The new cellulosic ethanol facilities will be essential to meet the newly revised Renewable Fuel Standard, which sets a federal requirement for the sale of 6.5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol over the course of this year. That requirement will ramp up to 16 billion gallons by 2022. See the Abengoa Bioenergy press release and the article from the EERE Network News on the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Two demonstration-scale plants have recently started up. Last October, Coskata Inc., a developer of biofuels, announced the launch of their semi-commercial cellulosic ethanol facility located in Madison, Pennsylvania. Coskata's facility will produce ethanol from numerous feedstocks, including wood biomass, agricultural waste, sustainable energy crops, and construction waste.
And on January 29, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC and University of Tennessee/Genera Energy celebrated the grand opening of their first cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant, which converts both agricultural residue and bioenergy crops into ethanol. The facility, located in Vonore, Tennessee, has the capacity to produce 250,000 gallons a year from corn cobs and switchgrass. The company intends to achieve commercial production by 2012. See the press releases from Coskata and DDCE.
Global Investments in Clean Energy Fell Less than Expected in 2009
Worldwide investment in clean energy totaled $145 billion in 2009, down 6.5% from the record 2008 figure of $155 billion, according to market research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The largest global investment was $92 billion, spent on building assets such as wind farms, solar parks, and biofuel plants.
Their report credits a boom in China's wind development for a 25% spending increase in that region, compared to a 25% drop in the Americas. China spent $21.8 billion on wind farms, a 27% increase over 2008, and nearly doubled spending on solar projects, reaching $1.9 billion in 2009.
Globally, such asset financing was down 5% from 2008, while investments in public clean energy companies dropped 5%, at $13.1 billion. Venture capital and private equity funds fell 44% in 2009, dropping to $6.6 billion. See the Bloomberg press release (PDF 23 KB).
The findings on VC investments are backed up by the Cleantech Group - preliminary 2009 results for clean tech VC investments in North America, Europe, China, and India totaled $5.6 billion in 557 deals, down from $8.4 billion in 567 deals recorded in 2008.
Looking at just the US, consulting firm Ernst & Young found a similar trend - VC investments in 2009 fell 50% to $2.6 billion. There was a shift toward less capital-intensive energy efficiency technologies, which resulted in many deals but less total investment.
The Cleantech Group notes that four of the five largest funding rounds in 2009 were for U.S.-based companies: thin-film solar company Solyndra raised $198 million; advanced battery developer A123 Systems raised $100 million; Silver Spring Networks, a smart grid company, raised $100 million; and fuel-efficient automaker V-Vehicle raised $100 million. See the press releases from the CleanTech Group and Ernst & Young.
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EREE Network News is a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
