Wild stuff. I love it.
Biodiesel Producer Safe Renewables Fuels New ‘Green’ Power Plant
Oct 12, 2007 - Safe Renewables Corporation (SRC) - Press Release
First Grid-Connected, 100% Biodiesel-Powered Electricity Generating Turbine Plant in Nation Spins Up in Texas
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE) - Safe Renewables Corporation (SRC), a leading
producer and marketer of biodiesel for transportation fuel and power
generation, has begun supplying fuel for the nation’s first, 100
percent biodiesel-powered electricity generating turbine plant. Located
on a portion of SRC’s 250-acre property in Conroe, Texas, the plant,
owned and operated by Biofuels Power Corporation, will produce up to
ten megawatts of electricity for delivery direct to the grid.
“This is a breakthrough for our company and the biodiesel industry as
it represents the first commercial generating plant wholly powered by
renewable fuel in the United States,” said Jeffrey Kissel, SRC
Chairman, President and CEO. “We are pleased that SRC has pioneered in
perfecting the technology required to achieve this important energy
advance.”
Biodiesel is a clean burning, environmentally friendly alternative fuel
made from oils derived from farm crops and animal fats. SRC will supply
up to one million gallons per month of pure biodiesel (B100) for the
plant. The feedstock will primarily be poultry fat, sourced from large
poultry processing operations in Texas, making the electricity produced
by the plant an indigenous, renewable Texas product.
As one of the few companies producing commercial quantities of
biodiesel in the United States, SRC uses a unique, proprietary process
at its plant in Conroe, Texas that is capable of switching among
multiple vegetable oil and animal fat feedstocks. It is the only
biodiesel fuel supplier today that serves both the transportation and
public power generation markets.
“The new operation is particularly appropriate in the Texas market
where an estimated 3,000 megawatts of new power generation will be
required in coming years. It is becoming increasingly difficult to use
traditional power-generating fuels, such as coal, due to harmful
emissions,” Kissel noted. “Biodiesel produces low levels of emissions
in power generating applications.”
Earlier in 2007, SRC began supplying biodiesel for the power company’s
first five-megawatt test plant using generators. That plant provides
power to Oak Ridge North, a suburb of Houston near the SRC biodiesel
facility.
A graduate of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, Kissel worked for
many years in the petroleum and environmental engineering industries
prior to his becoming head of SRC. He has already begun to migrate the
company’s expertise back to Hawaii, a fuel-starved state relying
largely on imports of petroleum and coal for power generation,
responding to investigations by the state’s largest utility seeking to
work with the Public Utility Commission’s mandates for use of renewable
fuels.
From Hawaii to Maine, government mandates are increasingly requiring
utilities and others to accelerate their efforts to generate electric
power using renewable fuel sources. Environmentally conscious power
companies are seeking to meet more of their electricity generating
needs using renewable resources, including biodiesel.
“Biodiesel production linked to power generation facilities provides a
useful solution for regionalizing power production for municipal,
industrial and military customers, and peak shaving backup for
utilities,” Kissel concluded. “This combination provides a powerful
solution for the increasing energy demands of our economy.”
About Safe Renewables Corporation
Safe Renewables Corporation (SRC) is emerging as a leading biodiesel
producer and marketer in North America and has become a major enabler
of the green energy revolution. It is currently one of the largest
producers of pure biodiesel fuel (“B100”) in the country. Derived from
renewable sources, biodiesel’s power and performance are comparable to
standard diesel fuel, but with reduced levels of harmful emissions.
Biodiesel, in its pure (B100) or petroleum-blended (B5-B20) form, can
be used in conventional diesel engines with no equipment modifications.
SRC produces biodiesel from soy, cottonseed, canola oil, and from
animal fats. It applies the best technology to ensure consistent, high
fuel quality meeting ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)
standards. SRC is currently focused on supplying biodiesel to the
transportation and power generation markets. More information at:
www.saferenewables.com.
