AmCan man plans biofuel plant in city

AmCan man plans biofuel plant in city
Company would manufacture biodiesel from waste materials from sources throughout Vallejo
By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN/Times-Herald staff writer
Article Launched: 05/07/2008



Parked in front of the future bio diesel manufacturing plant located at the West end of Lemon Street, the rear window of Jacque Barsotti's VW Passat reads 'Biodiesel Yum.' (Stacey J. Miller/Times-Herald)

If biodiesel is the wave of the future, Rodney Pitts said he plans to catch it and take Vallejo along for the ride.

The American Canyon resident said if all goes according to plan, he and his partners and investors will build a biofuel manufacturing plant on Vallejo's Lemon Street near the water. Pitts said the plant will produce fuel from waste materials from the nearby treatment plant and other sources, and produce no toxic waste of its own. Not even dirty water.

"Every city has waste materials it doesn't use, like brown oil, that can be used to make biodiesel," said Pitts, 42, a married father of a 4-year-old son. "Material from the waste treatment plant is now broken down into methane, brown oil and other elements and mostly winds up in landfills or the ocean, but we can make fuel out of it."

Pitts, a former Navy man and self-described "computer science guy," said he hopes his firm, Go Green Biofuels, will be able to build a 40,000-square-foot facility on 25 acres. The plant will eventually produce 30 million gallons of clean-burning fuel annually, he said. And not only will the plant be self-powered, it will generate energy to "feed into the grid," Pitts said.

The idea is to use special, self-re-generating algae oil to create fuel, which doesn't impact food supplies the way ethanol does, Pitts said. And unlike traditional fuel refineries, Go Green's process produces no toxic by-products or smell, he said.

"The only byproduct is glycerin, for which there is a growing demand for use in making plastics and from chemical companies, like Dow Chemical, who already want it," he said. "It's used in soaps, pet feed stock, all sorts of things."

In the past, some have questioned whether algae oil can be efficiently produced in enough quantity at a low enough cost to be a viable fuel option. That was before gas prices soared, Pitts said, adding that the fourth generation technology his firm uses, addresses those issues.

The facility Pitts hopes to create would take some 150 workers about a year to build and will employ at least 50 employees when it opens, he said. The plan is to hire only Vallejo workers for all phases of the operation. Company officials hope to break ground next month, he said.

"Vallejo has the perfect infrastructure for this, and we want to create jobs here, and educate people about biofuels," Pitts said.

To that end, Pitts will have a biofuel-powered recreational vehicle available for school presentations, he added.

"This will also attract other 'green' business to Vallejo. It could be huge," Pitts said.

Creating and building a market for biofuels will lower the cost of diesel, thereby lowering shipping costs, which, in turn, will lower the costs of everything else, Pitts said.

And as people see the benefits, more passenger cars will be built and sold that can run on this fuel, which will cost less than gasoline. Go Green already has contracts with several companies to supply biodiesel to their truck fleets, Pitts said.

"Biodiesel hybrids are already being built, and other countries are already using them," he said.

Vallejo's chief building official said what he's heard of Pitts' concept sounds good, but it's only a concept so far.

"He's met with some city staff members, including myself and presented his ideas, but no plans have been submitted to us," West said. "But the zoning is right for the site, and the concept is interesting. The city is interested and will help him with it if we can."



A rendering of the new Go Green Biofuels plant planned to open later this year at the west end of Lemon Street in Vallejo. (Courtesy photo)

• E-mail Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at RachelZ@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6824.

Survey: U.S. is top producer of wind power

Survey: U.S. is top producer of wind power
NATION IS WORLD'S LEADING PRODUCER OF WIND POWER, WITH MORE GROWTH FORECAST
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News
Article Launched: 07/30/2008

The American Wind Energy Association is expected to release a survey next month that says the United States has become the world's leading wind producer, and that the industry expects rapid growth to continue in places like Texas, the Great Plains and California.

