With an alternative and renewable energy industry poised to take off in Virginia, there are plenty of start-ups and entrepreneurs looking to cash in. In a new feature for BizSense, we will take a look at those Virginians who are putting a stake into the emerging green energy sector.
In Prince George County, in a town called Spring Grove, Jes Sprouse is one of those looking to build a business around a green idea — literally.
Sprouse has developed a patent-pending process to convert algae into fuel. He is just one player in a nationwide race to create a viable biofuel from algae.
But while most other efforts are focused on processing algae to be used as an alternative to diesel or gasoline, Sprouse’s start-up Algal Farms Inc. is focused on creating algae pellets, which are burned like coal to generate electricity or are used as a substitute for wood pellets for heating.
“I want to create an alternative form of coal, a carbon replacement for coal-power plants,” said Sprouse. “The carbon footprint would complete go away and help clean up the atmosphere.”
But Sprouse is taking baby steps to get there. He is seeking capital to set up several small-scale production sites on farms in Dinwiddie. He has applied for a $600,000 grant with the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission, an entity that uses money from the state tobacco settlement to create economic programs for areas that have been historically dependent on tobacco farming.
To get the grant, he needs another $600,000 in matching funds, which he is currently seeking from private investors. The idea is to use the fertilizer runoff from the farms to feed the algae growth, which helps keep pollution out of the bay.
At first, Sprouse said, he plans to bring forward a product to compete with wood pellets, which he said sell for $300 a ton.
“It’s a wide-open market that is getting stage for a huge amount of growth in Europe,” said Sprouse. “There is more demand than there is supply.”
Sprouse also said he is working on another project in Chesterfield County to convert an old wastewater treatment facility in a shuttered tobacco processing facility into an algae farm.
But Sprouse’s big dream is to build two large-scale algae farms, one 2,000-acre farm at a site in Prince George and a 20,000-acre at another in Prince George County – combined, the two farms would employ 860 people. He said that each acre of surface water would be capable of producing 500 pounds of biomass a day.
Of course, there is just one problem.
“We’ve been doing good at getting things moving forward, but not very good getting more money in the door,” said Sprouse.
The two large farms would cost $80 million and nearly a billion dollars, respectively.
While his goals are ambitious, Sprouse is focused and determined to get there, every since he was child.
“I’ve always had an interest in renewable fuels. When my dad was building power plants on the front range of the Rockies, I saw the amount of coal burned there every day and though, ‘One day we are going to run out of the stuff,’” Sprouse said.
For more on Sprouse’s process, check out a recent feature from Poplar Mechanics.
And for more on some of the hype surrounding the algae-to-oil industry, check out Algae Energy Orgy from Mother Jones.
Al Harris covers alternative energy for BizSense. Please send news tips to Al@richmondbizsense.com.
