symbios in the media
Clean energy park moves into second phase
By Steve Porter, Northern Colorado Business ReportJanuary 29, 2010 --
GREELEY - In just a few years, a site east of downtown Greeley could be bustling with activity, showcasing one of the nation's first "clean energy parks." The city is studying the possibility of creating the Greeley Clean Energy Park, where alternative energy production would be demonstrated in a real-world setting.Through potential partnerships with JBS USA meatpacking company and Leprino Foods - which intends to construct a cheese-manufacturing facility within the same 220-acre Urban Renewal Authority site — the city is exploring the concept of producing biogas and electrical power from meat, cheese and other organic wastes.
The concept — now in phase 2 of its initial planning — calls for combining organic wastes from Leprino and JBS's packing plant about one mile north along with biosolids from the city's water pollution control facility, also located in the URA. By putting the combined material through an anaerobic digester — in which microorganisms consume waste and produce methane — biogas could be created to be burned to make electricity.
An $82,000 grant from the Governor's Energy Office last year funded the first phase of the study, performed primarily by Fort Collins-based Symbios Technologies LLC, a waste-to-energy project developer.
The study found "the most manageable and profitable scenario" for the project would be a 2-megawatt digester that could process more than 500 tons of waste and produce more than 800,000 cubic feet of biogas daily. The gas could be converted into about 16 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
The study also showed the facility could be built for about $17.3 million. How that might be split remains open for discussion, said Bruce Biggi, Greeley's economic development manager.
"The report examines all kinds of scenarios of ownership," he said. "It really depends on who wants to be part of the project."
Second phase under way
Biggi said the second phase of the project, which received city council approval to move forward in mid-January, will include a closer look at setting up the digester, including choosing the best technology and best location on the site.
"One site might lend itself better than the other but we won't know that till we know the actual technology that will be deployed," said Biggi. "We also need to firm up the parties, the agreements and the type of waste coming in."
The city has letters of support for the project from Leprino and JBS. Chandler Keys, JBS spokesman, said the company is interested in the concept but is waiting to see how it unfolds.
"We're working with the city and we're all waiting to see what happens," he said. "We're very interested in this kind of technology, but we want to see what the final proposal looks like."
JBS recently began construction of its own anaerobic digester for its Grand Island, Neb. plant, Keys said, noting that the company is interested in embracing new technologies.
"I think the key to keep in mind is we're in a new energy area and we're looking at new technologies," he said. "I think in the next 10 years we'll be generating a lot more energy from biomass."
Mike Reidy, Leprino Foods vice president, said his company supports the project. "We're very supportive of any project that allows for the development of more sustainable energy, like this one," he said. "At the conceptual level, we're very supportive."
Reidy said it's too early to say how much waste Leprino might provide to the digester or whether the company would be interested in being a financial partner in its construction.
One sensitive issue still to be resolved is the city's desire not to have the project become a source of foul odors. The digester could consume up to 25 semi-truck loads of animal waste from JBS daily. Biggi said the system could be designed to contain odors from trucks, and he said the current study will look at using the old Monfort trunk line — an underground pipe that once pumped wastes from the slaughterhouse to the city's waste treatment facility.
"It could really eliminate the need to do any trucking at all," he said of the pipe.
Saving money attractive
JBS could save money by disposing of waste locally rather than hauling it more than 50 miles to a disposal site as it does now. Saving money and having access to cheaper power produced by the digester are two of the biggest attractions for any partners in the project.Biggi said a variety of financing options are being studied, including having the city pay for it all, partnering with private companies or having a private firm entirely finance it. He said having the project funded 50 percent with public money would offer investors a 15 percent rate of return.
"That's a very attractive rate," he said.
But the project may end up being built solely with private money, Biggi noted. "There have been firms very interested in investing in alternative energy projects who have contacted us," he said, declining to identify the companies.
Biggi said the city hopes to have a "very complete RFP (request for proposals) for design" of the digester facility at the conclusion of the second phase of planning, "by the third or fourth quarter of this year. Our goal is to move as quickly as possible but also cautiously and judiciously."
JBS spokesman Keys said the world's biggest meatpacker could have built its own digester in Greeley but wants to see if a partnership with the city might cost less to accomplish the same thing.
"That's what we're looking at," he said. "We're working with them to see if it's a good fit for us at the end of the day. We've all got more hoops to jump through, but I think the trend in this industry is to utilize everything and not let anything go to waste."
