Author: Carrie Cox

This year’s REFF Wall Street Renewable Energy Finance Forum will be held at The Grand Hyatt in New York on June 21-22.  

REFF-Wall Street is the premier renewable energy financing event in the U.S. The event draws a senior audience, comprising of over 600 decision makers, lenders, investors, investment bankers, private equity investors, venture capitalists, and other top transactional professionals in renewable energy finance.

Attendees will learn about latest financing developments for renewable energy in the wake of tax credit extensions, as development pipelines are restored and how the industry can evaluate opportunities further out on the horizon. Hear directly from dealmakers and industry executives about key market dynamics, the cost of capital, trends in M&A, opportunities in green investing, and what these trends mean for renewable energy finance and growth.

Register and learn more at http://www.reffwallstreet.com/

 

Be sure to book your hotel for the Algae Biomass Summit early. The National Football League recently released its schedule for 2016, and the Arizona Cardinals are set to play the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night, October 23. That’s right when many Summit plan to arrive in town.

Hotel rooms will thus be at a premium. We strongly recommend booking your room in Phoenix sooner rather than later. We have a block of hotel rooms reserved for the Summit that offers  great rates, but once the block is gone, there is no guarantee for rooms.

Reserve your room now, and enjoy the rest of the summer worry free!

While you’re at it, sign up for one of our great tours: a first-hand look at one of the nation’s most advanced algae facilities, or a guided jeep tour of the Arizona desert, or tee off in the inaugural Summit golf outing!

Tours often sell out, so be sure to reserve your spot soon!

The 4th Asia-Oceania Algae Innovation Summit (AOAIS) will be held in Wuhan, China, on September 18-21, 2016.

AOAIS is one of the most influential international conferences in algae biotechnology. Previous Summits attracted scientists, engineers, business representatives, investment bankers and governmental officials from all over the world. With the theme of “Accelerate Research and Commercialization of Algae”, the AOAIS 2016 promotes collaborations between industries, universities and research institutes to make algae biotechnology industry a success.

The AOAIS 2016 is expected to have over 600 participants from over 40 countries and regions including the US, Canada, Europe, South America, Africa, Netherlands, Israel, UK, France, Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

AOAIS 2016 provides an exciting program of featuring plenary & keynote presentations, panel discussions, oral presentations, poster sessions, social functions, and excursions. Topic area includes:

1. Cell and molecular biology of algae
2. Photosynthesis and growth physiology of algae
3. New tools for algal characterization & genetic manipulation
4. Metabolic engineering of algae for biofuels and chemicals
5. New developments in photobioreactor design and algal mass cultivation
6. Heterotrophic cultivation of microalgae
7. Wastewater and industrial flue gas treatment using algae
8. Algal crop protection and disease control
9. New approaches, techniques and processes for extraction and purification of chemicals from algal biomass
10. Recent advances in conversion of algal biomass into fuels and chemicals
11. Discovery, application and commercialization of value-added products
12. Application of algae in the animal feed, cosmetics, functional foods and nutraceutical industries
13. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses of production of algal biomass and/or products

Call for Abstracts

The AOAIS scientific committee seeks abstracts for high quality oral and poster presentations. All submitted abstracts will be peer-reviewed and the acceptance details will be communicated by email. Abstracts need to be submitted via On-line Registration Program. Abstract deadline extended to June 15, 2016

Please visit www.aoais2016.org for details on registration, abstract submission, sponsorship, and accommodation.

As mentioned in a post earlier this month, ABO member TerraVia (formerly Solazyme, Inc.) and Bunge Ltd. reached a definitive commercial supply agreement to provide algae-derived omega-3 oils for incorporation into feed for farmed salmon.

The announcement has since captured the attention of those outside the biomass industry, including the San Francisco Chronicle, which published a story last week shedding light on the big picture of the partnership.

Wild fish such as sardines are in rapid decline due to overfishing. It takes one pound of wild fish to produce just one pound of farmed salmon, so it’s no wonder that two of the largest fisheries that supply fish oil closed in the past two years due to population decline—The Pacific sardine fishery closed most recently after its population plunged from 1.1 million tons in 2007 to just over 100,000 tons in 2015.

TerraVia’s production facility in Brazil can “produce 100,000 tons of feed, which could offset one-tenth of the worldwide supply of fish oil.”

AlgaPrime DHA will be a major facilitator in replenishing the ocean’s wild fish population and sustainably farming salmon in a cost effective manner. And it’s all thanks to algae!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced the availability of $21 million in funding to support research and development of sustainable bioenergy and biobased products. Funding will also include education and training for the future generations of scientists who will further develop and expand the bioeconomy.

The biobased economy puts $369 billion into the economy each year and supports 4 million jobs in rural and small towns across the United States. Algae-based approaches are just beginning to have an impact on agriculture, serving as a source of sustainable food, feed, fertilizers and fuels. This type of support from USDA can further accelerate algae’s potential to become a feedstock for a variety of products that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, land-use requirements and impacts on already stressed freshwater supplies.

The funding will be offered through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)’s Sustainable Bioenergy and Bioproducts Challenge Area, which to date, has awarded over $237 million in research, education and extension grants.

Applications are being solicited for the 2016 fiscal year that focus on the following priorities:

• Regional Bioenergy Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAPs), which support the production and delivery of regionally-appropriate sustainable biomass feedstocks for bioenergy and bioproducts. While the focus of CAPs will be on feedstocks, competitive proposals must present the feedstock development and production in the context of comprehensive regional sustainable bioenergy and bioproducts supply chain systems.
• Investing in America’s scientific corps: Preparing a new generation of students, faculty, and a workforce for emerging opportunities in bioenergy, bioproducts, and the bioeconomy.

ABO strongly encourages ABO members working on eligible technologies to apply.

Letters of Intent must be submitted by July 14! Please  visit USDA’s website for more information..

Click here for the full USDA Press Release