FEDS PUT $104 MIL+ INTO ALGAE

Feds fund Sapphire Energy algae project
Kevin Robinson-Avila, December 4, 2009 (New Mexico Business Weekly)

"Sapphire Energy will receive $104.5 million in federal funding to build a commercial scale, algae-based biofuel operation…The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $50 million in stimulus money for the [New Mexico] project, and the U.S. Department of Agricultural approved a $54.5 million loan guarantee under the Biorefinery Assistance Program, which was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill.

"California-based Sapphire, which formed in 2007, has developed a proprietary process for turning oil from algae into renewable gasoline that is genetically identical to sweet crude pumped from the ground. The company calls its green crude a “drop-in solution” to the search for alternative fuels because its algae-based gasoline can simply replace petroleum as fuel for ground and air transportation, without any modification to refineries, pipelines or vehicles."

click to enlarge

"The company will use the federal funds to build and operate a commercial-scale demonstration plant to grow algae in ponds and refine it into a variety of fuels for ground and air transportation. The project is expected to create 750 direct and indirect jobs…

"USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner said the project will have a huge impact on Luna County along the Mexican border…Sapphire has an option to buy roughly 2,200 acres of land near Columbus. Once the demonstration project shows the commercial viability of Sapphire’s operation, the company hopes to expand the facility into a 1,200-acre operation that can produce more than 1 million gallons per day of green crude…"

Schematic of a desert algae-growing installation (click to enlarge)

"The company has raised more than $100 million in private equity. Investors include financial powerhouses, such as ARCH Venture Partners, the Rockefellers’ Venrock and Cascade Investment LLC – an investment holding company owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

"Sapphire already operates an $8 million test-and-development facility at the West Mesa Industrial Park in Las Cruces. The center experiments with algae seed varieties developed at Sapphire’s headquarters in San Diego…[New Mexico] Gov. Richardson [reportedly] helped a great deal to secure the federal funding to move forward with company plans…"