It’s been a very busy few months. Since the reorganization of the Company last year, our focus has been on moving forward with the projects we have started before entertaining any new business.

Our South Georgia project has been our primary focus during this time. We previously announced our plans to build a manufacturing plant in Tifton, Georgia that would manufacture bio-coal from timber waste. After extensive research and meeting with various entities associated with the project, we made the decision to move the project to another location also in South Georgia. We have located an existing 40,000 sq. ft. building that will serve our needs much better than the Tifton location and we are currently in negotiations to purchase the building. The building sits on 14 acres, has rail access with a rail spur on the property that will accommodate 5 train cars. Once the plant is completed, product will be loaded onto train cars and sent by rail to the Savannah, GA port where it will be shipped to customers around the world.

We are also working with the local government concerning the potential for free land adjacent to the existing building, tax abatements, job credits, and port job tax credits for using the Savannah Port. The proposed site is also located in a Free Port Trade Zone with exemptions on material and inventory destined for shipment out of state from sales, inventory, and advalorem taxes.

According to a recent Forbes Magazine article entitled “America’s Best Places For Alternative Energy,” the abundance of biomass in Georgia’s Bioenergy Corridor ranks third in the nation as a potential source of renewable energy. The article referenced the amount of privately owned forests in Georgia, more than any other state in the country, as a reason for the state’s ranking.

When completed, the manufacturing plant will use special torrefaction technology to produce bio-coal briquettes from timber waste that will then be sold to power companies throughout the world.

Shipping is a large component of our business and significantly affects the price we can charge. Bio-coal will be much cheaper to ship to our clients than other forms of alternative energy such as fuel pellets. Target markets for our products are power plants around the world that face mandates to increase biomass usage in their coal burning plants. Firing bio-coal in existing coal plants will not require any retrofitting of existing power plants.

Bio-coal is made from a process called “torrefaction.” Torrefaction is a partial carbonization process that takes place at temperatures between 475 – 575º in a low temperature environment which makes the physical and energetic properties of the biomass much more comparable to traditional coal. The biomass is then compressed into briquettes to be sold to the end user. Torrefaction has the added benefit of reducing or eliminating undesirable volatiles, such as nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxides and is considered carbon neutral to the environment.

By accounting for the positive environmental impact of not allowing biomass to decay and providing a positive impact through renewable energy under an approved methodology from the Clean Development Mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the production and sale of carbon credits from the burning of biomass for CO2 production will provide additional income to Vega.

This is a very busy time in the life of the Company and we ask for your continued patience as we move forward. We will have additional details concerning the plant as we move forward.

Thanks again for your interest in Vega Biofuels and for your continued support.

Michael K. Molen
Chairman/CEO

“One of the primary challenges for algae production is to achieve the best-possible energy balance,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO. “By harvesting hydrogen from algae we are able to increase the energy output of virtually any algae production system. The result is a photosynthetic technology platform that yields energy in the form of oil, biomass, and hydrogen.”

Algae already create oxygen through photosynthesis. Recovering hydrogen provides the necessary ingredients for electricity generation using fuel cells. The energy can be used to offset the electricity requirements of algae cultivation, harvesting and downstream processing.

Dr. Brian Goodall, OriginOil’s new CTO, commented: “The co-generation of hydrogen at the algae production site is a critical development for the realization of a completely integrated algal biorefinery. All routes from algae to ‘drop-in’ fuels such as renewable diesel and jet fuel require hydrogen and hydrotreating. The Hydrogen Harvester technology would eliminate the need for hydrogen pipelines and dependence on existing refineries which are typically far removed from ideal sites for algae growth.”

The Hydrogen Harvester will be integrated into OriginOil’s existing portfolio of algae growth technologies, including the recently announced MultiReactor™. It will also be available as an add-on to other industry growth systems.

The company recently filed for patent protection of the new hydrogen harvesting technology, its tenth patent application, entitled “Bio Energy Reactor”. While the invention is applicable to any photosynthetic organism, algae is thought to be most productive.

Hydrogen has often been called the perfect fuel. Its major reserve on earth (water) is inexhaustible, meaning that we will never run out of hydrogen. Hydrogen, if produced cleanly, efficiently and affordably from renewable resources, is the ultimate green energy solution: It produces no air pollutants or greenhouse gases when used in fuel cells and the only pollutants generated when burned in internal combustion engines are nitrogen oxides (NOx).

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has stated that producing hydrogen by direct water-splitting technologies — using photosynthetic microorganisms — is the “Holy Grail” of the hydrogen economy, the ultimate clean and sustainable hydrogen production method, and is the focus of long-term R&D efforts at NREL. OriginOil believes that the new Hydrogen Harvester could represent the breakthrough needed to power the hydrogen economy.