The survey calculates that the U.S. wind industry now tops Germany in terms of how much energy is being produced from wind. Germany still has more installed capacity - 22,000 megawatts vs. 17,000 in the United States at the end of 2007. But the average wind speed is stronger here, which means more energy is being generated, the group said.

And this year, Germany will add only about 1,600 megawatts of wind energy, while the United States will add more than 6,000 megawatts, said Randy Swisher, executive director of the association.

"The numbers themselves are not what matters," Swisher said. "What matters is that the wind industry around the world recognizes that the U.S. is the largest market."

That's important because many of the world's leading wind companies are not U.S. companies, and they will need to move manufacturing jobs here as the U.S. wind industry grows, Swisher said. His group says 4,000 wind-related manufacturing jobs have been added in the United States since 2007.

Currently, wind provides about 1 percent of U.S. electricity.

Pacific Gas & Electric has been using wind power for decades, and has been aggressive in adding new contracts for wind energy in the past four years as it strives to meet California's renewable energy goal of 20 percent by 2010.

PG&E has 1,164 megawatts of wind energy in operation or under contract, said spokeswoman Jennifer Zerwer.

Enxco, a wind developer, remains "very bullish" on California as a location for future projects, said Mark Tholke, who coordinates projects for the company out of its San Ramon office.

The company is adding jobs and buying land in places such as Tehachapi, Tholke said. It's also constructing a 150-megawatt project in Solano County, near Rio Vista.

The cost of wind power is almost comparable to fossil fuels such as coal, at between 4.5 and 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour, according to FPL Energy, builder of the country's largest wind farm in Horse Hollow, Texas. But building a wind farm costs more than a fossil-fuel plant - from $1.5 million to $2 million per megawatt of capacity vs. $800,000 for a natural-gas plant. Once constructed, though, wind plants have no fuel costs, compared with coal and natural gas plants.

The industry says that 250 to 300 average U.S. homes are served by 1 megawatt of wind energy.

For sale: Slightly used wind farm

For sale: Slightly used wind farm
Sacramento Business Journal - by Celia Lamb Staff writer



SMUD’s wind farm in Solano County could be worth about $150 million to $180 million, based on the cost of building a similar-sized one.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is negotiating to sell its wind-power project in Solano County to a private company by the end of the year.

The utility would buy the wind power, potentially at a cheaper rate than SMUD’s current costs of operating the system.

SMUD representatives would not identify the potential buyer.

“Because we’re a municipal utility, we can’t take advantage of production tax credits that are available to private companies,” said Jon Bertolino, SMUD’s superintendent of renewable generation.

A federal tax credit of 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour produced from wind turbines expires at the end of this year, so SMUD is in a hurry to transfer the wind farm into private hands. The production tax credit would exist for 10 years from the date the private company purchases the wind project.

The utility is negotiating a contract that would include an option to buy the project back in 10 years, according to a SMUD staff report.

SMUD installed 23 wind turbines in 2003 and 2004, and added 29 larger turbines from May 2006 to December. The project produces up to 102 megawatts, or enough wind power for about 34,000 homes.

SMUD’s wind turbines could be worth about $150 million to $180 million, based on the cost of building a similar-sized wind farm today, said Case van Dam, the director of the University of California Davis Wind Energy Collaborative. The older turbines have likely depreciated in value, potentially knocking the price down.

Van Dam said he didn’t know who might be in the market for the wind farm, but it would be logical for one of the three other companies operating wind turbines in Solano County to buy the project.

Those companies include Juno Beach, Fla.-based FPL Energy, a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL); Escondido-based enXco Inc.; and Iberdrola Renewables Inc., a subsidiary of Spain-based Iberdrola Renewables S.A.

On July 17, SMUD’s board of directors authorized an extension of two wind-turbine operations and maintenance contracts with Vestas-American Wind Technology Inc., a subsidiary of Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark. The existing contracts, worth a total of $23.5 million, expire in 2010 and 2012. The board authorized up to $23 million for maintenance through 2017.

