Pacific Ethanol said it is temporarily closing the doors on its 40 million gallon a year plant in Madera, Calif. The company has operations in other places, but clearly, corn ethanol isn't the best business in the universe. Fuel is down and the price of corn is unpredictable. Still, Pacific actually slightly exceeded earlier goals. It now has 220 million gallons of refinery capacity, a little ahead of its goal of 200 million set in 2006. In today's climate, it's tough to say if that's good or bad, but in the long run it should work as alt-fuel demand is slated to increase with federal mandates. It will have 420 million gallons worth of capacity by the end of 2010. Pacific will also migrate to cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel. Various refineries serve local markets to cut down transportation costs. For a walk down memory lane, here's a story from 2006 when Cascade Investment, Bill Gates' VC fund, plunked over $80 million into them.

Despite the successful tests of biofuel in test flights by Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand and, most recently, Continental Airlines, airlines and biofuel experts say a biofuel-powered airline industry is still many years away. And others say it ain't gonna happen. The successful test flight this week of a Continental jet using a 50-50 blend of jet fuel and biofuel made from jatropha and algae — two hot crops in the roster of companies seeking to make "next-generation" biofuels from non-food sources — led the International Airline Transport Association's environmental officer to speculate that some airlines might be flying on biofuels in the next five years. (That's according to Point Carbon, a European energy and carbon market analysis firm.) But the airlines themselves aren't announcing plans to move that fast quite yet. Air New Zealand has said it wants to use biofuel for 10 percent of its flights by 2013, and German airline Lufthansa has plans to reach that 10-percent biofuel mark by 2020.  Airlines are increasing the blend of biofuel they're using in test flights. The first biofuel-powered test flight by Virgin Atlantic Airways in February used a 20 percent blend of biofuel made of coconut and babbasu oil (see Virgin to Test Fly Bio Jet Fuel). Continental's flight, along with a test flight by Air New Zealand last month, upped that blend to 50 percent (see Biofuel Powers Air New Zealand Test Flight). Air New Zealand used a biofuel made from jatropha. Japan Air Lines plans a test flight later this month, using a 50-50 blend of jet fuel and biofuel made from camelina, a grass grown in rotation with wheat and corn. All the airlines testing biofuel have pledged to use such non-food feedstocks, given the environmental and economic disadvantages of placing pressure on food supplies by making biofuel out of food crops like corn and soybeans.  Meanwhile, the British watchdog group Aviation Environment Federation has released a report questioning the safety and viability of using biofuel to replace even a fraction of airlines' fuel needs. Beyond questions of safety, which the IATA disputes (see the article from Wired), the report's author, Jeff Gazzard, said that it would be very hard to grow enough jatropha, algae and other plants to replace the roughly 240 million tons of jet fuel that airlines burn each year at present.

Media covering cleantech expect to pay significant attention to policy in 2009 and they also have declared it the year of blogging and video, according to results of my first Annual Cleantech Media Survey released today. With an Obama administration set to take office and the next president’s commitment to end oil dependence and address climate change, 77 percent of those surveyed said they expect media to place “significant� emphasis on policy-related cleantech coverage, with the remainder saying policy coverage would be “moderate�. In addition, the survey of more than 100 media -- leading blogs as well as mainstream newspapers, magazines and broadcasters -- revealed that roughly three-quarters expect to see growing demand for cleantech sector news (from both readers and editors) this year compared to 2008.  Solar will remain king of the renewables. Two-thirds of those surveyed named solar as the renewable energy source to be most covered in 2009, with wind and next generation biofuels coming in a distant tie for second at 15 percent each. And of note, media expect energy efficiency -- long a tough sell to editors and readers -- to be the top non-renewables cleantech story for 2009, with 40 percent naming it their top choice. Carbon market and related technologies was second at 25 percent, with EVs and industry consolidation coming in at 17 percent and 15 percent, respectively.   As far as delivery of cleantech news, a majority of survey participants -- nearly 60 percent -- said blogs would be the key tool to tell the cleantech story in 2009, with video garnering one-fifth of the vote (Twitter, podcasts and slideshows also received mention). Concerning to the overall state of cleantech media, a total of 62 percent of those surveyed expect new media to continue to grow and traditional media to continue to shrink, or for new media to take market share from traditional media. A quarter had a balanced POV, expecting both new and traditional media to look for mutually beneficial distribution relationships.  Among the respondents, there is little consensus on the major untold story for 2009. Categories that received multiple votes included efficiency (including smart grid, building energy use and demand response), coal, power storage and cleantech as the engine for economic recovery. Others receiving votes included CleanNano, bioplastics, the Mideast as solar mecca, urban windmills and water as the next “peak� story, Several media also expect the main untold story to be a negative one -- examples included: realization of how long it will take for renewables to become more than a rounding error in the energy diet; new forms of greenwash as companies scramble for Obama dollars, and how solar PV and hybrid cars will contribute nothing significant to cutting GHG.   Some reporters and organizations have done their own stand-alone predictions for the new year. Kerry Dolan of Forbes, for example, predicts that the grid will be big in 2009, and that solar will continue to soar. American Wind Energy Association also did their predictions for wind in 2009, Jetson Green offered up seven trends to expect in 2009 and Greener Buildings offered up their forecast as well.   If you’ve seen other media forecasts for 2009, please add them to the Comments section of this post. A former foreign correspondent, William Brent is a public relations exec at Weber Shandwick. He started the firm’s cleantech practice. More can be found at http://www.mrcleantech.com.

