TIDMAEG
RNS Number : 8921Y
Active Energy Group PLC
14 September 2015
14 September 2015
Active Energy Group Plc
("Active Energy Group" or the "Group" or the "Company" or
"AEG")
New Biomass for Energy 'AEG CoalSwitch'
Joint Venture with Biomass Energy Enhancements LLC
Active Energy Group Plc (AIM: AEG.L), the London Stock Exchange
AIM-quoted international supplier of wood fibre products for MDF
manufacturing, global forestry and natural resources development
services, and Biomass for Energy (BFE) fuel solutions and
processing systems, announces that it has entered into a joint
venture agreement with Biomass Energy Enhancements LLC (BEE) of
Utah, USA, to exclusively commercialise a revolutionary new clean
energy Biomass fuel manufacturing process.
The joint venture company, AEG CoalSwitch Limited (AEG
CoalSwitch), in which Active Energy Group (AEG) has been granted a
majority 51% equity interest, will be incorporated in the United
Kingdom, and will hold the global intellectual property rights (IP)
for the fuel manufacturing process, for which sixteen 'greenfield'
technology patent applications have already been filed. In return,
AEG will assist in the commercialisation of AEG CoalSwitch and will
contribute to its working capital funding prior to the company
raising capital as described below.
The ground-breaking Biomass fuel processing system, which BEE
(www.bee.energy) has been developing for the past seven years,
possesses, in the Board's opinion, the potential to be a
game-changer for the global power generation industry.
For the first time, it enables Biomass fuel to be utilised in
traditional coal-fired power plants as a direct replacement for
coal - as well as being mixed with coal in co-firing operations -
without requiring plant owners or operators to invest in hugely
expensive and time-consuming furnace, handling and storage
modifications.
The environmentally-friendly process effectively cleanses the
raw Biomass material by removing salts, minerals and other
contaminants that harm the atmosphere and damage power plant
furnaces; and converts it into valuable high-energy fuel feedstock,
without the low and medium volatiles resident in other Biomass
fuels, such as 'white pellets'.
Uniquely, the process can not only be utilised on any plant- or
wood-based raw Biomass material, but also on previously unusable or
economically unviable waste timber, such as that produced from
AEG's forestry and wood chip processing activities; contaminated or
redundant industrial residues, such as sawdust, demolition and
construction materials; and even chemically-treated wood, such as
railway sleepers (railroad ties).
The finished fuel, which can be delivered in a range of
different compacted formats (pellets, granules, briquettes or
bales), contains similar thermal and friability characteristics to
coal, enabling it to immediately be used in existing coal-fired
power stations without costly retro-fitting, reconstruction or
output losses. Moreover, it can be handled and processed at power
stations utilising the same equipment currently used to handle and
prepare coal.
Together, these factors have the potential to save power plant
owners and operators the huge capital investment that they would
otherwise have to commit to upgrading their facilities to burn
existing - and inferior - Biomass fuel products.
The new fuel processing system, which has been optimised for
industrial-scale production by Munro & Associates Inc., the
world-renowned Michigan-based engineering and manufacturing
consultancy (www.leandesign.com), possesses several key advantages
over existing Biomass fuel pelleting solutions. They include high
volume throughput, lower production costs, and - crucially -
greatly reduced storage, handling and distribution costs, as the
final fuel is water-resistant.
The AEG CoalSwitch team has already commenced negotiations with
leading investment funds to raise the capital required to roll out
its 'build-own-operate-toll' business model, under which the
company intends to construct a network of advanced de-mountable
fuel manufacturing facilities close to large-scale Biomass raw
material sources, including forests, sawmills and
agricultural/industrial waste sites.
A core element of AEG CoalSwitch's innovative business strategy
will be the ability to disassemble, transport and reassemble the
manufacturing facilities at different locations when a raw material
feedstock source is exhausted or an alternative more productive
source is identified.
AEG CoalSwitch intends to partner with coal-fired power station
owners and operators across the globe - several of whom have
already shown great interest in the concept - to enable them to
reduce their usage of highly-polluting coal and speedily and
cost-effectively comply with ever-growing public pressure, as well
as increasingly stringent governmental requirements, to 'go
green'.
Aside from its considerable standalone market potential, this
new Biomass for Energy joint venture is intended to complement and
strengthen AEG's existing business activities.
