Virdia looks for brownfield biofuel site in Mississippi

State’s $75M loan promise positions Virdia for biofuel site search

Wed, Mar 21, 2012

Source: MBJ, 

With the promise of a $75 million loan from the Mississippi Development Authority in hand, Redwood City, Calif.-based Virdia is ready to begin scouting for a site to convert the state’s soft pine into sugars for biofuel makers.  The one certainty about the plant’s location is that it will be near an ample supply of pine and must produce at least 150,000 tons of sugar to be commercially viable.  Virdia plans to open the plant in 2014. A second larger plant that is to follow would have a production capacity of 500,000 tons of sugar, the company says. An out-of-use pulp plant or brownfield site would suffice, as would co-locating with a power generating plant that is using bio-mass, the company says.

Virdia started life as HCL Clean Tech. The privately held startup company adopted the Virdia name in early March, a move that coincided with the naming of biofuels sector veteran Philipe Lavielle as CEO.
Lavielle, in a press statement accompanying his appointment, said Virdia is “much closer to realizing our mission on a large scale.” To secure the $75 million loan from the State of Mississippi, Virdia will have to satisfy state officials that it has adequate private capital backing. So far, it has raised $20 million from insiders and a handful of venture capital firms and closed on a $10 million venture deal with Triple Point Capital. Sally Williams, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Development Authority, said she is unsure whether the $30 million in private money is sufficient to satisfy the state’s loan terms. Virdia contemplates a $1 billion investment in Mississippi facilities, according to Williams. “I don’t know the time frame. I know we’re several years out.”
In full operation, Virdia expects to employ about 700 workers, Williams said.

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