Greeley may host first large-scale digester
By Anna AustinPosted January 6, 2010, at 12:18 a.m. CST
A city in west central Colorado is working to further pursue plans to construct a waste-to-energy facility that would utilize local agricultural and food processing waste streams to produce biogas for electricity generation, a project which could result in the state’s first large-scale anaerobic digestion operation.
In late January 2009, Greeley, Colo., was awarded $82,500 to conduct a feasibility analysis to look at the development of a Greeley Clean Energy Park, funding which was part of several New Energy Economic Development grants provided by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s Energy Office through the state Clean Energy Funds.
According to the recently completed study, which was conducted by Symbios Technologies LLC, the most manageable and profitable scenario for a first-phase GCEP project would be a 2-megawatt anaerobic digester with a combined-heat-and-power unit for electricity generation, capable of processing more than 500 tons per day of waste from three main waste sources—cow manure from a JBS feedlot, and waste from Leprino Foods Cheese Plant and the city water pollution control facility—into more than 800,000 cubic feet of biogas per day which would be converted into approximately 16 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
The facility could be built for an estimated all-in capital cost of approximately $17.3 million and would yield a 3.7 percent internal rate of return if funded with no public financing.
The study found that the GCEP is uniquely positioned to host the state’s first large-scale anaerobic digester project because of key attributes not found at any other known site in Colorado combine to create an economic and environmental advantage over other potential uses of the project partners’ wastes. Attributes include but aren’t limited to a cost share opportunity with the water pollution control facility, which is located adjacent to the GCEP site and includes an existing digester and de-watering plant that is budgeted for approximately $5 million in improvements that could be reallocated for a community digester project in addition to other infrastructure synergies; short waste hauling distancing from the projects three major possible waste providers; close proximity to energy demands and a unique confluence of significant high-energy waste generators, allowing for economies of scale not possible at other sites.
Bruce Biggi, Greeley’s economic development manager, said now the city is seeking funding for a phase two development planning effort. “The development planning effort should answer a few of the report's unanswered questions, and more importantly, address the key elements needed to move forward constructing an anaerobic digestion project,” Biggi said. “For example: site selection, permitting, partnership formation, project funding and design.”
Biggi added that ideally, project construction would begin prior to the end of this year to benefit from currently available stimulus funding. “This is a very ambitious schedule,” he said. “We will have to make sure that the process progresses seamlessly from start to finish.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Greeley Tribune, 1/5/10
Bill JacksonSenator Bennet hears concerns about ag economy
Preserving a viable agricultural industry is the key to helping rural development in northern Colorado, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet was told Monday morning.Bennet, a Democrat from Denver, met with about a dozen small-business representatives and government officials at a roundtable discussion at the Greeley City Hall, 1000 10th St., where he sought ideas for rural job creation and economic growth. It was one of several roundtable discussions he's conducted around the state.
The past 10 years, he said, has been described as the “lost decade” due to the recession and many of the state's working families being unable to keep up with economic growth that preceded the recession.
“We cannot have one more lost decade in the United States,” Bennet said in opening remarks.
Much of the discussion then centered around the Greeley Clean Energy Park, which is about to go into its second phase of planning, and the struggles facing agriculture, mainly the dairy industry.
The energy park's first goal is to build a digester near the site of the new Leprino Foods cheese plant. Symbios Technologies LLC of Fort Collins is working with the city to develop the park, which also involves Leprino and JBS USA. The digester would utilize animal waste from JBS — up to 25 semi-truck loads per day — and other livestock feedlots to generate energy. Over a 10- to 15-year period, the park could result in a $500 million project, said Justin Bzdek, president and CEO of Symbios. The project also includes a 71-acre solar field, south of the Greeley-Weld Airport.
Bruce Biggi, economic development manager for the city of Greeley, said the second phase of the project should start in the next couple of months. In response to a question from Bennet, Biggi said the Leprino Foods cheese plant is still on the drawing board, but instead of coming online in 2011, it will probably be 2012.
“They have been affected by the economy as has everyone else,” Biggi said.
Meanwhile, John Slutsky, who operates a dairy near Wellington, north of Fort Collins, said small towns such as Wellington have not been able to handle growth that well, mainly because they cannot afford a planner.
“But agriculture is still the backbone of our community,” he said, adding that projects such as the Greeley Clean Energy Park are an example of how a city and agriculture can work together.