The Group's well-established Wood Fibre for MDF Manufacturing
division is planning to increase operating margins by converting
the large volumes of waste timber from its processing operations
into valuable fuel feedstock; and the valuation of the timberland
assets within its Forestry and Natural Resources joint venture with
the Métis Settlements of Alberta is, in the Board's opinion, likely
to be significantly enhanced by enabling the forestry thinnings and
low-grade lumber - previously only suitable for processing into
low-value pulp - to be used as high-value fuel for power
generation.
Chas Fritz, CEO of Biomass Energy Enhancements and CEO of AEG
CoalSwitch, commented: "Our primary goal at BEE was to make the
unusable usable. According to the US Department of Energy (DOE),
over 93 million tonnes of forestry residues are left to rot each
year in the United States alone - the global figure is vastly
higher. And that doesn't include waste timber from sawmills,
construction sites and other industrial uses such as redundant
railroad ties."
"Our unique Biomass fuel processing system speedily and
efficiently converts all of that material into compacted fuel that
can immediately be used in power stations as a direct 'Drop-In'
replacement for coal to generate clean energy."
"We recognised that we needed a strong partner with the vision
and resources to take the system to market, and we believe that
Active Energy Group has the infrastructure, industry connections
and international network to work with us to successfully implement
a worldwide launch."
Richard Spinks, CEO of Active Energy Group, added "By utilising
our sustainable clean energy Biomass fuel, coal-fired power
generators across the globe can choose to 'go green' - improving
air quality and contributing to arresting climate change - faster
than was previously possible, without investing huge sums in
upgrading and converting their power plants; enabling them to avoid
the other option... being forced to close."
"This represents a revolution for the industry and for the
environment, and the timing is perfect - just weeks after President
Obama's landmark speech setting stringent emissions reductions
targets on US energy producers and piling the pressure on them to
'Clean Up or Shut Down'; and just days after the owners of the
Eggborough coal-fired power plant in Yorkshire announced that they
would be closing the 2,000 MW facility in March 2016 - with the
loss of 250 local jobs and 4% of the UK's electricity generation
capacity - due to the lack of government funding required to
convert it from coal to traditional Biomass fuel operation. "
"AEG CoalSwitch is aiming to have a market-ready product - a
system capable of producing high volumes of clean energy 'coal
switch' Biomass fuel - by mid-2016. We have a great deal to do, but
I'm confident that combining BEE's outstanding technology and
expertise with Munro's world-leading engineering capabilities and
AEG's international network and industry experience will herald the
start of a new dawn in sustainable Biomass-fuelled power
generation."
- ENDS -
NOTES TO EDITORS & CONTACT INFORMATION
ABOUT ACTIVE ENERGY GROUP PLC:
Active Energy Group Plc is a London Stock Exchange AIM-quoted
company (AIM: AEG.L). Headquartered in the UK, it is a
fast-expanding international business that has experienced
exceptionally strong growth and diversification into complementary
industry sectors since the current management team assumed
responsibility in mid-2012.
The Group has considerable expertise across the entire timber
industry supply chain - from forest to finished product.
Its three specialist business divisions, which reflect its
knowledge and experience and which work together to maximise
commercial opportunities, are focussed on providing products and
services to specific global market sectors:
-- Forestry & Natural Resources Development and Management
-- Wood Fibre Products for Medium-Density Fibreboard (MDF) Manufacturing
-- Advanced Biomass for Energy (BFE) Fuel Solutions and Processing Systems
Active Energy Group Plc operates from four international
locations:
-- Ukraine, where it is the largest producer and exporter of
wood fibre for the Turkish MDF manufacturing sector.
-- Canada, where it has entered into a landmark joint venture -
KAQUO Forestry & Natural Resources Development Corporation -
with several indigenous Métis Settlements to commercialise in
excess of 250,000 hectares of their lands, which contain valuable
forests and natural resources, including oil and gas reserves.
-- The United Kingdom and United States of America, where it
develops advanced Biomass for Energy fuels and fuel processing
systems to convert waste wood and industrial/agricultural residues
into feedstock for clean energy power generation in a joint venture
- AEG CoalSwitch Limited - with Biomass Energy Enhancements
LLC.
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