5. September 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

Verenium, LLC

Verenium Corporation
55 Cambridge Parkway, 8th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
TEL: 617.674.5300

4955 Directors Place
San Diego, CA 92121
TEL: 858.526.5000

Verenium Biofuels, LLC
PO Box 389
11107 Campbell Wells Road
East Highway 90
Jennings, LA 70546
TEL: 337.824.4180

About
Verenium Corporation is a leader in the development and the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol, an environmentally-friendly and renewable transportation fuel, as well as higher performance specialty enzymes for applications within the biofuels, industrial, and animal nutrition and health markets.

Integrated capabilities: our competitive edge

The Company possesses integrated, end-to-end capabilities in pre-treatment, novel enzyme development, fermentation, engineering, and project development and is moving rapidly to commercialize its proprietary technology for the production of cellulosic ethanol from a wide array of feedstocks, including sugarcane bagasse, dedicated energy crops, agricultural waste, and wood products. In addition to the vast potential for biofuels, a multitude of large-scale industrial opportunities exist for the Company for products derived from the production of low-cost, biomass-derived sugars.

Verenium’s Specialty Enzyme business harnesses the power of enzymes to create a broad range of specialty products to meet high-value commercial needs. Verenium’s world class R&D organization is renowned for its capabilities in the rapid screening, identification, and expression of enzymes that act as the catalysts of biochemical reactions.

Cellulosic ethanol: first mover advantage

Verenium operates one of the nation’s first cellulosic ethanol pilot plants, an R&D facility, in Jennings, Louisiana and has recently entered the start-up phase at its 1.4 million-gallon-per-year demonstration-scale facility. In addition, the Company’s process technology has been licensed by Tokyo-based Marubeni Corp. and Tsukishima Kikai Co., LTD and has been incorporated into BioEthanol Japan’s 1.4 million liter-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Osaka, Japan — the world’s first commercial-scale plant to produce cellulosic ethanol from wood construction waste.

Verenium and Marubeni are continuing to advance the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol projects utilizing Verenium’s proprietary technology in Asia with the opening of a three million-liter-per-year plant in Saraburi, Thailand. The cellulosic plant in Thailand is co-located with a facility that will produce ethanol from sugar-cane derived sucrose, which is widely abundant in the region.

The need for alternative fuels

The urgent need for cleaner automotive fuels is pushing the private sector to develop low-carbon alternatives. Cellulosic ethanol is widely recognized as one of the most promising ways to meet our need for clean fuels with dramatically lower energy inputs and net carbon emissions. Verenium is a leader in the development of cellulosic ethanol - a clean-burning fuel derived from canes, grasses, softwoods, and other biomass sources that are readily available and are not utilized for food.

The need for alternative fuels has led to new federal law mandating the production and use of billions of gallons of biofuels within the next decade. The market is vast. The first companies entering the market for next-generation cellulosic ethanol will be tapping into a multi-billion dollar market at the beginning of commercialization.

Posted in Louisiana, California, Biofuel Techs, Massachusetts, USA | No Comments »

5. September 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

The OptiSolar, Inc.

31302 Huntwood Avenue
Hayward, CA 94544
Phone: 510.401.5800
Fax: 510.401.5859

About
OptiSolar manufactures photovoltaic (PV) modules and produces power from their own large-scale solar farms. Their innovative manufacturing processes, technologies, and management strength are at the core of the OptiSolar Advantage.

OptiSolar’s combination of proprietary manufacturing processes and innovative design yields affordable, durable, amorphous silicon thin-film solar PV panels that significantly reduce the cost of clean solar power. Amorphous silicon PV panels have been successfully used for over 20 years. Their technology helps utility companies meet their customers’ daytime power demand and increases renewable energy supplies while reducing greenhouse emissions.

OptiSolar’s management team has extensive experience in the energy, solar, high-technology, and manufacturing sectors. This unique combination enables continuous innovation, efficient manufacturing, and the consistent supply of large-scale solar power to the energy industry.

Founded in 2005, OptiSolar is a fast-growing California-based company with hundreds of employees. OptiSolar has established its R&D facilities and manufacturing operations in Hayward, California. We are on the fast track to provide clean, renewable PV solar into the global energy mix now . . . to ensure a cleaner future for our children.

Business

A vertically integrated, low-cost solar energy producer, OptiSolar manufactures solar panels, and designs, develops, finances, owns and operates large-scale solar farms for the generation and delivery of clean, renewable solar-powered electricity.

This vertical integration from design and manufacture through to installation and operation of OptiSolar-owned solar farms allows them to provide solar electricity at a low cost.

As the world embraces renewable energy technologies, such as solar power, OptiSolar is committed to delivering competitively-priced solar electricity from their solar farms to the power grid.

Environment-FriendlyOptiSolar’s panels are constructed with highly-available and inexpensive materials with long-term reliability in outdoor environments. OptiSolar systems are an environmentally sensitive method of producing power, containing no toxic materials, utilizing essentially no moving parts, consuming no fuel and creating zero emissions. The materials that make up the solar farms — mostly glass, metal, silicon and concrete — are recyclable.

