Biofuel production nationwide has been woefully behind schedule as would-be producers struggle to just get their first commercial plants rolling. The U.S. government wants to help and on Thursday announced loan guarantee commitments totaling $571 million for Coskata, Enerkem, and a JV from Valero.
Biofuel startup Gevo has lowered its upcoming IPO to $13 to $15 per share. That’s about $100 million, or $89 million after fees, less than the $150 million it targeted in August, but close to what analysts have predicted.
Grab your biofuel startups fast, Lux Research says — the field of contenders with game-changing technologies for turning non-food feedstocks into useful hydrocarbons is getting sparser by the minute. The report sees Big Oil and consumer products conglomerates quickly winnowing the field of the best technologies.
More bad news about cellulosic biofuel maker Range Fuels. The financially-strapped company reportedly plans to shut down its plant in Georgia after making just one batch of ethanol. It needs to more raise more money and tackle technical problems at its first commercial plant.
Investors loved the wind energy sector, and they showed it by blowing the most investment dollars that way in 2010. They also were most busy with energy efficiency deals, the number of which surpassed other cleantech categories last year, according to a U.S. market report by Peachtree Capital Advisors.
For next-generation biofuels to make any type of dent in the fossil fuel industry, oil companies will have to get on board, and here comes one to the rescue for the struggling cellulosic ethanol sector. Oil giant Valero is backing cellulosic ethanol startup Mascoma.
Here’s the bad news from next-gen biofuel producer Range Fuels: The company has let some workers go. But the good news the company wants you to know is that Range Fuels is still planning to produce enough cellulosic ethanol to meet a government estimate for 2011.
The bigger the better for the greentech sector. Is 2011 the year of the Godzilla greentech company? On this news-laden Monday, there’s some particularly interesting evidence of the market advantages of being a massive company today selling into the energy, fuel and chemical markets.
It’s a good place for the banned caffeinated malt liquor to die. 4Loko is being recycled into ethanol by recycling company MXI Environmental Services and others. While the next-generation of biofuels won’t come from 4Loko, they will partly come from waste.
Yep, those USDA loan guarantees are still out there. INEOS Bio and its joint venture partner, New Planet Energy, announced this morning that they have received a $75 million conditional loan guarantee commitment from the USDA program.
