Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
16
-
June 13,
2011
Teru Talk
by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"Terú")
The
Department of Defense years
ago came out with a
step-wise way to measure a
technology's progress from
Idea to Ready for
Commercialization: their
"Technical Readiness
Levels" or TRLs left off
once the widget was off the
bench. Maybe we need a
similar set of steps or
levels that can indicate a
technology's place along
the commercialization
pathway. I’d call them
"Commercial Readiness
Levels", or
CRLs.
Most
well-set companies tend to
have a Model A, a solid
seller, well proven, does
what it is supposed to.
Then there's the New,
Improved Model B: well,
maybe a bit buggy still,
but lots more bells and
whistles. Then back in the
Shop, there's their Future
Model, the place they spend
what little Research and
Development money they may
have.
Ah, yes …
MONEY. There's in-house
"Friends and Family"
self-support funds, and
maybe early Angel
investment. Then comes the
first Valley of Death,
where start-ups
really need Public
Interest Research grants
and incentives to get from
bench to make and begin to
sell that first Model. With
luck and a lot of grit
teeth, venture capital
comes in next to make a
young company out of that
garage full of parts. Then
we stumble: how to
scale-up? So many companies
falter at this stage, it's
been called the Second
Valley of Death: enough
projects to keep everyone
busy, but not enough cash
flow to hire more help, get
fabrication going, and meet
the marketplace head-on.
See our most recent
Focus Report, for more
on the subject of the Role
of VC and Public Funds in
Clean tech.
Hey
Rube!
There are
several Action Items with due
dates this month, including
proposals to Southwestern
Electric Power Company and
Southern California Edison for
renewable energy. Check to see
if any of them are applicable
to
you.
The Week's Extra
Reading
New TERU Focus
Report on California
PIER Venture Forum, The
Roles of VC and Public
Investment in Clean
Technologies. The Forum was
last week and Teru was
there.
The Week's
News
General
Biodiesel Uses Controlled
Cavitation to Pre-Treat
Waste Cooking
Oil
Seattle, Washington based
General Biodiesel pre-treats
incoming waste cooking oil
using a "Shockwave" Power
Reactor (SPR) hydrodynamic
cavitation system developed and
manufactured by Hydro Dynamics,
Inc and provided by Advanced
Biofuel Solutions.
06/10/2011
NY Wood
Pellet Plant Will Produce
85K Tons Annually from Clean
Wood Waste
New England Wood Pellet LLC
(NEWP) held the grand opening
of their $14.5 million wood
pellet manufacturing facility
in Deposit, New York.
06/10/2011
Avantium
Secures $43.5MM Funding for
YXY
Development
Netherlands-based biopolymer
company Avantium has raised EUR
30 million (USD 43.5 million)
from investors and the Dutch
government to advance their
pilot plant development and
bioproducts commercialization.
06/10/2011
Metso
Furnishes 140MWe BioGas
Plant to Replace Coal at
Finnish Power
Facility
Metso will supply Vaskiluodon
Voima Oy with a 140-megawatt
bio-gasification plant for
their coal-fired power plant in
Vaasa, Finland.
06/10/2011
Elevance
Acquires Natchez Biofuels
Facility for
Retrofit
Illinois-based green chemicals
production company Elevance
Renewable Sciences Inc. (ERSI)
has acquired the Delta BioFuels
facility in Natchez,
Mississippi with plans to
convert the facility to a
biorefinery and derivatives
operation.
06/10/2011
Native
Energy
Helps Finance Landfill Gas
to Energy
Project
A Wewoka, Oklahoma landfill's
gas (LFG) emissions will be
used to fuel a nearby brick
factory, financed in part by
the purchase of NativeEnergy’s
Help Build™ carbon offsets by
eBay, Esurance, Designtex,
Ceres, Brighter Planet, and
College of the Atlantic.
06/10/2011
Diamond
Green Diesel Secures Funding
for Louisiana Biodiesel
Plant
Diamond Green Diesel LLC, the
joint venture project between
Valero Energy Corporation and
Darling International Inc., has
secured funding for
construction of its first
biodiesel facility in Louisiana
through a subsidiary of Valero
Energy Corporation.
06/09/2011
University
of North Dakota EERC Makes
Jet Fuel from Coal +
Biomass
The
University of North Dakota,
Energy and Environmental
Research Center (EERC) has
successfully produced
paraffinic kerosene, or jet
fuel, by liquefaction and
refining of combined coal and
biomass.
06/08/2011
SynGest
Biomass to Ammonia Plant
Will Use Honeywell
Technology
San Francisco based SynGest's
proposed 400 ton per day
biomass gasification to ammonia
facility in Iowa will operate
using Honeywell's controls,
instrumentation and advanced
automation through a Memorandum
of Understanding between the
two companies.
06/08/2011
Neste Oil
Fuels Finish Tanker Trucks
with 100% Biodiesel for One
Year
Trial
Neste
Oil's NExBTL renewable diesel
will be assessed in day-to-day
usage in Finland by a fleet of
road tanker trucks for about a
year beginning this month.
06/08/2011
DOE's Waste
Heat to Power Presentations
Are Now Available
Online
The
US Department of Energy's
(DOE) Pacific Clean Energy
Application Center
(
PCEAC
)
staged a webinar May 25, 2011
addressing recovery of
waste industrial heat for
generation of
electricity, and have now
posted the detailed and
instructive presentations
by UC Irvine's
Combustion Lab
guru,
Vincent McDonell, and by
Tom Tillman, TAS Energy,
Houston, Texas.
06/07/2011
Biofuels
Center of NC Awards $1.6MM
Statewide in Biofuels
Grants
The Biofuels Center of North
Carolina (NC) released an
awards list of biofuels
development grants totaling
about $1.6 million for 15
projects state-wide.
06/07/2011
University
of Montana OKs $16MM
Nexterra Gasification Plant
for CHP
The Board of Regents of the
University of Montana approved
the $16 million installation of
a Nexterra biomass gasification
plant for combined heat and
power (CHP) for their Missoula
campus.
06/07/2011
Gwinnett
County Biogas Plant Now
Generating Power from
Waste
The F. Wayne Hill Water
Resources wastewater treatment
plant (WWTP) in Gwinnett
County, Georgia is now
generating electricity from
biomethane that previously had
been flared as waste.
06/06/2011
California's
RPS Target Increases to 33%
for All
Utilities
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has released a
notice that the agency intends
to start implementation of
Senate Bill X1 2 (Simitian,
Chapter 1, Statutes of 2011,
First Extraordinary Session).
06/06/2011
Toronto Zoo
to Fund "Zoo Poo" to Biogas
Plant with RRSP
Bonds
The Toronto Zoo in Ontario,
Canada and community partners
have formed the ZooShare Biogas
Co-operative, offering
Registered Retirement Savings
Plan (RRSP) bonds to community
individuals to build and
operate a 500 kilowatt
anaerobic digestion (AD) biogas
plant.
06/06/2011
The Week's
Action
Items
Due
07/01/2011: Comments to CEC
Docket on 33% RPS
Target
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) is seeking
public comment on the recent
passage and up-coming
implementation of legislation
increasing California's
Renewable Portfolio Standard
(RPS) renewable energy target
to 33% for all utilities by
2020.
06/09/2011
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