Ormat Technologies Inc just announced that its OREG-4 Peetz Recovered Energy Generation (REG) Project is up and running. The 4 MW power plant will recover waste heat from the exhaust of a gas turbine located in a compressor station that services a natural gas pipeline in the Denver area. The waste heat is converted to electricity and sold to Highline Electric Association Inc under a 20=year purchase agreement.
Dita Bronicki, Chief Executive Officer of Ormat, … Read the rest
Caraustar Industries, Inc. just announced that it is permanently closing its paperboard mill in Charlotte, North Carolina. The mill, which produced uncoated recycled boxboard, has been idle since December. Caraustar will record a pre-tax charge of $9.7 million, with $7.3 million of that amount being non-cash, in conjunction with the closure. Closing the mill is expected to save the company $11.4 million per year before taxes.
Greg Bartlett, vice president of the sales Mill Group, … Read the rest
Xcel Energy just announced a new deal with Microgy, Inc that will allow Xcel to turn organic waste into methane to generate energy. The methane generation will take place near Xcel’s Fort St. Vrain Generating Station. A new methane plant will be built for this purpose, with construction slated to begin in 2010. Initially, the project will produce 915,000 MMBtu of methane, which is enough to power 17,000 homes per year.
Terms of the deal … Read the rest
Converted Organics just announced that they have shipped 46 tons of their organic fertilizers and soils amendments to a major retail chain. The products, which are made from recycled food wastes, will be available for gardeners to purchase in time for the spring planting season. Over the next few days, Converted Organics will ship even more product out, with an additional 55 tons of fertilizer scheduled to reach the same chain by March 6.
Some … Read the rest
In Barrons magazine this weekend they highlighted some green energy stock plays across a variety of industries, focusing on those companies that are well established, diversified and financially healthy. They c all ABB, Waste Management (WMI), FPL Group (FPL), Jacobs Engineering (JEC) and Eaton (ETN) their green dream team.
ABB (ABB): large Switzerland company is one of world’s largest builders of electricity grids and was called the GE of Europe by Barrons several months ago. … Read the rest
Darling International, a company that specializes in recycling food by-products, has acquired the assets of Boca Industries, a company that provides grease-trap services to restaurants in Georgia and nearby states. Randall Stuewe, Darling’s Chairman and CEO, described how the acquisition fits into his company’s business strategy:
"We are excited about our acquisition of Boca Industries grease trap services business. The acquisition complements our acquisition last year of a grease collection business in the same … Read the rest
Now that Congress has approved the economic stimulus package (aka the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act) with Obama expected to sign it into law on Tuesday I thought I’d give a run down of what’s in this bill related to green energy initiatives.
Overall, nearly 10% of the entire bill provides funding and tax credits for green energy related projects.
* $11 billion in spending and loan guarantees to build a “smart grid” to move … Read the rest
Covanta Holding (CVA) has closed on the acquisition of 2 biomass energy facilities in Maine for $52 million. The purchase increases the number of Covanta biomass facilities to 8 and increases the energy output by 35%. The facilities are wood waste facilities and convert woodchips, sawdust, bark, tree trimmings, agricultural waste and wood recovered from construction sites into energy.
“We are very pleased to have completed this acquisition,” said Anthony Orlando, President and Chief Executive … Read the rest
Caraustar Industries announced today that due to the economic slowdown, it is closing its Richmond, VA paperboard mill and putting its Charlotte, NC mill on standby. The Richmond Paperboard Mill is closing permanently effective December 11, 2008, generating an anticipated $5.1 million in pre-tax savings for Caraustar. The Charlotte mill will go on standby effective December 19 until demand improves. The company expects to open the Charlotte mill again early in 2009.
‘The vice … Read the rest
Castella Waste Systems, Inc reported 2nd quarter financial results today. Revenues increased by $7 million compared to the 2nd quarter of last year, rising 4.7 percent to come in at $157.5 million. Net income was down slightly compared to the 2nd quarter results last year, with earnings of $2.1 million or .08/share versus last year’s second quarter results of $2.8 million or .11/share.
John W. Casella, Chairman and CEO, issued the following comments on … Read the rest