By Katie Fehrenbacher Sep. 27, 2010, 3:19pm
Update: Reuters reports that according to an underwriter Amyris priced its IPO at $16, below its planned range of $18 to $20 per share. We’ll bring you more in the morning.
Next-gen biofuel producer Amyris plans to officially price its shares for its IPO today, and will start trading Tuesday on the NASDAQ. According to a release put out this afternoon, Amyris CEO John Melo will preside over the closing NASDAQ bell on Tuesday, and according to the company’s latest S-1, Amyris is expected to use the trading symbol AMRS.
Amyris filed its original S-1 back in April, signaling its plans to IPO on the NASDAQ this year. Just two weeks ago, the seven-year-old company amended its S-1 to estimate the IPO price between $18 to $20 per share, which at the top range would raise up to $122 million. That range was a slight boost from its previously planned maximum offering of $100 million back in April.
If Amyris’ IPO is priced in the mid-range at $19 per share, the company says its net proceeds of the offering will be $89.1 million, after deducting “estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.” The company plans to spend that money on factory equipment it hopes will bring its technology to commercial scale.
Yes, Amyris is not producing its next-gen biofuel at commercial scale yet, and doesn’t plan to do so until 2011. The company booked its first revenue from a $24.3 million federal grant, awarded on a conditional basis late last year, in May. A good chunk of Amyris’ current revenues comes from reselling ethanol produced by other companies.
According to the latest filing, Amyris brought in revenues of $26.36 million for the first six months of the year, and had a net loss of $36.53 million. Backed by more than $244 million from a long list of investors, including Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, Amyris says as of June 30, 2010, it had accumulated a deficit of $156.5 million.
A positive first day of trading might be somewhat rare in these current market conditions. A variety of greentech companies have abandoned offerings or suffered weak IPOs; Tesla was the exception. Thin-film solar firm Trony Solar dropped its IPO plans in August, Solyndra withdrew its much-anticipated IPO earlier this year, rare earth element developer Molycorp (s mcp) priced its IPOs below expectations, and Shanghai’s geothermal company Nobao Renewable Energy gutted its march to the New York Stock Exchange, too. Another next-gen biofuel developer, Gevo, filed an S-1 earlier this year, planning to raise up to $150 million in an IPO, but at least one analyst thinks Gevo will likely raise closer to between $80 million and $100 million.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
An Overhead View of China’s Pollution
China Real Time Report
Dalhousie University, Aaron van Donkelaar
NASA data shows fine particulate matter density world-wide.To get a sense of how China’s air quality compares with the rest of the world, there’s a new map of global air-particulate pollution from Canadian scientists using National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite data. The verdict: It doesn’t look good.
Eastern China’s industrial area is just about the reddest part of the map, meaning it has the highest concentration of particulates. That doesn’t bode well for the hundreds of millions of people there. And if you’re in the middle of that red zone, you’d have to travel far afield for fresh air.
The researchers, Aaron van Donkelaar and Randall Martin at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, used U.S. space-agency satellite data to measure particulate matter across the globe, figuring ground-based detection is nonexistent or spotty in many areas. The map was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
It’s important to note that the data used for this map are derived from 2001 to 2006. But as The Wall Street Journal noted in July, authorities affirmed that China’s air quality continues to get worse, not better.
According to the NASA post, health officials say fine particulates can get past the body’s hair-like cilia defenses, penetrate the lungs and blood, and lead to chronic diseases, such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and bronchitis.
– Alex Frangos
Laos sees big fish as small price to pay for hydropower
Plans for hydropower plant on the Mekong River threaten habitat of four of the world's largest freshwater fish, says WWF
Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Friday 24 September 2010 16.12 BST
Despite the risks to the world's biggest freshwater fish, Laos has rejected calls for a dam moratorium on the lower reaches of the Mekong because it wants cheap power to develop its economy.
The south-east Asian nation moved this week to secure regional approval for the first major hydropower plant on its stretch of the river in the face of protests from international conservation groups.
Catfish the length of cars and stingrays that weigh more than tigers are threatened by the proposed 800m barrier, but the government said the economic benefits outweigh the environmental risks.
"We don't want to be poor any more," said Viraphone Viravong, director general of the country's energy and mines department. "If we want to grow, we need this dam."
In a submission to the Mekong river commission (MRC) on Wednesday, Laos said it wants to build a 1.26GW-hydropower plant at Sayabouly in northern Laos to generate foreign exchange income.
