Date: September 7, 2010
Source: Alter NRG Corp.
Alter NRG Corp. announces exclusive license agreement in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana with Alliance Federated Energy for US$11.4 million
Alter NRG Corp. ("Alter NRG" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed an exclusive license agreement with Alliance Federated Energy ("AFE") for all feedstocks in the States of Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana and hazardous waste for the continental U.S. for approximately US$11.4 million dollars. This includes, and is conditional upon, the receipt by an agreed date of an initial non-refundable payment of $1.4 million followed by annual license payments until 2015. The term of this agreement runs through 2022. Alter NRG owns the Westinghouse Plasma gasification technology which is being licensed by AFE.
AFE is currently developing Project Apollo, a 25MW plasma gasification based renewable energy project located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The US$225 million project is in early permitting and is expected to create more than 250 jobs during the construction process and employ 45 full time people once operational. Approximately 25% of the waste feedstock is already committed from Badger Disposal of Wisconsin, one of region's leading industrial waste management services companies. AFE plans to have the project operational in late 2013. The first phase of the renewable energy facility is expected to process approximately 1000 tons of municipal and industrial waste per day, generating enough clean energy to power roughly 20,000 homes in the Milwaukee area.
AFE is advancing several other projects in the region, as well as one internationally. Under the agreement, AFE will have site licenses payable to Alter NRG for each project and also have the right to sublicense the technology within their exclusive territory. Project Apollo is the only project that has been publicly announced at this time. To the extent it proceeds, this project would represent, to Alter NRG, an approximate US$30 million technology sale, a US$1.75 million site license fee, as well as US$1 to US$2 million in engineering services to support the project. Engineering services are expected to begin in 2011 with the equipment order in 2012 in order to support the 2013 project commissioning and will be negotiated under separate agreements. AFE has engaged Capstone Investments based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to raise institutional capital to fund the development of several additional projects in their portfolio. AFE expects to announce other projects later this year or in early 2011.
AFE is also in discussions with an industry leading hazardous waste management company regarding the development of the first commercial hazardous waste facility in the United States to employ the Westinghouse Plasma gasification technology. The facility being evaluated would initially process 200 hundred tons per day with the capability to increase capacity subject to availability of additional waste. This facility would be roughly twice the size of the hazardous waste to energy facility currently operating in Pune India, which uses Westinghouse Plasma gasification technology.
Mark Montemurro, President and CEO of Alter NRG acknowledges that "we have been working with AFE for more than a year and have found them to be a credible developer with strong execution capability, consistently hitting their development milestones. This exclusive license is indicative of our strategy to work deeply with our core customers that have shown the ability to execute and also indicative of the industry leading intellectual property of the Westinghouse Plasma solution. AFE will provide a strong presence in their exclusive region and has had significant success already in changing policy and regulations in their region."
AFE has been working closely with state legislators and other stakeholders in Wisconsin for over a year in connection with the Apollo project. In May of 2010, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed SB 273 into law, amending the State's Renewable Portfolio Standard, classifying the energy generated by plasma gasification technology as renewable. Wisconsin is one of the first states in the nation to explicitly classify the production of energy from the plasma gasification of waste as renewable. On February 4th, Governor Jim Doyle commented "We are pleased that AFE has selected Wisconsin for their first renewable energy project. This technology has real potential to help us address the growing need for clean renewable power. Project Apollo will create new clean energy jobs in our state, reduce the need for continued land filling of our wastes, and reduce greenhouse gases."
Christopher Maloney, Chairman and CEO of AFE states "Our Apollo project is moving forward aggressively with support from state and local jurisdictions. Our relationship with Alter NRG is an important component of our strategy and we are very pleased to have access to their industry leading Westinghouse Plasma Technology. This is an important milestone in the development of our first plasma gasification based renewable energy project and will allow us to accelerate the development of our other projects in the region and overseas."
ABOUT ALTER NRG
Alter NRG is pursuing alternative energy solutions to meet the growing demand for environmentally responsible energy in world markets. The Company's vision is to commercialize growth technologies through environmentally sustainable and economically viable alternative energy projects. The Company's objectives are twofold; First, is to further commercialize the Westinghouse Plasma Gasification Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary, to provide renewable and clean energy solutions from a wide variety of feedstocks, and providing a wide variety of energy outputs – including liquid fuels like ethanol and diesel, electrical power, and syngas; Second, to capitalize on the rapidly growing geoexchange residential and commercial heating and cooling market through a wholly owned subsidiary CleanEnergy that enables consumers to reduce their carbon footprint and reduce the cost and volatility of energy bills using the energy from the earth.
For additional information please contact:
Mark Montemurro, President and Chief Executive Officer
(403) 806-3877
mmontemurro@alternrg.ca.
Daniel Hay, Chief Financial Officer
(403) 214-4235
dhay@alternrg.ca.
ABOUT ALLIANCE FEDERATED ENERGY
Established in 2005, Alliance Federated Energy is a developer of renewable energy and related infrastructure projects focused on environmentally sustainable technologies. AFE's vision is to build renewable energy facilities that are environmentally responsible and reduce the need for landfilling or incineration of our municipal, industrial and commercial waste. The company has a specific focus on plasma gasification technology for electric generation and energy production. For more information, please visit www.afeservices.com.
For additional information please contact:
Christopher Maloney, Chief Executive Officer
(414) 272-5000
cmaloney@afeservices.com.
Joshua Morby, Public Relations
(414) 791-9120
jmorby@afeservices.com.
The Toronto Stock Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Advisory Respecting Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains certain "forward-looking information and statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends", "confident", "might" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. In particular, this new release contains forward looking statements pertaining to capital expenditures, schedules and commencement of operations projects under development; availability of project financing; timing of sales; industry trends; factors influencing capital investments and development activities; the Corporation's reputation and market position within the industries in which it operates and the Corporation's strategy and competitive advantages. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release.
The forward-looking information and statements included in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and should not be unduly relied upon. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and assumptions, based on information currently available to management. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond the control of the Corporation. Among the material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: that the information is of a preliminary nature and may be subject to further adjustment; unforeseen environmental effects; the completion of strategic partner's projects; the continued participation of the Corporation in other projects undertaken by AFE, arrangements with key suppliers; potential product liability and other claims; risks associated with the proprietary technology; the possible unavailability of financing at competitive rates and the related effect on development activities; changes in government regulation, including changes to environmental regulations; the effects of competition; and fluctuations in currency exchange rates and interest rates, as well as those factors discussed in or referred to under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 29, 2010 available at www.sedar.com. Such information and statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information or statements.
The Corporation cautions that the foregoing list of assumptions, risks and uncertainties is not exhaustive. The forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release, and the Corporation assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required pursuant to applicable securities laws.
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