“The extension of the Vestas (agreements) assures SMUD that Vestas will be operating and maintaining the turbines during the full period where SMUD would not have ownership of the turbines,” according to a SMUD staff report.

Selling the wind turbines and buying back the power makes good business sense, van Dam said, because the utility would receive some of the benefit of the tax credit, and that could mean lower costs for SMUD customers.

“It could be a win-win for everybody involved,” van Dam said.

Energy plan generates possibility

Energy plan generates possibility
By Melissa Murphy/ MMurphy@TheReporter.com
Article Launched: 11/13/2008

At a time when many communities are struggling to survive the slumping economy, Vacaville is pinning at least some of its hopes to a new energy producing center proposed for land next to the city's wastewater plant.

Competitive Power Ventures of Maryland is looking to build a more than half a billion dollar station that generates electricity through a combined cycle process using about half of the recycled water from the city's wastewater plant.

"With the economy the way it is, it's hard to have projects down the pipeline," said City Manager David Van Kirk. "We're very fortunate to have this project come to Vacaville."

The city and the county will see about $6 million annually in revenue from the new energy plant, according to Andy Welch, project manager with Competitive Power Ventures.

In a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce Council of Major Employers Wednesday, Welch explained that the natural gas powered, Combined-Cycle Process produces electricity by changing the energy in its fuel into electrical energy.

The process is highly efficient, according to Welch, and produces enough power for 600,000 average California homes.

Keeping in mind conserving natural resources, the location of the plant will be on 25 acres at the junction of Lewis and Fry roads. Its proximity to the city's Easterly Wastewater Treatment Facility, will allow the station to use gray water from the treatment plant, and it will be able to tie into existing Pacific Gas and Electric lines near Meridian Road.

Construction of the CPV Vaca Station will create approximately 670 jobs for about two and a half years. Once the project is in operation, there will be 25 to 30 jobs.

Welch anticipates the project will be completed in 2013.

Until then, the company has to go through an application process, which will take at least two years before approval by the California Energy Commission.

"It's a pretty big deal," Van Kirk said. "This isn't an easy project. In the end it will help in keeping our costs down at our wastewater facility."

Welch also said that taking time to talk with residents is part of an ongoing effort to answer any questions they might have. A concern of noise has been expressed, but Welch said not to worry. In terms of noise levels in decibels, the new station would be only slightly noisier than the current levels on the site. In fact, the new station is significantly quieter than a hair dryer, according to Welch.

"We're very confident that we have a clean project," he said. "It's highly efficient and very flexible."

In terms of funding, CPV will wait until at least 2010 in hopes that the market will pick up by then, Welch said. He added that he believes PG&E will be interested in buying the energy produced at the plant.

Firm secures turbine funding

Firm secures turbine funding
By Reporter Staff
Posted: 11/27/2008

Escondido-based EnXco, a subsidaiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles Co., recently announced that it has closed on the project financing for the Shiloh II Wind Energy Project under construction in the Montezuma Hills area of Solano County.

Lenders to the projects are Nord/LB as lead administrative agent, Dexia and Credit Industriel et Commercial; equity arranged by JP Morgan as lead investor with Wells Fargo and New York Life rounding out the investor group.

Construction of the 150-megawatt wind farm, consisting of 75 REpower 2 MW turbines, began in May, with commercial operation expected in December 2008. Pacific Gas & Electric will purchase the power generated under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The Shiloh II wind farm will be operated and maintained by EnXco Service Corporation.

"Bringing the financing to completion during this current financial crisis is testimony to the quality of our projects as well as to the long-term relationship with our financial partners," said Tristan Grimbert, president and CEO of EnXco in a press release announcing the financing deal. "Even though funding is scarce, this further confirms that first class, high-quality projects will succeed."

EnXco, Inc. develops, constructs, operates and manages renewable energy projects throughout the United States.

2010: The Electric Car Returns

2010: The Electric Car Returns
Posted By: Dale Schornack

VACAVILLE, CA - Five years ago, there were at least 100 all-electric vehicles on the streets in Vacaville. Ed Huestis remembered pulling up to a red light and seeing three EV-1s at the same intersection.

