon. Very few of the programs awarded funding seem to be focused on technologies or ideas that have a long road to practical implementation, unlike solar power, which is already a proven, though not totally cost or energy efficient, model.

Now that’s an energy policy I can get behind

If there were any doubt that every industry under the damaging sun is looking to clean energy and green power for some kind of pick me up during the ongoing (though possibly rebounding) financial crisis, here is proof positive.

According to an article from the BBC this week, a brothel (yes, that means whorehouse) in Germany is offering discounts for customers that arrive at the establishment on bicycle or bring proof of taking public transportation.

The Berlin neighborhood in which the brothel resides – prostitution is legal in Germany – has apparently been experiencing traffic congestion, and like any neighborhood business, the brothel is just trying to do its part.

And let’s face it, the owner’s brilliant explanation of his plan could be a mission statement for almost every clean energy company in the world:

“It’s good for business, it’s good for the environment and it’s good for the girls,” said owner Thomas Goetz.

First Wind Scores Big Money for Maine Project

News came out today that Newton-based wind developer  and operator First Wind has closed $191 million through two financing events.

The first, an eight-and-a-half-year $115 million term loan, comes from Canada-based Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMco) and is expected to be used for general development purposes.

The second is a one-year loan totaling $76 million, provided by Germany-based HSH Nordbank, and slated for use in First Wind’s Stetson Project in Maine, which executives call “the largest operational utility-scale wind farm in New England.” The first phase of the Stetson wind farm became operational in January of this year, while First Wind received approval for a second phase, which would add 17 turbines to the Washington county-based site, this spring. Once operational, both sites are expected to boast over 50 turbines and generate enough power to support 23,000 local homes.

I find it intriguing that First Wind, which filed for a $450 million initial public offering almost a year ago but has yet to bring it to market, has found such significant financing overseas.

First Wind, has projects under development or operational in 10 states, as well as Canada, and has raised a total of $567 million.

First Wind has also been busy building its project in Utah, which will boast 97 turbines. In June, the company began erecting the towers and installing  the blades at the sit in Milford, Utah. Contacts sent along some pictures as well.

Turbines going up in Utah

Clean Engines

In a CNET article this week,  a Florida company called Cyclone Power Inc. has teamed with Maryland-based Robotic Technology to develop a self-fueling autonomous vehicle, or Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR), if you want to get technical. Cool, indeed, but not all that related to New England, unless you dig a little deeper.

The key here is that Cyclone Power is providing the vehicle’s engine, a kind of modern steam engine that converts heat to energy using most any fuel, from wood and biomass to traditional fuels. While Cyclone itself is participating in the EATR project, the company has also licensed some of its technology to Waste Heat Resources Inc., a Londonderry NH company that was launched earlier this year, working to add some of its own technology to the engine to produce a waste heat generator for use in high-heat industrial manufacturing processes.

Waste Heat Resources already has a couple of pilot projects in the works, I was told several weeks ago, including an ongoing test at the Grafton, Mass., plant of Wyman-Gordon, a maker of metal components for a variety of industries.

Engine technology has become an area of particular interest for me. As the nation, and world, move from fossil fuels to other energy sources, the traditional internal combustion engine is being seen more and more as a dinosaur. The fact is, the basic setup of those engines, from those powering lawnmowers and weed whackers to those in vehicles and even large ships, has gone unchanged for some time.

Exploration in this area is certainly needed, and a handful of inventors/entrepreneurs have been attacking the opportunity for some time. See West Springfield-based Scuderi Group LLC, which unveiled its prototype “split-cycle” engine to the automotive industry this spring, or ReGen Power Systems LLC in New Salem MA, which is using the Stirling principle to generate energy from waste heat within the engine.

Tuesday news highlights

1. It seems Rob Day, formerly of @Ventures in Cambridge has left that firm for alternative energy startup investor Black Coral Capital www.blackcoralcapital.com/about.html. Seems interesting that even as some of the larger firms seem to be moving away from clean tech investments – see the recent abandonment of Greenfuel Technologies Inc. and SiCortex Inc. – newer funds such as Black Coral and Chuck Digate’s Clean Energy Investment Partners, neither of which has announced an investment, continue to remain bullish on the space.
2. New Zealand-based World Energy Research and Vancouver based ocean power technology developer Blue Energy, have entered into a $500 million http://www.worldenergyresearch.com/NewsDetails.aspx?id=33 deal that could bring tidal power to Canada. While the announcement didn’t specify, it is assumed that the deployment would be on Canada’s West Coast, close to Blue Energy’s headquarters.