If approved, about 90% of the electricity would be sold to neighbours Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
It is part of a major plan to expand the economy through the utilisation of natural resources. According to Viravong, 20% of Laos' GDP will come from hydropower and mining by 2020, up from about 4% today.
Sayabouly is the first of 11 proposed dams on the lower reaches of the Mekong, a river that is already heavily dammed upstream in China.
The MMRC – made up of representatives from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand – will now assess the environmental impact of the project, but conservation groups fear the procedure is flawed and have called for a 10-year moratorium on hydropower on the river.
"This dam is the greatest challenge the MRC has faced since it was formed. It is the most serious test of its usefulness and relevance," said Marc Goichot, of the WWF. "It is already very clear this dam would amplify and accelerate the negative impacts of Chinese dams to the Mekong delta. What are the other impacts?"
Concerns have been raised about sedimentation, fisheries and the migration patterns of endangered freshwater species.
Four of the world's 10 biggest freshwater fish migrate up the Mekong to spawn. Among them is the Mekong giant catfish, which is the size of a bull shark, and the Mekong stingray, which can weigh up to 600kg.
The dam – which is being designed by Swiss company Colencois and the Thai contractors Karnchang – is also likely to affect the flow of nutrients along a delta that sustains tens of millions of people.
The Laos authorities insist the dam will be designed to mitigate the impact on food security, ecosystems and wildlife, but officials acknowledge that no solution is ideal for the environment.
"It won't be 100% perfect, but we believe mitigation measures will be effective. We must balance out the costs and benefits," said Viravong.
He felt there was no alternative. "We have done studies on micro-energy and renewables, but they are expensive. I don't think the world can subsidise that. If we do it ourselves, only cheap energy from hydropower will do."
• To order Jonathan Watts' eco-travelogue, When a Billion Chinese Jump, for £9.99 (RRP £14.99) call 0330 333 6846 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0330 333 6846 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visit guardianbooks.co.uk
Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Friday 24 September 2010 16.12 BST
Despite the risks to the world's biggest freshwater fish, Laos has rejected calls for a dam moratorium on the lower reaches of the Mekong because it wants cheap power to develop its economy.
The south-east Asian nation moved this week to secure regional approval for the first major hydropower plant on its stretch of the river in the face of protests from international conservation groups.
Catfish the length of cars and stingrays that weigh more than tigers are threatened by the proposed 800m barrier, but the government said the economic benefits outweigh the environmental risks.
"We don't want to be poor any more," said Viraphone Viravong, director general of the country's energy and mines department. "If we want to grow, we need this dam."
In a submission to the Mekong river commission (MRC) on Wednesday, Laos said it wants to build a 1.26GW-hydropower plant at Sayabouly in northern Laos to generate foreign exchange income.
If approved, about 90% of the electricity would be sold to neighbours Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
It is part of a major plan to expand the economy through the utilisation of natural resources. According to Viravong, 20% of Laos' GDP will come from hydropower and mining by 2020, up from about 4% today.
Sayabouly is the first of 11 proposed dams on the lower reaches of the Mekong, a river that is already heavily dammed upstream in China.
The MMRC – made up of representatives from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand – will now assess the environmental impact of the project, but conservation groups fear the procedure is flawed and have called for a 10-year moratorium on hydropower on the river.
"This dam is the greatest challenge the MRC has faced since it was formed. It is the most serious test of its usefulness and relevance," said Marc Goichot, of the WWF. "It is already very clear this dam would amplify and accelerate the negative impacts of Chinese dams to the Mekong delta. What are the other impacts?"
Concerns have been raised about sedimentation, fisheries and the migration patterns of endangered freshwater species.
Four of the world's 10 biggest freshwater fish migrate up the Mekong to spawn. Among them is the Mekong giant catfish, which is the size of a bull shark, and the Mekong stingray, which can weigh up to 600kg.
The dam – which is being designed by Swiss company Colencois and the Thai contractors Karnchang – is also likely to affect the flow of nutrients along a delta that sustains tens of millions of people.
The Laos authorities insist the dam will be designed to mitigate the impact on food security, ecosystems and wildlife, but officials acknowledge that no solution is ideal for the environment.
"It won't be 100% perfect, but we believe mitigation measures will be effective. We must balance out the costs and benefits," said Viravong.