There are too many silicon wafer makers in China, and the government doesn't want to wait for natural market forces to trim the flock.

That’s the gist of a Friday post from the Taiwanese news site DigiTimes, which reported that the Chinese government plans to give 2 billion yuan ($291 million) to “each of the leading makers to facilitate such mergers.�

The brief post cited unnamed sources and didn’t explain what qualifies a company to be considered a “leading maker� of silicon wafers. The wafers are used to make solar cells, which are then assembled into panels that you see on rooftops today.

Apparently, the Chinese government isn’t satisfied with providing money only. It wants to offer business strategies as well. If the so-called medium or small silicon wafer makers want to remain independent, then they should still let those “leading makers arrange their production and shipments,� according to the DigiTimes. 

By the way, Chinese solar company Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE), which makes silicon wafers and solar cells and panels, just bought a Chinese silicon maker for $77.6 million. This move would allow Yingli to control the raw material supply for making the wafers. Fellow Chinese silicon wafer maker LDK Solar is aiming to do the same by building its own silicon factories.

Analysts and companies have been predicting an oversupply of solar components worldwide in 2009.  Large solar panel makers such as Suntech Power in China and SunPower in the United States are expecting a 10 percent to 30 percent drop in their panels’ prices this year.

So naturally, people are expecting more mergers and acquisitions across all segments of the global solar industry.

The Chinese government might do more for its domestic solar companies. Jenny Chase, the lead solar analyst at New Energy Finance, said the government might launch solar installation initiatives to help absorb the high number of solar panels that are expected to come out of factories.  

Those who like to gripe about how government subsidies hamper the natural selection process in the marketplace will not be happy with this move by the Chinese government.

They will say the U.S. companies can’t compete fairly when China and other countries intervene to boost their entrepreneurs’ survival in a tough economy. They made the same point about the semiconductor industry two decades ago, and they are making it again about the car battery business now.

No worries. The U.S. government is here to help out, too. It’s been a generous giver lately having set aside $700 billion to bailout the financial industry and by providing $17.4 billion in loans to General Motors and Chrysler. Meanwhile, more business groups have lined up to ask for government help.

President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to double the country's renewable energy generation in three years and create three million jobs (not just the green ones).

Optisolar, which makes thin-film solar panels and builds large solar farms, has laid off around 300 employees, or half of its staff.

The layoffs come because the company -- which came out of seemingly nowhere to become a big player in utility solar parks this past year -- cannot get access to capital.

“We simply couldn’t sustain the level of aggressive growth,� said spokesman Alan Bernheimer.

The company has a somewhat unusual structure. It makes amorphous thin-film solar cells and then uses these cells to build utility-scale solar parks. It then sells the electricity from the parks to utilities.

It currently has two large projects on the books: a 210-megawatt plant in Canada for the Ontario Power Authority and a 550-megawatt plant in California for PG&E. These two projects, in fact, are some of the largest photovoltaic projects in the world. (Solar thermal farms are bigger but rely on different technology.

The Canadian project has already begun construction and the California one is slated to begin next year.

For a while, T. Boone Pickens stood out as a business tycoon who made his fortune on oil but became a true believer in using less of it and more natural gas (and wind energy). He won over many politicians and environmental activists as fans and faced few public challenges.

Not anymore.

As the new administration takes power and intends to pass all sorts of policies on renewable power generation and energy-efficient transportation, more business hot shots are making their views known. And they don’t think much of Pickens’ plan. 

FedEx's CEO Fred Smith is one of them. Smith thinks using natural gas is not much better than using oil, and has embraced hybrid diesel-electric technology instead, noted the Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital blog Friday. FedEx has 80,000 hybrid diesel-electric trucks, the largest fleet in the country.

FedEx’s director of sustainability, Mitch Jackson, penned a blog post last Sunday where he argued that substituting one non-renewable fuel source with another isn’t the answer. Rather, the country should invest in cars powered partly or wholly by electricity generated from cleaner sources (i.e., solar and wind). 

Jackson also argued that although diesel is made from crude oil, it burns more efficiently than natural gas. “Diesel usage has better fuel efficiency than these other fuels, which translates to lower carbon, or greenhouse gas, emissions as well. Any replacement fuel needs to improve the nation’s fuel economy from where we are today,� Jackson wrote.

Pickens didn’t take the criticism lightly and took to his blog to defend his position. Pickens said Jackson needed to “do more homework� before making his argument against natural gas. Pickens added that diesel fuel isn’t as attractive as Jackson has portrayed it to be: “According to the California’s Air Resources Board and Energy Commission, the carbon content of diesel fuel is almost thirty percent higher than domestic natural gas and less than one percent lower in carbon content than gasoline.� 

Europe has taken to diesel-powered passenger cars while the United States has relegated diesel largely to large trucks. U.S. politicians have been gung ho about using ethanol to replace oil, but their plan hasn’t worked out so well. Corn ethanol has been vilified, and companies that want to make ethanol from non-food sources, such as switchgrass and algae, have yet to make it in commercial quantities.

President-elect Barack Obama is keen on promoting fuel-efficient cars. But who will he listen to: Pickens or Smith? Or both?