Biofuel company Mascoma Corporation announced the acquisition of SunOpta BioProcess Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed. SunOpta BioProcess is a division of organic food company SunOpta Inc. (Nasdaq: STKL; TSX: SOY). It specializes in fiber preparation and pretreatment technologies that will add to Mascoma’s cellulosic ethanol capabilities. Mascoma has a long list of high-profile investors, including General Motors, Khosla Ventures, Marathon Oil and Kleiner Perkins. SunOpta also owns an 18% stake in Mascoma, which is undoubtedly how this deal came together. Mascoma currently has a demonstration-scale operation in Rome, New York and is developing its first commercial-scale facility in Michigan.
Industry giant Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) has acquired a majority stake in Garick LLC for an unspecified amount. Garick produces
and distributes organic lawn and garden products. The company’s operations will add over one million tons of processing
capacity as well as commercial organic products to Waste
Management’s business. Waste Management said the deal will accelerate its organics recycling and could lead to the development of commercial composting operations at its facilities across the U.S. North America generates more than 80 million tons of organic waste each year.
In the United States, approximately a third of municipal solid waste is
organic, including food, yard and wood waste. Approximately 65% of the yard
waste is diverted from landfills for use as mulch and compost, but only 2.5% of food waste is
currently diverted from disposal.
U.S. utility Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) announced an agreement
to acquire John Deere Renewables from its parent company Deere &
Company (NYSE:DE) for $900 million. John Deere Renewables owns and operates
735 megawatts (MW) of wind power in the U.S. and has an additional 230 MW in advanced stages
of development. Exelon will also have the opportunity to pursue another 1,200 MW worth of projects in early development stages. Exelon is already the largest wholesale marketer of wind energy east of the Mississippi, but this deal marks the company’s entry into wind power development and ownership.
Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced a
strategic alliance for smart grid offerings. The companies, which are heavyweights in their respective industries, will collaborate to develop internet protocol-based communications for smart metering equipment. Itron will then license the technology from Cisco to embed in its OpenWay meters, giving the company a hardware and software combination to offer to electric utility companies.
In a similar agreement, Swiss smart meter company Landis+Gyr will embed software developed by San Francisco-based Grid Net into its smart meters in Australia and New Zealand. The deal is a huge boost for Grid Net, which already counts GE (NYSE: GE) among its resellers. Together, GE and Landis+Gyr control about 45% of the market for smart meters. The deal with Landis+Gyr includes an option for worldwide distribution. Grid Net’s technology includes end-to-end software options for smart grid operations. The company has drawn notable venture investments over the last couple of years from the likes of Cisco Systems and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC).
Biofuel company KiOR, Inc. plans to build five commercial-scale renewable crude oil
production facilities in Mississippi. The first phase includes three facilities to be completed by 2015 at a cost of about $500 million dollars, and the state has agreed to give KiOR an assistance package that
includes a $75 million loan.
KiOR uses a catalyst
system to convert biomass into a crude oil that the company says can be refined into conventional fuel products, including gasoline and
diesel that can be deployed in existing fuels infrastructure. KiOR plans to use woody biomass from the Mississippi lumber industry as a feedstock, though it says the process could be used to convert agricultural residue or energy crops as well.
Global Solar Energy, Inc., a manufacturer of Copper
Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) solar material, has moved into module
sales. Since its founding in 1996, Global Solar has focused primarily on
selling its solar cells to other companies for inclusion in a variety of
applications including portable solar
chargers and traditional glass solar modules. But this week the company unveiled a lightweight, flexible module that is a half-meter wide and nearly six meters long. It is designed specifically for commercial and industrial rooftops, where the company says it can be applied directly to a roofing surface,
requiring no mounting hardware, no roof penetrations, and creating no
additional wind load.
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