Huestis is the director of Vacaville's Alternative Fuel Vehicle Incentive Program. The program uses federal air quality grant money to help residents lower the cost of buying or leasing an electric car. The $42,000 sticker price of an all-electric Rav4 EV could be knocked down to a more affordable $23,000. And when you consider there's no gas or oil changes to pay for, the price looks even more attractive.

In the drive to put more electric cars on the highway, Vacaville is miles ahead of any other city its size in the country. You still see signs at every highway exit in town, pointing the way to the nearest recharging station. There are 45 of them around town, including some that are powered by solar. You can drive a hundred miles on a charge, from energy provided by the sun. Now that's cool!

Well, sadly, these days there are only about 10 privately owned electric vehicles on the streets in Vacaville. The drive down the electric highway suddenly shifted into reverse in late 2003, when General Motors killed the EV-1.

In 1990, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), mandated that 10 percent of cars sold in California would need to be Zero Emission Vehicles by the year 2003. But under pressure from automakers, CARB backed off the mandate. That allowed GM to declare that there was no demand for an electric car and it killed the EV-1.

A thousand EV-1s were leased to drivers in California and Arizona. And they loved the sporty electric two-seater. The later models could run 100 miles on a charge, with quick acceleration on the highway.

When GM demanded the return of all EV-1s, drivers offered to buy the cars rather than be forced to give them up. No way. GM took them all back and smashed them flat.

Well, that was brilliant. A few years later, gas prices hit record highs, sales of gas-guzzling SUVs dropped like a rock, and GM lost millions and laid off thousands of workers. So now, GM and all the major automakers are scrambling to produce an electric vehicle.

The new wave of electric cars will begin appearing in showrooms in 2010. We will turn a corner, and there is no going back. Electric cars make too much sense. The driving range of the EV-1 was already more than enough to cover 90 percent of the driving we do every day.

The Chevy Volt, due out in a couple of years, will also have a small electric motor. It will re-charge the battery on longer trips, over 40 miles. And it will plug into a standard 110 volt home outlet.

School solar array spells big savings

School solar array spells big savings
By Ryan Chalk/ RChalk@TheReporter.com
Posted: 12/11/2008 01:01:17 AM PST

After the fog had burned away, Dixon school officials celebrated a bright spot on the new Dixon High School campus this week -- the completion of a massive solar tracking array.

Community members, school officials and trustees celebrated briefly in the school's theater before ceremoniously "flipping the switch" on the project and extol its merit Tuesday. Representatives from SPG Solar and energy services provider Honeywell were on hand as well to talk about the project and tour the 4-acre solar farm.

"We are unique. This has been a part of the vision for a long time," said Dixon Unified School Board President Shana Levine.

Levine explained that Dixon Unified becomes one of just a handful of district's across the state to embrace solar energy. Dixon High School's solar project is expected to produce 80 percent of the school's energy needs and save the district $1 million in energy costs over the next 20 years.

Bay Area-based SPG Solar constructed the 700-kilowatt solar array which consists of 93 large panels ground-mounted on two separate tracks which tilt as the angle of the sun changes throughout the day. Honeywell, which developed the project, will operate and maintain the panels.

The entire project came at no cost to the district, and under a power purchase agreement with Honeywell, the district will lock in fixed rates for the next 20 years at a lower cost than what the district is paying now.

In addition to the cost savings to the district, the solar farm will also serve as a learning tool for its students.

Dixon Unified School District Superintendent Roger Halberg explained that a kiosk will be built in the school's library where students can monitor the energy usage and what the system is producing. Beyond that, there are plans to create a Web site for the solar project from which instructors can guide.

Visits to the solar farm by the district's students will also be an important part of the project.

"This will be a place for our students to take field trips and a place to teach the kids the importance of energy conservation," said Levine.