Press Release

ZeaChem Inc., a developer of biorefineries for the conversion of renewable biomass into sustainable fuels and chemicals, today announced the successful production of ethanol at a capacity that can be scaled to commercial production. ZeaChem’s results have been confirmed by third party vendors who will enable production of ZeaChem biofuels and bio-based chemicals. The company will now demonstrate the integration of its biorefining processes at its 250,000 gallon per year Boardman, Oregon biorefinery.

Using off-the-shelf catalysts and standard equipment in an innovative way, ZeaChem produced ethanol from ethyl acetate through a process called hydrogenation -a common industrial practice that is readily scaled to commercial levels.

“Through the successful production of ethanol, we’ve completed ZeaChem’s C2 carbon chain suite of products, which includes acetic acid, ethyl acetate, and ethanol,” said Jim Imbler, president and CEO of ZeaChem. “The next step is to integrate these known processes to achieve the ultimate target of commercial production of economical and sustainable biofuels and bio-based chemicals.”

Ethanol is primarily used as a fuel additive blended with gasoline. The annual market for ethanol is $26.2 billion globally and $13.6 billion in the U.S.

Having completed testing of its C2 carbon chain suite of products, ZeaChem has begun fermentation work on a new suite of products – the C3 platform – using the same processes and equipment. The product platform includes propionic acid, propanol and propylene.

On June 2, 2010, the company broke ground on its 250,000 gallon-per-year biorefinery in Boardman, Oregon, the core technology of which will begin to come online in 2010. The integrated facility is being partially funded by a $25 million grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The company will use the grant to build the chemical fractionation on the front end and the hydrogenation process on the back end for making cellulosic ethanol. The facility will begin to produce cellulosic ethanol in 2011. ZeaChem intends to build commercial biorefineries upon successful operations at the Boardman facility.

Source : Press Release

• The 30 million litre commercial-scale bioethanol plant planned for the North East of England aims to convert biodegradable household and commercial waste to carbon-neutral biofuel for use in today’s cars and renewable electricity for homes and industry.
• Europe’s first waste to bioethanol plant at Seal Sands could be operational by 2012, helping to create 350 construction jobs and over 40 permanent skilled roles.
• An expanded biorefinery, to be operational by 2015, would help to meet the UK’s renewable energy targets for transport fuel, power and heat set for 2020.

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Lyndhurst, UK – INEOS Bio today announced that it has received an offer of a £7.3m grant towards £52m construction costs for the first commercial plant in Europe using its advanced BioEnergy Process Technology. The plant, to be located at the INEOS Seal Sands site in the Tees Valley, is designed to produce 24,000 tonnes per year (30 million litres) of carbon-neutral road transport fuel and generate more than 3MW of clean electricity for export from over 100,000 tonnes per year of biodegradable household and commercial waste. This would provide the biofuel requirement of around 250,000 vehicles per year running on E10* and the electricity needs of 6000 households.

Speaking about the announcement, Peter Williams, CEO of INEOS Bio, said: “Using our technology, the waste that is collected from homes and offices and otherwise thrown away, can be re-cycled into clean biofuel for cars and renewable electricity for homes and industry.”

“This grant from One North East and the Department for Energy and Climate Change, together with the considerable support that we are receiving from organisations such as the National Non Food Crop Centre, is enabling us to make progress with our commercialisation plans in the North East of England.”

Subject to final agreements, this advanced bioethanol plant is due to be completed by 2012, creating around 40 new permanent jobs at the plant and 350 jobs in the construction phase. Once operational, it is intended that the facility will be expanded into a larger integrated biorefinery, combining advanced bioenergy production with advanced waste treatment by 2015. The biorefinery would help to meet the UK’s renewable energy targets for transport fuel, power and heat set for 2020 through the Renewable Energy Directive.

Following the successful completion of a detailed feasibility study by INEOS Bio DECC has now approved funding of £4.5m for this next phase of the project. In addition, the Regional Development Agency One North East is investing £2.8m, of which £1.8m has been secured through the Tees Valley Industrial Programme.

The INEOS BioEnergy Process Technology combines thermochemical and biochemical technologies to achieve energy-efficient and low-cost biofuel production from a wide range of biomass materials, including household and industrial waste. At the heart of the INEOS Bio technology is an anaerobic fermentation step, through which naturally occurring bacteria convert gases derived directly from biomass into bioethanol. This bioethanol production is integrated with combined heat and power generation. The process supports high recycling and high landfill diversion rates and an independent life cycle assessment** indicates that the bioethanol produced would deliver 100% green house gas savings compared to using petrol in today’s cars.