He felt there was no alternative. "We have done studies on micro-energy and renewables, but they are expensive. I don't think the world can subsidise that. If we do it ourselves, only cheap energy from hydropower will do."
• To order Jonathan Watts' eco-travelogue, When a Billion Chinese Jump, for £9.99 (RRP £14.99) call 0330 333 6846 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0330 333 6846 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visit guardianbooks.co.uk
Japan to drill for controversial 'fire ice'
Japan seeks to improve energy security by drilling for frozen methane but environmentalists fear a leak of the greenhouse gas, which is 21 times as damaging as carbon dioxide
Michael Fitzpatrick guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 September 2010 09.22 BST
In a bid to shore up its precarious energy security Japan is to start commercial test drilling for controversial frozen methane gas along its coast next year.
The gas is methane hydrate, a sherbet-like substance consisting of methane trapped in water ice – sometimes called "fire ice" or MH – that is locked deep underwater or under permafrost by the cold and under pressure 23 times that of normal atmosphere.
A consortium led by the Japanese government and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (Jogmec) will be sinking several wells off the south-eastern coast of Japan to assess the commercial viability of extracting gas from frozen methane deep beneath local waters. Surveys suggest Japan has enough methane hydrate for 100 years at the current rate of usage.
Lying hundreds of metres below the sea and deeper still below sediments, fire ice is exceedingly difficult to extract. Japan is claiming successful tests using a method that gently depressurises the frozen gas.
Tokyo plans to start commercial output of methane hydrates by 2018. At present, Japan imports nearly all its gas – about 58.6m tonnes of liquified gas annually – and is heavily dependent on oil imports. In a desperate attempt to secure more oil, for example, Japan recently did a deal with the United Arab Emirates. In exchange for using Japan as a base for Asian oil trading, Japan now has priority to purchase rights to up to 4m barrels of immediately accessible crude.
Lucia van Geuns, an energy analyst at the international energy programme of the Clingendael Institute, said: "Methane hydrates could make Japan energy independent. Japan put a lot of R&D into this project because of course the less energy it imports the better. Whether they can commercialise methane hydrates remains to be seen.
"If it does succeed, and that's very much a long shot, it will have a huge impact – equivalent to the use of gas shales in the US."
Japan's trade ministry, which is behind the scheme, has requested a budget of ¥8.9bn (£667m) for the drilling to start next spring. The huge budget reflects the difficulties of drilling deep offshore. In Japan, hydrates in the Sea of Kumano are found about 30km offshore in about 100 metres of water and at a depth below the seabed of 200 metres, making it difficult to mine the unstable hydrates.
Concerns had been raised that digging for frozen methane would destabilise the methane beds, which contain enough gas worldwide to snuff out most complex life on earth. Methane itself is a greenhouse gas which is 21 times as damaging as carbon dioxide and any leakage from wells could be an environmental problem.
Professor Gerald Dickens, of Rice University in Texas,a leading researcher into methane hydrates, thinks accidental releases can be avoided."The only potential issue in regards to drilling would be if there is greatly over-pressured gas immediately beneath the gas hydrate. However, there is growing belief and rationale to suggest that this cannot occur in nature. So, as far as drilling there should be no issue."
Environmentalists, however, are concernedabout the burning of more earth-locked hydrocarbons. Methane may be a cleaner-burning fossil fuel than coal or oil but will still release many tons of CO2. Jogmec acknowledges the problems, admitting mining of methane ice could lead to landslides and the devastation of marine life in the mining areas. "There are many other technological problems to overcome," says the Jogmec website. "Not least that when you drill you create heat, which turns the frozen methane into gas, which could then leak uncontrollably through the sea to our atmosphere."
The US, China, Canada and South Korea are among other countries seeking to develop commercially viable extraction technology and each is now exploring the mining of methane hydrates from their own sea beds.
"Some commercial production of methane from methane hydrate could be achieved in the United States before 2025," says a US government report on the subject.
Michael Fitzpatrick guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 September 2010 09.22 BST
In a bid to shore up its precarious energy security Japan is to start commercial test drilling for controversial frozen methane gas along its coast next year.
The gas is methane hydrate, a sherbet-like substance consisting of methane trapped in water ice – sometimes called "fire ice" or MH – that is locked deep underwater or under permafrost by the cold and under pressure 23 times that of normal atmosphere.
