12 December 2012
Sierra Energy’s commercial waste gasification to biofuels facility was one of the proposed projects as the U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke kicked off his investment forum in Beijing.
The forum saw the U.S. Embassy working with several U.S. Chamber of Commerce Organisations, International Trade Programs, and other partners to bring Chinese dollars to projects in the U.S.
As part of the meetings, each U.S. state brought several investment ready projects to pitch, with Davies, California based Sierra Energy’s project to commercialise its FastOx waste gasification technology being among those projects proposed.
The company said that the project, partly funded by a $5 million investment from the California Energy Commission and strongly supported by the City of West Sacramento, would convert locally generated, non-recyclable waste into clean renewable fuels.
According to Sierra Energy a potential investment would expedite its project, allowing the installation of a compact, modular waste conversion system that would generate one barrel of renewable diesel for every ton (907 kg) of material processed.
“There’s a definite synergy between our technology and the CO2 and waste reduction efforts of both China and California,” commented Mike Hart, CEO of Sierra Energy.
“The commercialization of our conversion technology will prove the economic viability, environmental sustainability, and create a path for the global implementation of waste conversion,” he added.
According to Sierra Energy a similar conference in May 2012 resulted in over $900 million in investment deals concluded or under discussion.
The company added that California is by far the number one destination for Chinese investment based on number of deals. From 2000-2011, California attracted 156 deals and $1.3 billion of Chinese investment. The deals are almost four times more than the number-two state Texas.
For this latest forum California’s project list was developed by the Governor’s Office of Business Development (GO-Biz) International Deputy Director Paul Oliva and was presented by Dell Christensen from the Bay Area Council.