One North East Chairman Margaret Fay, who recently visited the Seal Sands plot where the plant is planned to be built, said: “INEOS Bio is a fantastic example of the forward-thinking companies which are bringing new jobs to North East England and this is another major investment for the Tees Valley Industrial Programme.

“Unique projects like this are placing our region and the UK at the forefront of low carbon economy and this revolutionary new plant has the potential to provide us with a solution for our waste and a significant renewable energy resource for many years to come.”

Full planning consent for the initial INEOS BioEnergy plant at Seal Sands has been awarded to INEOS Bio by Stockton Council and no objections have been raised for the full biorefinery.

Councillor Bob Cook, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Regeneration, said: “This is excellent news both for Stockton and the wider Tees Valley.

“In the current climate it is really good to see new investment coming forward which will benefit the local community not only by creating jobs but also a potential supply chain for other businesses in the area.”

The Tees Valley Industrial Programme (TVIP) is a £60m investment over the next two years from One North East and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) specifically to support the area’s industrial transition to low carbon and advanced manufacturing, which is expected to create an estimated 3,000 new jobs in the short to medium term and over 10,000 jobs in the long term.

The Tees Valley Industrial Programme is supporting companies through the Grant for Business Investment product, which is part of Solutions for Business – the Government’s package of publicly funded support products offering help to companies to start, grow and succeed. Solutions for Business makes it easier for companies to get the advice and assistance that they need.

Press Release

Los Angeles, CA May 20, 2010 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, announced today that it recently launched MAX ONE, its first mobile algae extraction laboratory. A private party of investors and supporters celebrated the unveiling at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

The trailer-based system will visit algae producing companies in the US to demonstrate how OriginOil’s Single Step Extraction™ process can help them harvest their algae efficiently and cost-effectively. The system is capable of extracting oil from algae at a rate of five gallons per minute, enough to demonstrate feasibility to potential customers.

“Algae can’t succeed as a biofuel without an economical and energy-efficient way to harvest it,” said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil. “That’s why algae companies are eager to test our process as soon as possible. Now we can pull up in the trailer, process their algae, and analyze it for them on the spot.”

MAX ONE was launched on May 17th in front of an audience of invited investors and supporters who toured the mobile system and applauded the OriginOil technology team. Photos and video of the unveiling can be found on the MAX One event page.

This is more than just a strategy to sell more extraction systems, said Eckelberry. “Every algae strain out there has its own extraction profile, and there are thousands of strains,” he said. “This is a great chance to document all the different strains which will help us roll out through partners worldwide.”

While it is currently working with pioneering producers, OriginOil plans to work in the future through country and regional partners, as well as specialized manufacturers and service organizations worldwide.

On May 18th, Eckelberry participated in an industry panel at the sold-out Algae World Summit, a conference that is focused on the algae value chain and which OriginOil helped to create. He reported on the launch of MAX ONE and on the effort to document algae strains. He called for closer industry collaboration, focusing less on the differences between companies than on their shared need to get algae production scaled up quickly to meet fast-expanding demand.

Press Release

The DOE grant will be used to construct and operate the cellulosic ethanol production capability that will be added to the core ZeaChem technology, which will produce ethyl acetate, the chemical precursor to ethanol. ZeaChem will begin producing cellulosic ethanol in 2011 at the company’s 250,000 gallon-per-year biorefinery, to be located in Boardman, Oregon.

“We are pleased to finalize the award agreement with the DOE and look forward to starting cellulosic ethanol production at our biorefinery,” said Jim Imbler, president and chief executive officer of ZeaChem. “This funding accelerates our progress toward commercialization and represents how government programs aimed at developing emerging technologies can provide the catalyst for long-term economic growth and energy independence.”

Press Release

Washington, DC – U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the selections of projects for investment of up to $62 million over five years to research, develop, and demonstrate Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems capable of providing low-cost electrical power. This funding will support improvements in CSP systems, components, and thermal energy storage to accelerate the market-readiness of this renewable energy technology. Accelerating breakthroughs in renewable energy technologies supports the Administration’s strategy of diversifying the U.S. energy portfolio to increase our energy independence while fostering a fast-growing clean-energy economy.

“Developing low-cost, renewable energy generation is crucial to meeting our nation’s increasing demands for electricity,” said Secretary Chu. “By investing in the development of low-cost solar technologies we can create new jobs and pave the way towards a clean-energy future.”

CSP technologies concentrate the sun’s energy and capture that energy as heat, which then drives an engine or turbine to produce electrical power. CSP plants can include low-cost energy storage, allowing them to provide electricity even when the sun is not shining. Boosting these technologies today will generate the clean-technology careers of tomorrow and will help expand the market for utility-scale solar energy. The projects announced today will seek to improve component and system designs to extend operation to an average of about 18 hours per day, a level of production that would make it possible for these plants to displace traditional coal-burning power plants.