Vallejo's CA Maritime academy to utilize sun's rays

Vallejo's CA Maritime academy to utilize sun's rays
Maritime academy to utilize sun's rays
By TONY BURCHYNS/Times-Herald staff writer
Article Launched: 10/28/2008 09:13:56 AM PDT

Early planning has begun for the installations, which will be part of an ongoing state initiative to cut by 20 percent the grid-based energy purchases for state-owned buildings by 2015.

"A significant number of our buildings date back to the 1940s when this campus was first established at Vallejo," noted Mark Nickerson, Cal Maritime vice president for administration and finance. "In recent years, we have been systematically upgrading boilers, replacing inefficient windows, and moving to the use of more energy-efficient lighting. It's not glamorous work, but the payoffs in today's climate of soaring energy costs are significant."

The panels will be placed atop the school's largest dorm, the Upper Residence Hall, said Facilities Planner Roger Jaeckel, who is heading up the project working with solar experts.

Under a state competitive bidding process, Maryland-based SunEddison will finance, build and operate solar arrays for the 23-campus California State University system, officials said.

The campuses will buy the energy generated at prices equal to or less than current retail rates.

Len Pettis, chief of plant, energy and utilities for the CSU Chancellor's Office, said the agreements will generate zero greenhouse gases - an offset of almost 9,500
metric tons of carbon dioxide and equivalent to removing nearly 49,000 cars from the road.

"There are numerous opportunities for this campus to save energy," spokesman Doug Webster said. "Especially when you recognize that many of our buildings date back to World War II and the years thereafter."

Other recent retooling efforts include new lights and ballasts, new boilers and a gas-fired, pier-side boiler to heat the school's training ship and water supply.

The school is also conserving water with toilets that use 1.6 gallons per flush instead of 3.6.

Said Webster: "Thus we save not only water, but the energy required to bring (the water) to campus."

Coskata, Sapphire, Amyris Ranked Top 10 Biofuel Firms

Coskata, Sapphire, Amyris Ranked Top 10 Biofuel Firms

Biofuel Digest released a list of top 50 biofuel companies, which are mostly developing refining processes to convert cellulosic materials, algae and trash into transportation fuels.

by: Ucilia Wang
December 22, 2008

Which company has the most innovative biofuel technology of 2008? Coskata, says Biofuels Digest in listing of top 50 bioenergy companies Monday.

Coskata, in Warrenville, Ill., is developing a process to make ethanol from agricultural wastes or non-food crops. The company, which recently raised $40 million, is building a 40,000-gallon-per-year plant near Pittsburgh to demonstrate its technology, which shreds the feedstock into pieces and heat them at a high temperature to turn them into synthesis gas, which is then converted into fuel.

Other biofuel startups also are developing similar processes, but Coskata is closer to commercial production than most. It plans to develop a commercial refinery in Clewiston, Fla., with U.S. Sugar Corp. (see Coskata Lining Up Sugary Deal).

Biofuel Digest, an online news site in Miami, ranked the biofuel companies based on innovations and how far along the companies are in commercializing their technologies.

Many companies on the list are familiar names to those tracking the emerging biofuel industry. Biofuels promise to be a renewable and cleaner source of transportation fuels, though critics say biofuels – particularly cellulosic ethanol – are hardly better for the environment than mining and burning fossil fuels (see Report: Wind the Best Energy; Nuclear, Coal and Ethanol the Worst).

The U.S. government has been a big biofuel booster, passing a legislation in 2007 that requires the country's refineries to blend 36 billion gallons of bi ofuels by 2022. Whether the country can meet the mandate remains a big question (see U.S. Won't Meet Its Own Biofuel Mandate).

Algal biofuel startup Sapphire Energy in San Diego took the No. 2 spot on the biofuel ranking, followed by Madison, Wis.-based Virent Energy Systems, which says it's developing all sorts of biofuels using food and non-food feedstocks. Virent is even working with Royal Dutch Shell to convert sugar in plants into a fuel that resembles gasoline rather than ethanol.

