New Car Designed To Run Entirely On Algae

Greetings!  The world of renewable energy may recently have made a step in a new direction... with a car that runs on micro algae biodiesel.  This week it has been reported that researchers claim to have accomplished this feat.  The article below, taken from the Deccan Herald, can be found at:  http://bioenergy.checkbiotech.org/news/car_runs_micro_algae_biodiesel

Researchers have claimed to have run a car on B-20 biodiesel derived from marine micro algae.

Under the New Millennium India Technology Leadership project (NMITLI), a regular diesel vehicle, Tavera, under full load condition, was successfully test driven on B-20 biodiesel (20 per cent biodiesel blend) on July 10, a top official of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said.

The project was initiated last year jointly by CSIR and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), along with researchers from nine institutions, including CSMCRI, IIT-Kharagpur, IICT-Hyderabad, NIOT-Chennai and NIO-Goa.

The biodiesel was prepared from mats of microalgae found growing naturally in the West coast of India by the Bhavnagar-based Central Salt Marine and Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI).

The mileage derived from the test drive was 12.4 km, which is better than the normal average per litre of 10-11 km of the regular vehicles run on diesel, the official said.

“The aim of the project is to develop a scalable viable process for production of bio-fuel from marine algae. In the first step, road worthiness of B-20 marine micro algae biodiesel under full load conditions has been proven,” NMITLI coordinator Dr Vibha Malhotra told PTI on telephone.

“The next step would be to run vehicle under full load conditions on B-100 (neat biodiesel) marine micro algae biodiesel and to look at its economic viability,” she said.

“Although the demonstration aimed at proving road worthiness of micro-algal biodiesel, it remains to be seen whether such mat-forming marine micro algae can be cultivated inland or induced to grow rapidly and on large scale in the sea itself,” said CSMCRI Director Dr Pushpito Ghosh.

Investment company Jaspen Capital Partners acted as a transaction co-lead manager for the London Stock Exchange placement of 3 year Eurobonds for Agroton Public Limited (ticker: AGT PW). The notes have a face value of $50 million.

Investment company Jaspen Capital Partners acted as a transaction co-lead manager for the London Stock Exchange placement of 3 year Eurobonds for Agroton Public Limited(ticker: AGT PW) on July 12, 2011. The notes have a face value of $50 million; VTB Capital, Dragon Capital, UBS Investment Bank and Bank Zachodni WBK also were managers in the transaction.

Agroton, a publicly traded company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, completed the placement of its debut $50 million, 3 years Eurobond issue with a coupon rate of 12.5% paid semi-annually. During the placement, demand from international investors (mainly Western European funds) exceeded the offered amount.

Agroton plans to utilize the Eurobonds proceeds to refinance existing debt, increase capacities of grain and oilseeds silos, increase its farmed land bank and to ultimately purchase its land bank after the moratorium on sales of agricultural land is lifted in Ukraine.

Andrey Supranonok, CEO of Jaspen Capital Partners, stated “Agroton’s recent Eurobonds placement is one of the largest transactions to date this year for a Ukrainian company on the international capital markets. The interest level demonstrated by fixed income investors, despite a global decrease in risk appetite stemming from the Greek and European debt predicament, shows firm market confidence in Agroton’s management and strategic direction. This show of confidence during a time of uncertainty essentially restates the original positive view held by equity investors during the company’s Warsaw Stock Exchange debut last November. It furthermore indicates a continued desire for Ukrainian deals from the international investment community, sending a positive signal to similarly situated companies considering additional transactions this year.”

Ukraine Parliament Supports Green Tariff With New Legislation Addressing Future Uncertainty

In recent years there has been equal optimism and skepticism about the long-term impact of Ukraine's Green Tariff for the country's alternative energy producers and investors. While almost everyone is pleased with the nominal tariff rates and the potential revenues earned thereby, several market observers have raised prior questions about the feasibility of maintaining these tariffs in the future under the current energy market mechanism. The government has made a recent legislative move to address these questions directly, as reported in the article below by Cameron McKenna law firm. We will see what the market reaction is, at minimum this news shows that the government is concerned about promoting green energy investment in Ukraine and is working on methods to continuously address and allay market uncertainty.

Ukraine: Stabilisation Clause Introduced For Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariffs

 09 June 2011

Article by Olexander Martinenko, Vitaliy Radchenko and Volodymyr Kolvakh

The Parliament of Ukraine has recently amended the Law "On Electric Power Industry" No. 575-97-BP, dated 16 October 1997 (the "Law") , by introducing into Article 17(1) of the Law, an additional state guarantee of renewable energy off-take. This amendment has been perceived by industry experts as another preparatory step towards sector reform, bilateral contracts and balancing the electricity market. The Law is now awaiting the President's signature and will become effective on the day after its official publication.

This so-called 'stabilization clause' provides that the State shall guarantee that for the whole duration of the feed-in tariffs (i.e. until 2030), that there will always be legislation in place which provides for:

• a mandatory off-take obligation that would apply feed-in tariffs to all volumes of the electricity generated from eligible renewable energy sources (e.g. excluding blast furnace, coke gas and 10 MW+ hydro), and which volumes have not been sold to consumers or power distribution companies directly; and
  
• full and timely monetary settlements for such electricity, as per procedure established by the law.

To this effect, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission of Ukraine (the "NERC") will now be entitled to implement the state policy aimed at boosting renewable energy production by virtue of, inter alia, the approval of renewable energy power purchase agreements with the Wholesale Electricity Market of Ukraine.

Legislation: Law of Ukraine: "On Introducing Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Electric Power Industry" (Guaranteeing the State's Obligations to Encourage the Utilisation of the Alternative Energy Sources)"

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq