Tag Archives: carbon
Canergy selects Chemtex and Beta Renewables for its Cellulosic Ethanol Project in California
Canergy selects Chemtex for the development of their 25 million gallon a year cellulosic biofuels facility to be located in the Imperial Valley of California. Brawley, CA & Wilmington, NC & Tortona, Italy (PRWEB) April 30, 2013 Canergy, LLC, an advanced biofuels company based in California that is focused on the production of ultra-low carbon intensity ethanol from sustainable non-food energy crops, is pleased to announce that it has selected Chemtex, a leader in chemical engineering and renewable processes, and Beta Renewables, a global leader in cellulosic bio-fuels, for the development of their 25 million gallon a year cellulosic biofuels facility to be located in the Imperial Valley of California. Construction of the new facility is targeted to begin in Q1, 2014 pending successful completion of permitting and financial activities. The facility is expected to be operational in 2016. Tim Brummels, Canergy’s CEO, said, “We are excited to be moving this project forward. California is the country’s largest retail gasoline market and this first project’s biofuel will facilitate obligated parties compliance with California policy directives to reduce their carbon footprint through 2020. We have completed extensive research and have concluded that PROESA® Technology is both ready now and is the most advanced and competitive cellulosic platform in the marketplace today. We are also excited to have CHS Inc., a leading global energy, grains and foods company, working with us as a development partner in the project.” John Litterio, Director of Renewable Fuels Marketing for CHS, said, “CHS is a leading ethanol marketer with global trading offices in the United States, Brazil and Europe. Our financial strength, logistical expertise, risk management services and 30+ years of biofuels experience will help position Canergy to reach more markets with its ultra-low carbon intensity ethanol and achieve the best possible netbacks. We are proud to be the exclusive marketer for Canergy and to continue providing strong marketing connections for both first and second generation ethanol producers.” The Imperial Valley’s 450,000 acres of irrigated farmland is one of the most productive growing regions in the world. Tim Kelley, President/CEO of Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation said, “I am glad to see that Canergy has decided to make a major investment in the Imperial Valley. This cellulosic facility will create over 100 full-time jobs and will have a major ripple effect on our agribusiness economy.” Beta Renewables’ PROESA® technology will be used to convert Canergy’s energy cane feedstock, bagasse and residual cane straw, to produce cost-competitive cellulosic ethanol. This technology is being used today at the world’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Crescentino, Italy, which started operations in December 2012, and also will be used in a series of plants to be built by GranBio in Brazil. “Chemtex and Beta Renewables are pleased to have been selected by Canergy for their project. Large scale commercialization of cellulosic ethanol projects is taking off and this is an important project for California to support its drive towards lower carbon footprints,” said Guido Ghisolfi, President of Chemtex and the CEO of Beta Renewables. About Canergy, LLC Canergy is an advanced biofuels company based in California that is focused on the production of ultra-low carbon intensity ethanol from sustainable non-food energy crops and innovative cellulosic technology. This first facility in California will utilize energy cane, an EPA approved cellulosic pathway, as its primary feedstock, is targeted to be operational in 2016 and will assist California, through obligated parties, to meet both RFS2 and LCFS requirements. About CHS Inc. CHS Inc. is a leading global agribusiness owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the United States. Diversified in energy, grains and foods, CHS is committed to helping its customers, farmer-owners and other stakeholders grow their businesses through its domestic and global operations. CHS, a Fortune 100 company, supplies energy, crop nutrients, grain marketing services, livestock feed, food and food ingredients, along with business solutions including insurance, financial and risk management services. The company operates petroleum refineries/pipelines and manufactures, markets and distributes Cenex® brand refined fuels, lubricants, propane and renewable energy products. About Chemtex Chemtex is a global engineering and technology company wholly-owned by Italy’s Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi (“M&G”). Chemtex specializes in delivering value-added project solutions for its clients in the bio-fuels, renewable chemicals, energy, environmental, petrochemical, polymers and fibers industries. The company benefits from over 60 years of success in process development and commercializing hundreds of plants worldwide. Chemtex International Inc., its North American Headquarters, is located in Wilmington, N.C. Chemtex is a leader in chemical engineering and renewable processes. It has engineered and constructed the world’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Crescentino, Italy for Beta Renewables producing cellulosic ethanol from locally sourced cellulosic biomass using its PROESA® Process. About Beta Renewables Beta Renewables is a leader in making non-food cellulosic biomass practical and cost-competitive for the production of advanced biofuels and bio-chemicals. Beta Renewables is a unique joint venture formed by Chemtex, TPG, TPG Biotech and Novozymes. Beta Renewables has developed