A consortium led by the Japanese government and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (Jogmec) will be sinking several wells off the south-eastern coast of Japan to assess the commercial viability of extracting gas from frozen methane deep beneath local waters. Surveys suggest Japan has enough methane hydrate for 100 years at the current rate of usage.
Lying hundreds of metres below the sea and deeper still below sediments, fire ice is exceedingly difficult to extract. Japan is claiming successful tests using a method that gently depressurises the frozen gas.
Tokyo plans to start commercial output of methane hydrates by 2018. At present, Japan imports nearly all its gas – about 58.6m tonnes of liquified gas annually – and is heavily dependent on oil imports. In a desperate attempt to secure more oil, for example, Japan recently did a deal with the United Arab Emirates. In exchange for using Japan as a base for Asian oil trading, Japan now has priority to purchase rights to up to 4m barrels of immediately accessible crude.
Lucia van Geuns, an energy analyst at the international energy programme of the Clingendael Institute, said: "Methane hydrates could make Japan energy independent. Japan put a lot of R&D into this project because of course the less energy it imports the better. Whether they can commercialise methane hydrates remains to be seen.
"If it does succeed, and that's very much a long shot, it will have a huge impact – equivalent to the use of gas shales in the US."
Japan's trade ministry, which is behind the scheme, has requested a budget of ¥8.9bn (£667m) for the drilling to start next spring. The huge budget reflects the difficulties of drilling deep offshore. In Japan, hydrates in the Sea of Kumano are found about 30km offshore in about 100 metres of water and at a depth below the seabed of 200 metres, making it difficult to mine the unstable hydrates.
Concerns had been raised that digging for frozen methane would destabilise the methane beds, which contain enough gas worldwide to snuff out most complex life on earth. Methane itself is a greenhouse gas which is 21 times as damaging as carbon dioxide and any leakage from wells could be an environmental problem.
Professor Gerald Dickens, of Rice University in Texas,a leading researcher into methane hydrates, thinks accidental releases can be avoided."The only potential issue in regards to drilling would be if there is greatly over-pressured gas immediately beneath the gas hydrate. However, there is growing belief and rationale to suggest that this cannot occur in nature. So, as far as drilling there should be no issue."
Environmentalists, however, are concernedabout the burning of more earth-locked hydrocarbons. Methane may be a cleaner-burning fossil fuel than coal or oil but will still release many tons of CO2. Jogmec acknowledges the problems, admitting mining of methane ice could lead to landslides and the devastation of marine life in the mining areas. "There are many other technological problems to overcome," says the Jogmec website. "Not least that when you drill you create heat, which turns the frozen methane into gas, which could then leak uncontrollably through the sea to our atmosphere."
The US, China, Canada and South Korea are among other countries seeking to develop commercially viable extraction technology and each is now exploring the mining of methane hydrates from their own sea beds.
"Some commercial production of methane from methane hydrate could be achieved in the United States before 2025," says a US government report on the subject.
Wind turbine price 'could fall 25% by 2025'
Energy Research Centre says competition and innovation will cut offshore turbine costs – provided government backs industry
• Global wind energy capacity edges towards 200GW
Adam Vaughan guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 September 2010 15.42 BST
The UK's efforts to hit its renewable energy target are likely to be boosted by a near-25% fall in the cost of offshore wind turbines by 2025, engineers claimed today. But they warned that the prices may not fall – or could even rise – if the government cuts its financing of research and development, or if competition between wind turbine makers or improvements in technology do not materialise.
Last week the Carbon Trust, which has an offshore wind accelerator R&D fund, was named on a list of government quangoes under review, while US wind turbine maker Clipper entered crisis talks with its parent company over "significant liquidity strain".
Today's report by the UK Energy Research Centre follows the opening last Thursday of the world's largest offshore farm off the coast of Kent, and predicted that offshore wind was likely to fall from £149 per megawatt hour (MWh) in 2009 to around £115/MWh in 2025. The fall, it said, would come from competition between turbine-makers driving down prices, innovation, manufacturing scale and standardisation and a better UK supply chain.
Offshore wind is seen by government as crucial in the push to meet a target of generating 30% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020, but is almost twice as expensive as electricity from gas power stations. The UK currently has only 1GW of installed offshore wind, the equivalent of one coal-fired power station.
Like the opening of the Thanet offshore farm, where British firms reaped just 20% of the £900m invested in the project, UKERC's report highlights the UK's reliance on foreign technology. Around 80% of offshore wind components are imported, it says, meaning the UK is failing to grow jobs and cut costs by reducing exposure to fluctuating exchange rates.
