Readers: I am delighted to announce Biofuels Digest’s Advanced Biofuels Markets on November 9-10, 2010 in San Francisco, which will feature the largest assemblage of CEOs of the “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” since our Washington DC conference in April.

The full agenda and registration information is here.

Sponsorship and exhibition information is here.

Our goal in San Francisco: to address the near-term, immediate steps towards commercialization of bioenergy, including a special series of presentations and dialogue on renewable chemicals, plastics, organic acids and other bio-based materials.

True innovators in bioenergy, from production to finance

We’ll host the true innovators in the financing of bioenergy – such as the Stern Brothers/Mintz Levin proposed bond financing of commercial-scale plants, and a visit from Tom Baruch and Alan Shaw, who as chairman and CEO of Codexis led the first successful IPO in the field this year for some time. Plus, we will have strategic investors on hand to present their vision of how they are driving value for their companies through their investment portfolios.

In short, we want to analyze what is working, outline the conditions moving forward, and maximize opportunities to develop relationships for the taking of next steps towards commercialization.

Making high-level networking and partnership happen

I also plan to work hard, as in Washington, to make sure that every attendee has a full diary of side-meetings and briefing opportunities. The presentations will be excellent, but even more important are the side-meetings that turn into commercialization opportunities.

We’ll also have Administration officials on hand from USDA and DOE to update us on the policy front – those of you who know the central role that Bill Hagy plays at USDA will want to hear his latest views. We’ve also just received word that Mike McAdams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Association, will join us for a special presentation.

The conference agenda is here – but there is much more to the ABLC than just the formal agenda. The Biofuels Digest team has attended a lot of conferences over the past two years – we intend to emulate those features that work well at other conferences, and improve others, and offer a few new features. In particular, we wanted to improve the quality and quantity of networking opportunities, informal dialogue, and side events.

The conference will be held at the beautiful Stanford Court Hotel, and the Bay Area location is excellent for those who have partnership opportunities, are raising a new round of finance, or are located in the Golden State or elsewhere in the West.

30 Transformative Technologies Awards reception and 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy finalist announcements

For companies recently recognized among the “30 Transformative Technologies,” we will have an awards event on the first evening, and will also be announcing the finalists in the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2010-11, as we enter the final weeks of voting.

Our partner: Greenpower Conferences, producer of World Biofuels Markets

Our partner in this endeavor: Greenpower Conferences, which presents World Biofuels Markets each year in Europe, the most prestigious global event in bioenergy which this year attracted 1400 delegates.  The Digest has had a very successful association with Greenpower over the past year, and we are delighted to have a partner with global vision and impact. We believe that Advanced Biofuels Markets will reflect the very best of what World Biofuels Markets has come to mean for the industry as well as having a unique strength in offering networking opportunities, a focus on dialogue, and a US-based venue.

Private briefing on US elections impact

In addition, I will be conducting a private briefing on the impact of the US November elections, and you’ll have an opportunity to meet with the Digest’s writers and editors about your plans, and making sure we shine a light on your achievements.

As with our April event, since we are emphasizing networking, dialogue, and the exchange of ideas, there are some limitations imposed by room size. I encourage you to register promptly, as we are expecting a sellout. As you may recall, our April event sold out in February – so I encourage you to register early and take advantage of the reduced “early bird” rates.

A list of speakers is included here. We should have an additional announcement on some exciting keynote speakers within 30 days.

The conference agenda and full event information is here.

We are also formally opening the process today for conference sponsorships that will help those of you with special visibility and commercial goals. More information on Sponsorship & exhibition opportunities can be found here.

Registration for the conference, as well as details on the Stanford Court Hotel, including special conference rates, are here.

On behalf of the entire Digest team, we look forward to seeing you in San Francisco and making it a very successful week for you in terms of knowledge gained, relationships established, and missions accomplished.

“Among those remaining, some of them aren’t willing to take the risks associated with renewable energy projects,” he adds. “Others don’t want to loan to renewable energy projects because it’s not their typical portfolio. Instead of reaching into their pockets and making a direct loan of their money, they’re standing in a position of being a trustee in the bonds. The project company will issue its corporate bonds to an accredited investor, somebody with at least $1 million net worth. The bonds themselves, but for the loan guarantee, would likely be not investment grade. With the loan guarantee on top of them, they become triple A.”

Reidy, along with colleagues at Stern Brothers, Mintz Levin, and Kreig DeVault, developed the following solution.

1. The lender steps outside of its traditional role of lending its funds to an eligible borrower.

2. Instead, the lender (the team confirmed that it expects to use a commercial/investment bank and have “a top 5 major commercial bank working with us”) acts as a trustee.

3. In this role, the project company issues taxable corporate bonds (placed by Stern Brothers) to accredited investors (but $1 million net worth investors–under SEC rules– would represent the floor, while generally the bonds will be placed/sold to institutional investors).

4. The investors place the purchase/sales proceeds into an account with the trustee bank. The trustee bank then on-lends the bond proceeds into the project.

5. The USDA and/or DOE, as part of the financing, places the loan guarantee(s) over the bonds.

6. Thus, the generally low-rated bonds essentially would become AAA-rated under the full faith and credit of the US government.

7. The trustee bank would hold legal title to each of the bonds, mortgages and other required project security during the entire term of the bonds and loan guarantee(s).

8. The bond holders similarly would hold beneficial title to the bonds during the same periods.

9. The bonds approximately would have up to a 2% lower interest rate than the 7% plus currently available as commercial lending rates.

10. They would have maturities of 15-25 years, instead of the 1-7 year tenures which banks currently are forcing renewable energy projects generally to accept (and which shorter tenures will not permit the proper amortization of such projects).

11. Only the Treasury’s Federal Finance Bank offers better terms, at interest rates of 22-75 basis points over Treasuries (or approximately 4%) and tenures of 20-30 years, available solely for the DOE Section 1703 Loan Guarantee Program (for certain new and unique technologies) and only when DOE agrees to 100% coverage of up to 80% of total project costs.

12. The program is designed to work under the USDA’s section 9003 program, or the DOE’s 1703 program under many circumstances, the DOE’s 1705 program, or the USDA’s B&I or REAP programs. A good comparative for all these programs is this comprehensive presentation from Mark Riedy of Mintz Levin.