the industry leading PROESA® Process and is currently operating the world’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Crescentino, Italy. Beta Renewables’ PROESA® Process has also been selected by numerous leading green chemistry technology providers as the technology platform to produce cellulosic sugars for next generation bio-chemicals. Publicly announced collaborators include Amyris, Genomatica, Codexis and Gevo. Media relations contacts: Canergy LLC: Tim Brummels Telephone: +1-402.452.6795 tbrummels(at)canergyus(dot)com http://www.canergyus.com CHS, Inc: John Litterio Telephone 1+651-355-8518 john(dot)litterio(at)chsinc(dot)com http://www.chsinc.com Chemtex: Dennis Leong Telephone: +1 910 509 4407 dennis(dot)leong(at)chemtex(dot)com http://www.chemtex.com Beta Renewables: Michele Rubino Mobile: +1 617 230 6162 michele(dot)rubino(at)betarenewables(dot)com http://www.betarenewables.com Continue reading
A Paradigm Shift in EU Climate Policy
By 3p Contributor | May 1st, 2013 By Emil Dimantchev On 16 April, the European Parliament rejected a proposal to reduce supply in the European emissions trading system (EU ETS). The European carbon price crashed to never-before-seen lows immediately afterwards, reflecting just how important the Parliament’s vote was. The outcome prompted The Economist to title its response article, “ ETS RIP? ” Thomson Reuters Point Carbon declared the EU ETS “irrelevant as an emissions reduction tool for many years to come.” Given the historic importance ascribed to the vote, it is important to consider how it came about and what implications it has for carbon markets in Europe and around the world. Since 2009, the EU ETS has accumulated a large surplus of allowances, as emissions have fallen faster than initially predicted by the system’s creators. There are two main reasons for the drop in emissions – Europe’s financial crisis and its policies for promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency. The market’s surplus has caused carbon prices to decline dramatically from their peak of €29 per ton in 2008 to €5 per ton just prior to the 16 April vote. Low carbon prices were, by themselves, not considered a problem for the EU ETS. They reflected the fact that EU’s short-term commitment to reduce emissions had become easier to meet. The EU no longer needed to switch from coal to gas or adopt Carbon Capture and Storage to reduce emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels in 2020, and so it no longer needed a high carbon price. In the context of European climate policy however, low carbon prices worried policymakers. The EU does not have a legally binding emission reduction target for 2030, or 2040. Therefore, in the absence of a significant carbon price, the private sector lacks a clear policy signal to invest in low carbon technologies. The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, recognized this as a problem for climate policy in the long term. The energy sector’s long investment cycles mean that high-carbon capacity built today would eventually make it harder to meet EU’s 2050 emission target – to reduce emissions by 90 percent below 1990. To restore the signal for low carbon investments, the Commission came up with a complicated two-step plan to increase carbon prices. The first step was a proposal to adjust the timing of supply in the market – withdrawing permits in the next few years and re-injecting them later (referred to as backloading). The second step would be a more fundamental amendment to the carbon market, which would allow the permanent cancellation of permits. Analysts agreed that these two measures would significantly increase prices. Participants in the market expected the plan to go through and make carbon prices significant for business decisions. A survey by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon in February revealed 65 percent of market participants believed there would be a backloading of permits and 64 percent believed permits would be cancelled. But on 16 April, the European Parliament rejected the Commission’s backloading proposal, effectively putting an end to the bureaucrats’ two-step plan. The failure of the proposal combined with the upcoming elections of a new Commission and Parliament in 2014 means there is likely no time to table new proposals by 2015 or implement any supply adjusting measures before 2020. The market is therefore likely to stay oversupplied for the rest of the decade. Thomson Reuters Point Carbon believes prices will not rise significantly above €3 per ton, where they are currently, before 2020. A long period of low carbon prices marks a paradigm shift for European climate policy. Before the Commission’s backloading proposal was shot down, businesses expected European carbon prices to remain significant in the long term. These expectations drove emission reductions – several studies showed that companies reduced 330 million tons of emissions because of the ETS between 2005 and 2010, despite an excess of supply and volatile prices. But expectations for low prices in the long term will most likely render the ETS insignificant for business decisions. In terms of its capacity to create incentives for low-carbon investments, the EU ETS is entering an ice age. The demise of Europe’s carbon prices affects not only European climate policy, but will most likely reverberate to carbon markets elsewhere. The European experience is unlikely to reverse progress made on emerging carbon markets in California, Australia, China, South Korea and other countries. On the contrary, it will probably make them more resilient. The history of the EU ETS teaches that the absence of price floors in an emissions trading system fails to deliver the clear, predictable