Of the 50 companies on the list, 17 are developing cellulosic ethanol while nine are into algal biofuels. Another nine companies are working on other types of biofuel technologies, including converting trash from landfills to fuels.

Solazyme, another algal biofuel startup, made the top 10. The South San Francisco company has figured out a way to grow algae without sunlight by using natural algae that thrives in the dark, as well as engineering its own strains. The company expects to commercialize its algal oil first as an ingredient in cosmetics, such as anti-wrinkle products (see Solazyme Explores Jet-Fuel Market).

Range Fuels, another cellulosic ethanol company, also ranked among the top 10. The Broomfield, Colo.-based company just got a new CEO, David Aldous, who previously worked at Shell. Range Fuels is building its first commercial refinery in Soperton, Ga.

Meanwhile, companies such as Cobalt Biofuels, Bluefire Ethanol, Iogen, Qteros (formerly SunEthanol) and Origin Oil made the top 50 list.

Here are the top 10 companies:

Coskata
Sapphire Energy
Virent Energy Systems
Poet
Range Fuels
Solazyme
Amyris Biotechnologies
Mascoma
DuPont Danisco
UOP

You can check out the rest on the top-50 list at the Biofuels Digest Website.

Bay Area Detention Facility Going Solar

Bay Area Detention Facility Going Solar



Solano County Detention Facility in the San Francisco Bay Area will be saving over $1 million in energy costs over the next 20 years thanks to a new 746-kilowatt solar array being installed near its Claybank Adult Detention Facility. Under an arrangement with Honeywell, electricity produced by the panels will be sold to the county for use in the detention facility. In addition to reducing costs, the new array will deliver substantial environmental benefits, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by more than 14,500 metric tons over the course of the contract. With this solar installation, the county will bring its power generation capacity to more than one megawatt through renewable energy technology. After the 20-year agreement expires, the county can continue purchasing electricity from Honeywell or acquire ownership of the panels.

Alameda startup Aurora Biofuels raises $20 million

Alameda startup Aurora Biofuels raises $20 million
East Bay Business Times - by Mavis Scanlon
June 13, 2008

Alameda renewable energy startup Aurora BioFuels Inc. is out to prove its technology to produce bio-oil from algae is viable on a large scale. The company has raised $20 million in a second round of venture financing to do so.

The second round was led by existing investor Oak Investment Partners, which was joined by existing investors Gabriel Venture Partners and Noventi. It follows the $3.2 million Aurora raised in early 2007. That initial round went to honing Aurora's technology in the lab and a small pilot program, said Matt Caspari, Aurora founder and CEO.

"This (new) money is to scale up," Caspari said, "taking what we've already done outdoors to a real-world environment."

Interest in algae as a biofuel feedstock for transportation fuels is growing. The plant, commonly called pond scum, is oily and grows very fast. It also does not compete with agricultural resources that can be used as food.

There are at least 15 startups trying to develop algae as a fuel source, including Aurora, Solazyme of South Francisco, Live Fuels of Menlo Park, and New American Energy Inc. (operating as Mighty Algae Biofuels) of Redwood City. Aurora's technology, developed at UC-Berkeley, uses open ponds to grow algae, which Caspari said he expects will "get us to the lowest price point."

Two-year-old Aurora is still operating in what Caspari called "semi-stealth" mode - he declined to say how many employees the firm has or how many it expects to hire - and also declined to discuss his exact definition of large-scale other than to say it is "significant."

Aurora's business model calls for ultimately selling bio-oil from algae into the existing refinery and distribution system, but Caspari declined to say what the company's time frame is for getting to market. He expects to sell to major integrated oil companies or other biofuel refiners, who would then convert the fuel to transportation fuel.

