While you have been doing other things, a whole new group of cleantech startups have come on the scene in our region.  Want to come see what they are doing? You’re in luck. On October 9, CleanStart and BlueTech Valley are having the Central Valley Cleantech Showcase in Downtown Sacramento.  Two dozen companies will be exhibiting their innovations and expert panels will be discussing the outlook for even more.  

Here’s the most fun part:  You get to be a VC! When you check in at the event you will be handed some “coins”.  Drop them into the ballot box at each of the exhibits you like best. The one ending up with the most coins at the end of the show will win a special award.  

The Showcase is free to attend, but we do need you to register so we can plan to get enough refreshments.  Yes, there will be snacks and drinks.

The event will be at the Capitol Event Center at 1020 11th Street starting at 9:30 am and going until 2:00 pm. 

Momentum is building behind Greyrock Energy, our local gas-to-synthetic liquids pioneer.  First, they closed on a follow-up equity investment in May from AP Ventures.  Their first investment was from Anglo American Platinum, based in South Africa.  AP Ventures is a fund founded by Anglo American and the Public Investment Corporation of South Africa, an economic development arm of the Ministry of Finance of the government, with $130 billion of assets under management.  These founders have now gathered a number of other well-known participants. Mitsubishi joined AP Ventures in December 2018, and has been followed by Toyota and Sumitomo MitsuiBank investment through the Mirai Creation Fund.  Getting an investment from such deep-pocketed and well-known companies puts Greyrock on some very sound footing.

The second bit of momentum was just announced in August when a customer obtained financing to build a plant in Canada to convert 5 million cubic feet per day of stranded natural gas into 500 barrels per day of clean synthetic diesel and naphtha.  The plant to be built by Rocky Mountain GTL in Carseland, Albert will incorporate several unique environmental features, such as self-sustained water supply, self-sufficient on electric power, and recycling of significant process CO2 in order to produce additional synthetic diesel. RMGTL was formed in 2017 with a private placement of C$42 million.  It has licensed technology from Greyrock and related technology from Canadian firm Expander Energy, Inc., intending to become a global player in converting waste gases to clean fuels and chemicals.  The intent of all involved is to scale-up the size of future plants to handle up to 50 million cubic feet per day of raw gas.

Both steps boost Greyrock Energy onto a bigger stage and position it for a bright future.