Responding to a Bennet question, Slutsky said the state's dairy industry continues to lose $2 on every 100 pounds of milk produced, and he said even those on solid footing have lost a lot of their equity. He said the only way improvement will come will be to find ways to increase consumption and to have the federal government support milk exports.
Weld commissioners Barbara Kirkmeyer and Doug Rademacher also told Bennet that federal regulations are making it tough on U.S. agriculture.
Rademacher specifically noted that that clean water and clean air requirements either imposed or being considered for agriculture are also detrimental.
“The cost of meeting those regulations is getting difficult,” said Rademacher, who farms in southwest Weld.
Mike Flesher, a senior vice president with Mountain Plains Farm Credit Services, said that organization has suffered along with the rest of agriculture.
“Our customers have looked at losses for 18 months or so that have been so enormous it's going to take a long, long time to recover,” he said.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 2009
Contact: Justin Bzdek at Symbios Technologies — 970-797-2543Symbios Technologies Helps Source $25 Million DOE Grant for ZeaChem
FT. COLLINS, Colo., December 11, 2009 – Symbios Technologies, a renewable energy project developer, has helped ZeaChem, Inc. to be selected for a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE). The award comes from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Biomass Program, and is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). ZeaChem is a developer of biorefineries for the conversion of renewable biomass into fuels and chemicals.Symbios worked with ZeaChem from conception to submission to DOE. “This was a five-month process involving Symbios staff and consultants, plus numerous personnel from ZeaChem and CH2M HILL,” said Justin Bzdek, Symbios’ CEO, who led the proposal project. “In the past few years we’ve been part of more than $50 million in grant awards for our clients and partners, and there is more funding available for renewable energy firms.”
As outlined in a ZeaChem press release last week, the grant will be used to support construction of the company's first cellulosic biorefinery, which will have capacity of 250,000 gallons per year (GPY) and is proposed to be built in Boardman, Oregon. ZeaChem recently announced that construction is underway. The core technology, which will produce the bio-based chemical ethyl acetate, will be online by the end of 2010. The DOE grant will be used to construct and integrate additional process components to the ZeaChem core, enabling the production of cellulosic ethanol. Upon successful operations at the 250,000 GPY biorefinery, ZeaChem intends to scale to a commercial biorefinery.
DOE awarded $564 million of ARRA funds to spur job creation and deploy advanced biorefinery projects. ZeaChem is one of 19 grant recipients.
About Symbios Technologies
Symbios Technologies LLC is a waste-to-energy project developer and consulting firm that sources funds for renewable energy companies. Symbios is working to reduce its clients’ greenhouse gas impacts while improving waste disposal and energy economics. Symbios uses proprietary engineering and financial software to evaluate, design, and optimize integrated renewable energy facilities to produce clean energy, water, and other valuable products from waste. Symbios is working to integrate public and private funding, on-the-ground engineering, and technology selection to make waste-to-energy and combined solar-biomass projects economically feasible.###
Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative
By Brian Larson / Jeff Nuttall (2009-10-08)
GREELEY, CO (KUNC)Listen to the interview from KUNC
RMI2 gets grant to go regional
By Kristen Tatti
Northern Colorado Business Report
October 9, 2009 --
FORT COLLINS - The Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative might have its roots in the Fort Collins Technology Incubator, but its ever-evolving slate of services and continued regional expansion since 1998 helped it land a crucial operational grant typically reserved for younger programs.At its September meeting the Colorado Economic Development Commission approved a $150,000, three-year grant for RMI2. The funding - $75,000 in the first year, followed by $50,000 and $25,000 - will give the organization a much-needed boost as it prepares to grow into a new facility and grow its partnerships beyond county lines.
"With the goals we've set for the next five years, it will take a higher level of staffing," explained RMI2 Executive Director Mark Forsyth. He expects that the grant will help the organization add two additional full-time staff members.
Earlier this year, RMI2 landed financing for a new 31,000-square-foot building in Fort Collins that will finally bring all of its incubator companies under one roof, with space for more. The $7.1 million project is set to receive $2.8 million in tax increment financing from the city of Fort Collins' Urban Renewal Authority and $1.8 million from the state-supported New Markets Tax Credits. The long-term debt to RMI2 will be about $2.5 million.
The new building has been a long-term goal for the organization. So far, it has been lucky enough to find additional leased space in city buildings as Fort Collins shuffled departments. The city recently made a fourth building available, and RMI2 expanded into the former Island Grove Regional Treatment Center on West Mountain Avenue. With new startup clientele and existing incubator companies ready to expand, that space is nearly full.