Although the idea for turning algae into fuel dates back several decades, "at the moment no one has proven that algae can work at scale," said Jim Long, venture partner at Gabriel Venture Partners and chairman of Aurora's three-person board of directors. Since the ultimate objective in producing algae oil is to lower dependence on foreign oil, "from our perspective it's better if many people are successful."

mscanlon@bizjournals.com | 925-598-1405

A conversation with John Melo, CEO of Amyris Biotechnologies

A conversation with John Melo, CEO of Amyris Biotechnologies
East Bay Business Times - by Mike Consol East Bay Business Times publisher
Friday, June 6, 2008



John Melo, CEO of Amyris Biotechnologies

First job: A gardener cutting lawns and trimming bushes.

Business philosophy: Start with a customer in mind.

How do you stay motivated: Search for the improbable. I'm a big believer that most of the establishment has created rules in their minds as to what can be done.

Guiding principle: There are many ways to achieve the aspirations people have, so never be committed to one answer.

Definition of success: Delivering the highly improbable.

Goal yet to be achieved: Helping save the more than 2,000 African children who die every day from malaria. We're developing a technology that aims to help reduce the cost of producing a cure for malaria and that will enable children to receive treatment in six weeks rather than 18 months.

Best decision: To join Amyris. It's the first time in my life I've found there's a purpose to the work I do. It's not just working to achieve the next level of achievement, it's a purpose beyond myself or the people in this company.

Worst decision: The consistent theme of the bad decisions I've made is giving up too early.

Biggest missed opportunity: Not being born in the time of Henry the Navigator. I would have loved to have been born in that era and traveled the seas and exploring without any prior defined model for how you should think about space.

Mentor: Lord John Browne, former CEO of British Petroleum.

Word that best describes you: Driven.

Like best about job: The people.

Like least about job: Raising money.

Interests: My family, reading and travel.

Pet peeve: People who know it all.

Most important lesson learned: There's always a better answer.

Person most interested in meeting: John F. Kennedy. He had a material impact on a number of immigrants who came to this country, specifically where I'm from, the Azores Islands.

Greatest fear: What I fear most is my own fear.

Idea of perfect happiness: Having a company that plays like a jazz band, where each individual plays their own music and, together, we deliver outstanding performance.

Greatest strength: The ability to connect the dots in very complex problems.

Characteristic most admired: I see a lot of value in people who can see beyond the obvious.

First choice for a new career: The leader of a micro-finance company focused on Africa.

Favorite quote: "No compromise" and "managing the paradox" are two favorites I like to use to frame a conversation.

How do you deal with stress: Either walking on the beach and hearing the waves, or sitting by a fireplace and listening to the crackling of the fire.

Exercise of choice: Mountain biking.

Most influential book: "The Tipping Point," by Malcolm Gladwell.

Most ecstatic moment: When I first immigrated to the U.S. and experienced flight for the first time. I grew up using ox carts and horses to get around. There were very few vehicles and definitely no planes. So a jet flight in a Boeing 707 was pretty amazing.

Favorite word: Possible.

Most cherished possession: My house in the Azores Islands.

Background
Name: John Melo
Company: Amyris Biotechnologies
Title: CEO
Years with company: 18 months
Career: President of U.S. Fuels Operations for British Petroleum, where he successfully led efforts that grew the business from $25 billion to $34 billion a year in revenue. Previously, a director with Ernst & Young in San Jose, and a management team member for several startups.
Education: Executive education at Stanford, Harvard and Insead in France
Residence: Chicago, San Jose and Emeryville
Family: Wife Mary, son Joshua, daughters Vitoria and Sofia

Florida based FPL Group Inc to build & operate a 250-megawatt (MW) solar plant

Juno Beach, Florida based FPL Group Inc identified that it has filed an application
with California regulators to build and operate a 250-megawatt (MW) solar
thermal plant in the Mojave Desert.

The plant is part of FPL's strategy to add at least 600 MW of new solar generating capacity by 2015.

The Beacon Solar Energy Project will be located on a 2,000 acre site in Kern County, California. Construction on the plant is expected to begin in late 2009 and will take two years to complete. The plant will generate enough electricity to power about 175,000 homes.

FPL operates a wind farm in Solano County.