AlgaEnergy SA, part-owned by Spain\u2019s Iberdrola SA (IBE) and Repsol SA (REP), is in talks with potential partners to set up a plant in Mexico to supply the American markets with biomass made from algae.<\/p>\n
The International Energy Agency, a policy adviser for industrialized nations, estimates biofuels must supply about 27 percent of road fuels worldwide by 2050, up from 3 percent in 2012, to reduce crude-oil dependence and carbon emissions. Biofuels from edible crops like corn have been blamed for food shortages, spurring interest in algae, which doesn\u2019t take up agricultural land and can be made using wastewater.<\/p>\n
AlgaEnergy will next month begin operating a 7-million-euro ($9.6 million) plant it\u2019s building in Arcos de la Frontera in southern Spain. The facility will start with a capacity of 350,000 liters and ramp up to a million liters with an annual output of 100 metric tons of biomass by year-end, Rodriguez-Villa said.<\/p>\n
Flu gases from a 1.6-gigawatt Iberdrola combined-cycle power plant will feed the algae cultures at the plant. Repsol agreed to buy the algal oil output to turn it into second-generation biodiesel.<\/p>\n