Bioenergy projects to receive CEC funding

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved $21 million (€19 million) in grants for energy innovation and efficiency programmes.

Almost 12 of these projects, including one to convert forest residues to electricity and another to turn dairy manure into biogas, were funded through four key grant and loan programmes.

Under the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) scheme, four bioenergy companies will receive financial support. EPIC is a multiyear research investment programme focused on electricity-related innovations and bringing clean energy ideas to the marketplace.

Grant recipients include:
• American Biogas Electric: Lakeview Farms Dairy, Bakersfield, will receive $4 million to install and demonstrate a covered lagoon digester that converts manure into biogas for the production of renewable electricity, and to prepare a 1MW generator platform capable of being expanded by using biogas from neighbouring dairies. A further $4 million will be awarded to West Star North Dairy, Buttonwillow, for the installation and demonstration of a double-cell covered lagoon dairy digester system that will allow the quantity of wastewater to vary.

• West Biofuels: The company will receive $2 million to develop a modular biomass gasification system with a lean-burn engine that can convert forest residues into renewable grid power.

• InnoSepra: $1.3 million will be used to demonstrate the company's biogas upgrader technology and its feasibility as a biogas and landfill gas pre-treatment for combined heat and power.

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: - $1.5 million for research to match locally available waste biomass resources in California with grid, industrial, building power and waste heat needs.

 

SOURCE: California Energy Commission