Plankton Power plans for biofuels facility on Cape Cod

Wellfleet, Mass.-based algae biofuel developer Plankton Power and Woods Hole, Mass.-based virtual incubator Regional Technology Development of Cape Cod said today they have established a public-private consortium to build a new facility to produce renewable biofuels from algae.

The site, to be called the Cape Cod Algae Biorefinery, is expected to focus on pilot- and commercial-scale development of algae biodiesel that would be cost-competitive with existing petroleum- and vegetable-based fuels, with improved performance characteristics.

The facility, with access to Cape Code’s convenient source of seawater, includes collaboration with the Massachusetts National Guard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Cape Cod Commission.

The proposed biorefinery is expected to be constructed on five acres on the Massachusetts Military Reservation in Bourne, Mass., supported by the state’s National Guard. The facility would focus on Plankton’s algae-growth technology, the result of 20 years of cold saltwater species research and production.

The biodiesel produced from Plankton’s cold-saltwater algae species serves as a drop-in replacement for petroleum-based biofuels, according to the company. By fall 2010, Plankton expects to initiate pilot-scale operations to generate up to one million gallons of biodiesel per year—enough fuel to supply Cape Cod's current biodiesel usage.

The Cape Cod Algae Biorefinery Consortium has submitted a $20 million proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy that would leverage $4 million in private funding to construct the proposed facility. MassDevelopment, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and Loud Fuel are supporting the initiative.

Massachusetts-based Waltham Technologies is also producing biodiesel, but with a special breed of blue-green algae and focused on the beverage industry. The bacteria doesn’t need acres of land, sunlight or ponds often required to grow green plant-like algae (see Blue-green algae turns dirty water into clean energy).

Cape Cod isn’t only being looked at for its biofuel capabilities. A 468-megawatt wind turbine project was proposed to be built off the coast. The $1 billion project was met with some roadblocks from the Cape Cod Commission (see Cape Wind's latest hurdle a breeze?).

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