Aberdeenshire Business Wins £40,000 Climate Change Innovation Prize

2009-02-12 09:39:11

An Aberdeenshire based business with a big idea for tackling climate change has won a Shell Springboard award of £40,000, giving their business a valuable boost in a programme designed to promote the growth of the low carbon economy in the UK.

St Cyrus based Scottish Bioenergy Cooperative Ventures received the award at an event in Edinburgh on the 10th of February 2009 for its system of capturing CO₂ emissions to grow algae which in turn are used to produce biodiesel.

Recently, the business completed a successful first phase testing of a small scale version of its algae bioreactor at The Glenturret Distillery, the home of The Famous Grouse whisky.  CO₂ was captured from the distillery's boiler exhaust and percolated through algae reactors converting it into oils and protein which could be used as fuel for the distillery.

David Van Alstyne of Scottish Bioenergy Cooperative Ventures Ltd with his award

David Van Alstyne from Scottish Bioenergy Cooperative Ventures said, “This is a fantastic endorsement of the project and the financial award means that we can push ahead immediately with construction of the full system.  The UK has a large number of brewers and distillers who use heavy oil in the production of alcohol and who are seeking new methods to reduce their CO₂ output.  One distiller burning over 200 tonnes of oil per day at a single facility equates to over 500 tonnes of CO₂ output.  Our technology would reduce the CO₂ emissions whilst creating useful and sellable biodiesel.”

Shell Springboard gives a financial boost to innovative, commercially viable business ideas that tackle climate change.  The programme encourages a positive business response to the challenge of climate change by providing a no-strings financial boost to small ideas with innovative products and services that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and really make a difference.

Sue Paterson, UK Partner Operated Ventures Manager for Shell UK said: “Congratulations to David and Scottish Bioenergy Cooperative Ventures.  The project not only has huge commercial potential but could have a significant impact on the UK’s carbon emissions. It’s this kind of cutting-edge innovation that has made the UK a world leader in low carbon technology investment. In a difficult economic climate, it has become more important than ever that we continue to foster such independent entrepreneurialism which is so crucial to the UK economy in the long term.”

David Rodger, Communications Manager at Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group said, “This is great news for the North East of Scotland and Scottish Bioenergy Cooperative Ventures who have the potential now to develop this innovative biofuel solution across wider industrial sectors.”

According to Shell Springboard’s Race Against the Carbon Pound report, the UK’s ‘green’ companies attracted over £1billion of venture capital and private equity investment in 2007: 41% of the EU total.  This makes the UK the European leader when it comes to attracting venture capital and private equity investment in low carbon technologies, second only to the United States worldwide.

Scottish Bioenergy Cooperative Ventures competed against five businesses from across the Scotland and North of England region on 10th February 2009 in Edinburgh and will now compete to be named as the overall UK winner in London on the 3rd of March.

£20,000 each was also awarded to North Shields based Ocean Flow Energy’s moored tidal energy device and Redcar based DRD Power’s waste heat capture system.