New clients, new services
RMI2 has seen a surge in new clients and applications during the past few months. Since the spring, it has received 20 applications, and in the past month, six new clients have joined, bringing its total number of fledgling firms to 15. By comparison, in 2007 the program had five incubator clients and accepted no new ones. Forsyth hopes to double the number of companies the organization can handle in the next year and to have the new facility almost fully leased when it opens.
With all of the growth, the prospect of a new building, and continuing rollout of new services, RMI2's need for additional operating funds became quickly apparent, and the organization asked the state for help.
While the economic development commission has a history of awarding grants to incubators, funds are typically reserved for brand-new efforts. The commission unanimously approved the RMI2 grant after hearing about its ongoing evolution.
"The grant was really for continuing to expand our regional focus," Forsyth said.
RMI2 is already making strides toward enveloping Northern Colorado. It is working more closely with the University of Northern Colorado's Monfort College of Business, pulling together a business plan competition for the spring, among other partnerships.
The organization will also host its monthly Innovation After Hours event in Greeley, with a focus on the city's plans for a clean energy park. Incubator company Symbios Technologies LLC has taken the lead in the early stage planning for the project.
Clean Energy Park progress
In April, the city of Greeley received an $82,000 grant from the Governor's Energy Office to look at the feasibility of the Greeley Clean Energy Park within the Western Sugar Tax Increment Financing District where Leprino Foods intends to build a cheese factory. A central feature would be an anaerobic digester that could take organic waste from Leprino and JBS-Swift and produce biogas to serve the energy needs of business and industry within the park.
The six-month grant allowed for the first phase of an engineering and economic analysis.
"We're five months into the six-month grant," said Bruce Biggi, Greeley's economic development manager, adding that he expects to receive the first draft of the analysis from Symbios shortly.
Biggi explained that the analysis will contain three major elements:
An overall review and thorough analysis of leading technologies for anaerobic digestion;
- Results from a waste sample analysis conducted by a Colorado State University researcher to determine the methane value of various sources;
- A techno-economic analysis weighing the costs of the technologies available, the potential revenue streams that could be created and the optimal size for the project.
While the study is really just a first step, it is already garnering interest.
"The project has already attracted the attention of related alternative energy companies," Biggi said.
The synergies and technology combinations possible among RMI2 companies has been impressive. Another incubator company - solar integrator Wirsol - has expressed an interest in the clean energy project because anaerobic digestion technology offers an energy source that can be used to fill gaps when solar or wind generation is not available. Symbios has also discussed the potential of using methane to run reciprocal engines to generate electricity and is investigating how technology developed by VanDyne SuperTurbocharger, yet another incubator company, could increase efficiencies.
"It's almost mind-blowing," Biggi said. "We have all of these options, so now we have to decide what is the best for the project and most feasible economically."
The next step will be to review the feasibility study to determine the opportunities for economic viability. Biggi said that the project would not move forward if it wouldn't be sustainable. If ample opportunities are identified, another RFP will be issued seeking private investors and companies to partner with the city of Greeley. Additional grant opportunities would also be sought.
"We think this is a really exciting project," Forsyth said.
Showcase for local innovation
With so many local firms already chiming in with possibilities, Forsyth feels that the energy park could truly be a showcase for the region and the state. Demonstrating what can be accomplished, especially by locally grown innovation, is becoming a theme at RMI2 as groundbreaking for the new facility nears.
"We want to have a showcase of renewable energy at the facility," he said.
RMI2 is consulting with Wirsol on possible rooftop and/or parking lot solar projects. Forsyth hopes that the project can be a part of FortZED - an initiative to turn a portion of Fort Collins from the CSU campus to downtown into a zero-energy district. He also anticipates applying for additional grant assistance for the renewable energy projects.
While grants have proven to be an excellent source of funding for RMI2, the organization is already looking to the future. The Internal Revenue Service recently granted the organization 501(c)(3) status, which allows tax-deductible donations from businesses and individuals. RMI2 was also added to the list of state Enterprise Zone-approved programs. With the designations, contributors can claim a tax credit of 25 percent for cash or 12.5 percent for in-kind donations.
"It's good timing because we will be ramping up our fundraising efforts," Forsyth said.
The RMI2 board decided that rather than ask for additional funding from its existing supporters - the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley, CSU, UNC, Larimer County and the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. - the organization would undertake a fundraising campaign, perhaps timed to coincide with the facility groundbreaking at the start of the year.
