In June, Alter NRG (TSX: NRG; OTCQX: ANRGF), a clean energy provider focused on commercialization of Westinghouse Plasma’s plasma gasification technology, has announced that it has signed an alliance agreement with Uhde Engineering Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. Uhde is part of German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp and is one of the world’s leading engineering companies in the design and construction of chemical, refining and other industrial plants. Uhde has a worldwide network of over 4,900 employees and is active in a number of fields including fertilizers, electrolysis, gas technologies, oil, coal and residue gasification, refining technologies, organic intermediates, polymers and synthetic fibers as well as coke plant and high-pressure technologies.
Under terms of the license agreement, Uhde will license, market and promote the Alter NRG technology in waste-to-energy (WtE) projects and other developments. The alliance agreement includes a preferred engineering relationship for engineering and procurement support for the projects requiring the syngas conditioning and gasification expertise that Uhde Shanghai and Alter NRG, respectively, can provide their customers.
This latest alignment demonstrates Alter NRG’s commitment to capitalizing on the Chinese waste-to-energy market –- a vast market valued at $19.9 billion in 2008 which is projected to reach more than $25 billion over the next five years. With a modernizing population of 1.3 billion, China is the world’s largest solid-waste producer and is quickly becoming the world’s largest energy consumer.
China’s waste and energy needs offer a huge market opportunity for WtE companies, and the country is ready to invest. This year, approximately 5 percent of China’s $586 billion economic stimulus package will go toward “sustainable environment” projects with another 9 percent allocated for “technology advances,” which are expected to include initiatives for clean technologies. With Westinghouse’s clean and proven plasma gasification technology (already in use at plants in India and Japan), Alter NRG is poised to capitalize on the Chinese energy market.
Alter NRG’s plasma gasification technology, originally developed by their wholly owned subsidiary, Westinghouse Plasma Corporation, produces valuable and clean syngas from a multitude of cheap and abundant feedstocks. Converting waste into electricity is the most common application of plasma gasification technologies, which can provide renewable and clean energy solutions from a wide variety of feedstocks and provide a wide variety of energy outputs –- including hydrogen, liquid fuels like diesel, and ethanol, and syngas. Syngas is a gas mixture containing varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen and is a form of synthetic natural gas with many applications, including use as an intermediate in producing synthetic petroleum for fuel or lubricants.
Plasma gasification technology can also being used to retrofit existing coal-fired power plants to gasify coal and biomass, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In April 2007, Alter NRG entered an agreement with one of the largest power companies in the U.S. — NRG Energy — to retrofit the coal-fired power station at Somerset, Massachusetts, to use the Westinghouse Plasma proprietary gasification technology to produce syngas. Alter NRG will look to partner with other industry-leading companies to pursue additional opportunities for its coal retrofit solution including in China, which has a number of non-scrubbed coal-fired plants.
In other news, Alter NRG released their 1Q09 results. The Company has increased plasma technology sales and service revenue for the quarter to $1.1 million from $0.7 million in the first quarter of 2008, a 57% increase. The current sales are primarily for engineering services to advance commercial projects with technology equipment sale generally ranging from $10 million to $50 million upon successful development. However, there is certainly more on the horizon for the alternative energy company.
As the world moves towards clean, renewable energies, companies like Alter NRG, who are paving the way by developing the new technologies required, are poised for prominence.
To access RedChip’s full research report on Alter NRG or to view an interview with Alter NRG’s CEO Mark Montemurro, visit their profile page at www.RedChip.com.