SOLA5056 Renewable Energy in Developing Countries - Carbon Markets
20110323_Americana Presentation
1. INTEGRATED CARBON
DEVELOPMENT
AN INNOVATIVE
BUSINESS MODEL
AMERICANA Conference
Montreal, March 23, 2011
2. Outline
1. Biothermica:
History & Carbon activity
2. Business model:
Integrated carbon development
3. Carbon projects:
El Salvador landfill gas carbon project
Alabama coal mine methane carbon project
4. Biothermica
Brief history
Since 1987: We develop patented air
pollution control and greenhouse gas
reduction technologies
Since 1995: We develop, finance,
build and operate landfill methane Gazmont landfill gas power plant (25 MW)
destruction and energy projects Montreal, Canada
Since 2005: We monetize the carbon
credits generated by our landfill gas
and coal mine methane installations
VAMOX® system
Alabama, USA
(Coal mine methane)
5. Biothermica
Carbon opportunity
Emergence of carbon frameworks since 2005
Ex: Kyoto Protocol (regulatory, international)
Climate Action Reserve (voluntary, USA)
Monetary value for the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions: Price on carbon ($/tCO2e)
Opportunity for developers of various greenhouse
gas reduction project types
6. Biothermica
Carbon activity statement
Developer and investor in carbon projects
Technologies: Proprietary to Biothermica
Revenues: recurring sale of carbon credits (not equip.)
Project types:
Landfill methane and coal mine methane
Destruction and/or energy generation
Carbon standards: Regulatory and voluntary
Scope: North America and international
7. Why methane destruction?
Low production cost
VAMOX® system Solar & Wind
$US 3-6/tCO2e1 $US 20-35/tCO2e2
Landfill gas destruction Carbon capture & storage
$US 5-10/tCO2e $US 60-80/tCO2e2
1 High VAM concentrations
2 McKenzie, 2009
9. Biothermica manages
all project components
Project development:
Securing methane rights
Project financing and structuring
Methane destruction technology
Project construction and operation
Carbon monitoring, verification & registration
Monetization of registered carbon credits
10. Advantages of being
integrated
Ability to optimize all project components to
maximize carbon credit production and revenues
Control over technology, operations
& monitoring (monitoring expertise)
Control over corporate and financial structure
11. Project development:
securing methane rights
Coal mine or Landfill site is original owner of methane
rights (ownership of resource)
Methane rights are essential to claim ownership and
legal right to sell carbon credits
Objective is agreement with resource owner on:
Transfer of methane rights
Allocation of carbon credit revenues
12. Development approach
Model 1: Royalty based
No investment by the resource owner,
Biothermica is sole investor
Transfer of methane rights to Biothermica
Resource owner benefits from royalty payments
Ex: percentage of Biothermica carbon credit sales
Main advantage for resource owner:
No financial risk
13. Development approach
Model 2: Joint Investment
Biothermica and resource owner share:
Capital investment
Operational costs
Carbon credit revenues
Possible creation of a Joint Venture dedicated to
project operations
Advantage for both Parties:
Strong alignment of interests
15. El Salvador landfill gas carbon project
Project overview
Location: Nejapa landfill,
El Salvador (Central Am.)
Carbon standard:
CDM of Kyoto Protocol
Investor: Biothermica 100%
2 phases: Methane destruction (P1)
Energy generation (P2)
16. Innovative carbon project insurance
World Bank MIGA
Multilateral Investment
Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
Insurance against expropriation,
war, civil disturbance, and
government letter of approval
under CDM
Q1 2006: Secured first ever
MIGA support for a carbon
project
17. Carbon credit production
April – October 2006:
Construction of LFG collection
and destruction system
216,000 Certified Emission Reductions (CERs)
generated from October 2006 to April 2008
20% above initial CER projections as of April 2008
19. Carbon credit monetization and
Sale of major interest in project
February 2007: 325,000 CERs sold to
the government of Luxembourg,
(Forward sale, on 2006-2012 production)
April 2008: Sale of major interest in project to AES,
international energy company
Strong cash position for investment in future carbon
projects
Full project cycle, from development to project sale
22. Alabama coal mine methane project
Introduction – VAM emissions
Underground coal mine ventilation air methane (VAM)
large volumes of low concentration methane (0.2 -1.2%)
300 million tCO2e/y globally
China: 40% of VAM
US: 15%
Ukraine: 15%
US Mine
Ventilation Shaft
23. Alabama VAM demonstration project
Project overview
1st VAM project in America
Proprietary technology: VAMOX®
Demonstration of technology and
financial viability of carbon activity
Location: Walter Energy Mine
Alabama, USA
Investor: Biothermica 100%
Carbon standard:
Climate Action Reserve
24. Project milestones
April 2008: Authorization from US Mine Safety &
Health Administration (MSHA)
January 2009: Project commissioning
February 2010: Project listed with
Climate Action Reserve
June 2010: Registration of 1st year
of carbon credits
26. Alabama Project
Main Results
Availability rate 92%
Average VAM concentration 0.9% (High)
Carbon credits (1st year) 25 931 CRTs1
Total expected credits (09-13) 120 000 CRTs
Average CRT price (09-10) $6/CRT
Viability demonstrated for
high VAM concentrations
1 Climate Reserve Tons
27. Moving forward
Agreement with Walter Energy
Oct. 2010: Biothermica & WE announce
agreement to develop VAM projects
Project 1:
High VAM concentration
2 full-scale VAMOX® units
330,000 tCO2e/year
Planned start date: Q4 2011
Carbon standard: CAR or WCI regulatory system