Robert Gross, the report's chief author, said: "The UK is not yet fully benefitting from being a world-leader in the field [it has the world's highest installed capacity of offshore wind power]. In effect UK consumers are subsidising Danish and German wind energy companies."
Gross also said that while it is feasible in engineering terms for around 3,000 offshore turbines to be built by 2020, it will be "a big ask" on a financial level. Earlier today, Susan Rice, managing director of the Lloyds banking group in Scotland, warned that many companies are still wary about the risks and upfront costs of building multibillion-pound offshore windfarms.
Like other sources of energy, offshore wind's costs rose considerably in the past decade despite expectations it would fall, the report notes. Capital costs for projects coming online in 2008 were double those of 2003 levels. "Rising commodity prices [steel is a key component for turbines], supply chain shortages and currency movements created a perfect storm," said Gross.
However, Gross said the better outlook today meant his report's worst-case scenario – which sees the mid-2020s price of wind power rise to £185/MWh – was "very unlikely."
Guy Shrubsole of the Public Interest Research Centre, which in May published a report on the offshore energy resource around the UK, said: "Investing now in offshore renewables will reap big rewards later. Making the right investments now could unlock an enormous renewable energy resource – one big enough to make the UK a net electricity exporter in the future." PIRC's study suggested the cost of offshore wind could drop to as low as £70-£90/MWh by the middle of the next decade.
• Global wind energy capacity edges towards 200GW
Adam Vaughan guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 September 2010 15.42 BST
The UK's efforts to hit its renewable energy target are likely to be boosted by a near-25% fall in the cost of offshore wind turbines by 2025, engineers claimed today. But they warned that the prices may not fall – or could even rise – if the government cuts its financing of research and development, or if competition between wind turbine makers or improvements in technology do not materialise.
Last week the Carbon Trust, which has an offshore wind accelerator R&D fund, was named on a list of government quangoes under review, while US wind turbine maker Clipper entered crisis talks with its parent company over "significant liquidity strain".
Today's report by the UK Energy Research Centre follows the opening last Thursday of the world's largest offshore farm off the coast of Kent, and predicted that offshore wind was likely to fall from £149 per megawatt hour (MWh) in 2009 to around £115/MWh in 2025. The fall, it said, would come from competition between turbine-makers driving down prices, innovation, manufacturing scale and standardisation and a better UK supply chain.
Offshore wind is seen by government as crucial in the push to meet a target of generating 30% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020, but is almost twice as expensive as electricity from gas power stations. The UK currently has only 1GW of installed offshore wind, the equivalent of one coal-fired power station.
Like the opening of the Thanet offshore farm, where British firms reaped just 20% of the £900m invested in the project, UKERC's report highlights the UK's reliance on foreign technology. Around 80% of offshore wind components are imported, it says, meaning the UK is failing to grow jobs and cut costs by reducing exposure to fluctuating exchange rates.
Robert Gross, the report's chief author, said: "The UK is not yet fully benefitting from being a world-leader in the field [it has the world's highest installed capacity of offshore wind power]. In effect UK consumers are subsidising Danish and German wind energy companies."
Gross also said that while it is feasible in engineering terms for around 3,000 offshore turbines to be built by 2020, it will be "a big ask" on a financial level. Earlier today, Susan Rice, managing director of the Lloyds banking group in Scotland, warned that many companies are still wary about the risks and upfront costs of building multibillion-pound offshore windfarms.
Like other sources of energy, offshore wind's costs rose considerably in the past decade despite expectations it would fall, the report notes. Capital costs for projects coming online in 2008 were double those of 2003 levels. "Rising commodity prices [steel is a key component for turbines], supply chain shortages and currency movements created a perfect storm," said Gross.
However, Gross said the better outlook today meant his report's worst-case scenario – which sees the mid-2020s price of wind power rise to £185/MWh – was "very unlikely."
Guy Shrubsole of the Public Interest Research Centre, which in May published a report on the offshore energy resource around the UK, said: "Investing now in offshore renewables will reap big rewards later. Making the right investments now could unlock an enormous renewable energy resource – one big enough to make the UK a net electricity exporter in the future." PIRC's study suggested the cost of offshore wind could drop to as low as £70-£90/MWh by the middle of the next decade.