OptiSolar’s Large-Scale Solar Farms

OptiSolar’s large-scale solar farm projects contain millions of amorphous PV solar cells that convert sunlight to electricity. Their solar farms meet utility customer demand by producing their greatest amounts of electricity on hot, sunny summer days, when electricity demand often reaches its peak. Power generation sites are selected based on environmental considerations, the amount of available sunshine, and distance to power lines. Their construction teams mount the PV panels in rows near ground level, minimizing visual impact. OptiSolar is committed to safe, efficient and site-friendly installation of the systems on their solar farms.

OptiSolar’s farms operate with little maintenance after the initial setup. Electricity from their panels is interconnected to the electricity distribution and transmission system, just like any other generation source. Operation is virtually silent, with only a slight hum due to electrical equipment.

Posted in California, Solar Techs, USA | No Comments »

5. September 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

6N Silicon, Inc.

6074 Shawson Drive
Mississauga, ON
L5T 1E6

P: 905-795-7800
F: 905-795-7814

About
6N Silicon was founded in September of 2006 by Scott Nichol. With his metal processing expertise, Scott identified an opportunity to bring an entirely new approach to the purification of silicon for solar power. He realized that new metallurgical skill could help address two fundamental industry challenges — the current silicon shortage as well as the long-term industry need to meet grid parity cost levels. Scott was attracted by the exciting nature of this industry and its critical environmental importance. By helping address these industry issues, 6N can materially contribute towards a solution for the world’s environmental challenges.

Headquartered in the Toronto area, 6N Silicon is in the heart of Canada’s metal processing industry and is surrounded by Canada’s extensive metal processing knowledge. 6N has benefited from access to considerable industry experience in processing other metals and applying collective skills to refine the 6N solution. The company has developed a proprietary process for purifying inexpensive, readily available metallurgical grade silicon into solar grade silicon using low cost metallurgical processing. 6N’s silicon purification process provides a revolutionary approach to the production of solar grade silicon for the photovoltaic industry.

6N Silicon’s mission is to become the leading global supplier of solar grade silicon to the solar industry. 6N’s goal is to be the first company to market with an affordable solar grade of silicon that does not require any mixing with electronic grade silicon to maintain optimum cell performance.

Solar Silicon

In dramatically short supply, polysilicon is the largest single cost component of a solar module.

In the past, scrap silicon from the semiconductor industry was used to make solar cells. Rapid growth in the solar industry has caused the silicon demand to exceed this supply of semiconductor scrap. The industry has grown so fast that in 2006 the demand for primary silicon from the solar industry exceeded the demand from the semiconductor industry. The solar industry has not looked back. The most conservative projections foresee a continued rapid growth through the next decade at more than 30% per year.

This growth has created a fundamental challenge. Silicon production cannot keep up. The photovoltaic industry as a whole suffers from a manufacturing bottleneck caused by the cost and time required to add new polysilicon manufacturing capacity. The conventional route is not only expensive and time-consuming to expand. It is also very energy intensive and has environmental considerations that affect the flexibility of location selection and feedstock management. The solar industry is artificially constrained due to the semiconductor silicon manufacturing process.

6N’s proprietary low-cost silicon purification process provides a revolutionary approach to the production of solar grade silicon. The 6N approach is considerably more capital efficient than conventional alternatives and increased capacity can be added very quickly. The 6N Silicon product and process fits the needs and growing market demand. A true solar grade silicon.

Posted in Canada, Solar Techs | 1 Comment »

5. September 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

Cyrium Technologies, Inc.

Canada Office:

1200 Montreal Road, M50-building, IPF wing
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1A 0R6

USA Office:

1250 Oakmead Parkway, Suite 210
Sunnyvale, California, U.S.A.
94085

About

Cyrium Technologies™ is developing a proprietary breakthrough photovoltaic solar cell technology using semiconductor nanotechnolgy. Their business strategy is to become a leader in advanced solar cells, with a focused market-entry addressing terrestrial applications.

Cyrium Technologies leverages a decade of R&D on semiconductor quantum dots and will help concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) system manufacture semiconductor fabrication facilities and a board of directors comprised of industry veterans.

Product

High-efficiency solar cells for concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) applications are now available for independent validations.

Posted in Canada, California, Solar Techs, USA | No Comments »

5. September 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

First Wind, Inc.
85 Wells Ave., Suite 305
Newton, MA 02459
Tel : 617-964-3340
Fax : 617-964-3342
contact@firstwind.com

About

First Wind is an independent North American wind energy company focused exclusively on the development, ownership and operation of wind energy projects. The company was founded in 1995 by executives who had previously developed a successful wind company.Working in partnership with communities, First Wind provides revenue to states and towns, building stronger local economies while protecting the environment for future generations. Wind energy isn’t just our business. It’s their passion.

We build primarily in the Northeast, West and Hawaii, and are already producing nearly 100 MW of energy through three operational wind farms.

Environment

The threat of climate change has made the need for clean, renewable energy sources more important than ever. As such, wind power has become a crucial part of the nation’s long-term energy solution. Unlike energy produced from fossil fuels, wind energy does not pollute the air or water and doesn’t produce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.

First Wind is skilled at developing, owning and operating wind farms that co-exist in harmony with local communities and the environment. As just one example, our Kaheawa wind farm on the island of Maui is located in a pristine natural habitat that’s home to three endangered birds and one endangered bat, along with abundant native plant species. To the inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands, who continue a centuries-old tradition of environmental stewardship and self-reliance, Kaheawa is a symbol of energy independence as well as of nature’s preservation.

Posted in Massachusetts, USA, Wind Techs | No Comments »