BY DAVID YOUNG
The ColoradoanInnovation initiative helps bring clean energy firms to Fort Collins
Fort Collins continues to entice renewable energy companies from as far as Europe and as near as CSU, thanks, in large part, to a local incubator.
Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative's, or RMI2, incubator program has added two new companies this year to its ever growing list of start ups.
Symbios Technologies LLC joined RMI2 in January and Germany-based Wirsol Solar AG announced it is coming in April.
In January, Symbios moved into RMI2's building at 200 W. Mountain Avenue with the intent to convert waste to fuel.
"We are attempting to make economical projects and technology for getting off of fossil fuels by converting animal waste, sewage, landfill waste and agriculture residue into fuels and electricity," said Justin Bzdek, president of Symbios.
The company started one year before moving into RMI2's technology incubator, where it receives added support to help it grow faster.
Currently, Bzdek along with Rick Jones, vice president, are the only two full-time staff for the company. They are self-funded, and have four part-time employees and an advisory board.
The company is exploring capital opportunities for software technology and project development, Bzdek said.
Bzdek already has started one successful company with Blue Sun Biodiesel. He started the renewable energy company in Fort Collins, but the company is now located in Denver.
Having started both companies, Bzdek said having RMI2 available, with programs that include advisers and collaborative efforts, is beneficial in helping his small company grow faster.
"The support of RMI2 and the types of services greatly increase our chances of success in real ways, and greatly increases our chances of staying in Fort Collins," Bzdek said.
Wirsol, a company that provides turnkey solutions directly to the consumer in the field of solar panels, saw the benefits of RMI2 and chose Fort Collins as its U.S. base, in part, because of the incubator.
The solar company helps install residential and utility-grade solar panels. Wirsol will make its first venture into the U.S. market on April 1 when it joins RMI2, said G.J. Pierman, director of business development for the Wirsol.
Pierman said he looked at several different locations in which to launch Wirsol into the U.S. market, including California and Texas, but decided that Fort Collins had the most to offer his company.
"It was a package decision. We looked overall at the opportunity here, and the presence of RMI2 was one of the deciding considerations," he said.
The company decided to locate in Fort Collins in December. As Wirsol's project load increases, Pierman, who will be the only employee to begin with, said he plans to hire more staff locally. In Germany, Wirsol employs 120 people.
During the past few years Pierman said he has seen the U.S. market change its attitude toward renewable energy and start to embrace new technology.
"What is clear is that we can't depend on fossil fuel. And renewable, in our opinion, is the only way forward," Pierman said.
Mark Forsyth, executive director of RMI2, helps coordinate nine companies in the incubator program, spilt between three buildings.
RMI2 is planning a new 30,000-square-foot building for its companies north of Old Town in the North College Avenue urban renewal district. Forsyth said if all goes according to plan, the building could be ready for occupancy by fall 2010.
He said he is excited about the addition of two new companies to RMI2 and Fort Collins.
"They can really benefit from services we provide them," Forsyth said.
A few of those services include: shared workspace, network of business advisers, angel investors, service providers and market research.
Forsyth said both companies are an ideal fit for the program, and the region has a lot to gain from Wirsol.
"These people bring a lot of expertise not really seen in the U.S.," Forsyth said. "The U.S. is really trailing Europe when it comes to converting solar energy and wind power."
Along with RMI2, the city of Fort Collins, Colorado State University, Northern Colorado Clean Energy Cluster and Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. worked together to attract Wirsol to Fort Collins.
Mike Freeman, the city's chief financial officer, said RMI2 has been successful in attracting innovation-based companies such as Symbios and Wirsol. The commitment of the region to renewable energy presented a unified front for Wirsol.
"We do compete heavily, not only in Colorado, but nationally for clean technology," Freeman said. "Sometimes we are successful, sometimes we are not. But I think we compete very well as a region."
Additional Facts About the companies
About Symbios
- Founded: 2008
- Management: Justin Bzdek, president
- What it does: converts waste to fuel
- Address: 200 W. Mountain Ave. Suite C-104, Ft. Collins CO 80521
- Web site: www.symbiostechnologies.com
- Telephone: (970) 797-2543
About Wirsol
- Founded: In Germany, 2004. Will make its first venture into U.S.
on April 1- Management: G.J. Pierman, director of business development
- What it does: provides turnkey solutions directly to the consumer
in the field of solar panels- Number of employees: One in Fort Collins; 120 in Germany