and long-term incentive, which the energy sector requires for investments in carbon-free technologies. A carbon price floor will, theoretically, amend what many consider the systemic drawback of the EU ETS. A price floor can be implemented through a price containment reserve which takes permits out of the system when prices become too low. California’s ETS adopts a similar approach. In the future, it might provide a proof of concept for incorporating the same principle in other carbon markets. Considering the recent developments in Europe, price management mechanisms could well become a model to follow for carbon markets around the world. Emil Dimantchev is a carbon market analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon. The views expressed in this article are entirely his own, unless stated otherwise. Image credit: Thomson Reuters Point Carbon Continue reading
A Carbon Market Milestone Worth Cheering
Michael O’Ryan3 May, 2013 ClimateScience & Environment The call this week by the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) for exp ressions of interest in the first Indigenous-produced Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) marks a significant milestone for the emerging Australian carbon economy. The Fish River Fire Project is Australia’s first controlled savanna burning project to be approved under the Carbon Farming Initiative and is expected to produce 25,884 Kyoto compliant ACCUs. Fish River is a 178,000 hectare property located in the Daly River Catchment of the Northern Territory. The property is currently owned and managed by the ILC and is a culturally significant landscape for the Larbaganyan, Wagiman, Malak Malak and Kamu peoples who are the Traditional Landowners of the property. About the project Savanna burning under the Fish River Fire Project is delivering social, cultural, economic and biodiversity benefits while protecting a nationally significant landscape. Early dry season savanna burning is being conducted on Fish River to reduce greenhouse emissions that would otherwise be generated from late dry season wild fires. Indigenous Rangers are combining traditional burning knowledge with modern technology to help tackle climate change and generate a new income stream for future land management. Traditional pattern or mosaic burning has been used for thousands of years to protect the country from devastating hot burns. The project marries these traditional burning practices with the latest satellite imagery and mapping technologies. Each year early season ’cool‘ burns are planned across the property with particular attention given to fence lines and boundaries abutting other properties. This aids in preventing wild fires from adjoining properties entering Fish River and helps ensure its burning program does not impact on its neighbours. Burning is carried out through a combination of aerial and on-ground methods. Using GPS and mapping, small incendiary devices are strategically dropped from a helicopter-mounted Raindance machine, while in other areas Indigenous Rangers use drip torches to create fire lines and monitor the progress of the pattern burns. What are the benefits? Fish River Carbon Credits offer an innovative and unique solution for corporations to meet their carbon liabilities while making a difference to the lives of Indigenous Australians. The benefits can be grouped into six main categories: Global The Fish River Fire Project has reduced the area burnt in the late dry season each year from an average of 36 per cent during the baseline (unmanaged) period (2000-2009) to approximately 1 per cent in 2012. The project is expected to continue to deliver around 13,000 tonnes of CO2-e emissions abatement each year, making a positive contribution to the challenge of tackling climate change. Indigenous The project delivers training and paid employment for Indigenous Australians on their traditional country. Traditional Owners are involved in planning burning activity on the property and advising on fire and natural resource management activities. Economic Revenue generated from the sale of Fish River Fire Project generated ACCUs will be used to support ongoing land management activities, Indigenous jobs and training on Fish River. Socio- cultural The employment of local Indigenous people, many of whom have familial connection to Fish River, is facilitating access of Traditional Owners to the property, reconnection with cultural values and protection of important cultural sites. Environmental Under a comprehensive Plan of Management, Fish River is managed as an International Union for Conservation of Nature Category II Protected Area. The reduction of late dry season wildfires at the project area site helps protect the many rare and threatened animal and plant species found on the property, such as the Northern Quoll, Gouldian Finch and Masked Owl. Significant ecosystems are located on the property including monsoon forest, large areas of riparian habitat, nationally important wetlands and limestone karst formations. Assisting the development of other Indigenous fire projects The ILC is using Fish River as a demonstration to inform the development of other Indigenous fire projects across northern Australia. Michael O’Ryan is Director of Policy and Program Development at the Indigenous Land Corporation. The ILC is seeking exp ressions of interest from entities interested in purchasing the ACCUs from the Fish River Fire Project. Contact: Ms Nerissa Walton, Senior Policy and Environment Advisor, Indigenous Land Corporation on (08) 8100 7100 or email carbon@ilc.gov.au. Read more: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/5/3/science-environment/carbon-market-milestone-worth-cheering#ixzz2SJ7PZ8dH Continue reading
