Nexterra Energy has raised a $3.6 million fourth round of funding led by return backer ARC Financial in a move that brings the firm's investment in the maker of biomass gasification systems to $19 million.
Although the industry generally uses fossil fuels such as coal to produce electricty, biomass gasification process works with organic material. Nexterra focuses on biomass gasification and takes organic material, such as wood waste or wood trimmings, and converts it into clean-burning synthetic gas, which is then used to generate electricity.
It works well – for smaller systems, at least.
"The limits of biomass are the supply of biomass," ARC Financial Vice President Malcolm Adams said. "For gasification on the big scale, the limit is how far you need to truck the biomass. Gasification is [also] dependent on the source of biomass – it has to be tied to the lumber industry somehow or from waste from job sites or construction sites."
These supply limitations can put a damper on how much energy can be converted through gasification, whereas companies specializing in solar and wind power, for which there is a potentially limitless supply, need only worry about conversion rates and placement.
That's why biomass gasification works best in small doses without reliance on big grids. While it isn't necessary to have gasification plants and systems next or near a customer, Adams says that having "local distributive power systems" is probably the most efficient in terms of placement and generated power.
And, while biomass gasification companies such as Nexterra aren't trying to dethrone solar and wind as clean energy market kings ("This isn't the 'Holy Grail' of alternative energy," adds Adams), it's yet another way for individual businesses to reduce their carbon footprints.