The thirteen award selections announced today fall into two areas:

Concentrating Solar Power Systems Studies – projects awarded under this category will evaluate the feasibility of a complete CSP baseload system and support development of prototype systems for field testing. These selections include:

* Abengoa Solar, Inc. – Lakewood, CO – up to $10.6 million
Abengoa Solar will develop a new power tower technology that captures heat in a high-temperature receiver at the top of an elevated tower. The system will focus the sun’s rays to the tower using a 360-degree, surround reflector field on the ground and collect the heat in a salt fluid, which is used to make steam and drive a turbine. The system will also incorporate a thermal storage system to allow it to operate for a period when the sun isn’t shining. The ability to operate at higher temperatures will translate into more energy produced with the same size power plant. Abengoa is currently the only company with a full-scale, operational power tower, and thus proving this technology could help it reach commercial maturity.

* eSolar, Inc. – Pasadena, CA – up to $10.8 million
eSolar will design, build, and test a CSP power plant system with fundamentally new components. Instead of one central tower and receiver, the plant will employ multiple, modular towers. Using reflective mirrors, the sun’s radiation will heat a liquid salt within each receiver. A specialized molten salt transport system will then move the high-temperature fluid to a molten-salt steam generator that produces electricity. The system will also feature a thermal storage system. Eventually, this technology could deliver lower-cost solar energy at a utility scale.

* Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne – Canoga Park, CA – up to $10.2 million
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne will build on and advance the current solar power tower plant design. The project will explore new materials for the central power tower receiver. A novel thermal storage system will be developed and used, representing the first time such technology has been integrated into a CSP plant design. A more efficient power cycle will help produce more electricity. These improvements will all be made in the hopes of driving down the cost of solar energy.

Concentrating Solar Power Component Feasibility Studies – awards under this category focus on research and development of concepts and components that could be part of a CSP baseload system. These selections include:

* General Atomics – San Diego, CA – up to $2.1 million
General Atomics will carry out feasibility and design studies to validate the concept of supplying reliable, steady baseload power using a concentrating solar power plant integrated with sulfur-based energy storage. The energy is stored through a chemical reaction, which potentially allows the energy to be stored for a much longer period of time. The ability to store the heat captured by a CSP system during the day and continue running the power plant at night or when it’s cloudy makes solar power plants more reliable.

* HiTek Services, Inc. – Owens Cross Roads, AL – up to $3.0 million
HiTek Services will focus on optimizing reflector array, or heliostat, designs in order to reduce the cost of using heliostats in a solar field. All CSP systems use reflectors to collect and focus the sun’s rays to heat a receiving material, and heliostats represent the most expensive component of a CSP system. By driving down the cost of reflector arrays, this project could significantly lower the up-front cost of CSP power plants.

* Infinia Corporation – Kennewick, WA – up to $3.0 million
Infinia Corporation is developing a large-scale thermal energy storage solution that can be used with solar dishes. The system will be essentially maintenance-free and will allow large amounts of energy to be stored in a cost-effective and efficient manner. There is currently no commercial storage mechanism that is compatible with CSP solar dishes, and thus this storage technology could be a breakthrough for the CSP solar dish industry.

* PPG Industries, Inc. – Cheswick, PA – up to $3.0 million
PPG Industries will develop a next-generation, low-cost reflector with increased reflectivity, increased durability, and larger dimensions. Increasing the performance of reflectors while pushing down the cost of materials and manufacturing will serve as an enabling technology for utility-scale CSP power plants. The most significant maintenance cost of a CSP plant is cleaning and replacing the mirrors, and thus this new reflector design could have a significant impact on total plant cost.

* SENER Engineering and Systems Inc. – San Francisco, CA – up to $3.1 million
SENER is developing a high-efficiency thermal storage system for solar plants with technology that can extend the operating range of thermal storage using solid, modular blocks. Higher temperature storage has a direct impact upon the amount of energy that can be extracted and converted into electricity, and is an essential component for CSP plants to become competitive with coal-burning plants.

* SkyFuel, Inc. – Albuquerque, NM – up to $4.3 million
SkyFuel will develop a low-cost CSP trough system with significantly larger dimensions than today’s troughs for use in baseload concentrating solar power generation. Increasing the operating temperature and output of CSP power plants that use a trough-shaped reflector to heat a receiving fluid will help make CSP a viable technology for baseload power.

* SunTrough Energy, Inc. – Chatsworth, CA – up to $4.5 million
SunTrough Energy will develop a new class of solar concentrators and build a pilot manufacturing facility to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the new technology. The design will place an emphasis on lightweight materials and mass-manufacturability. A focus on manufacturing will lead to smaller and fewer parts, simpler assembly procedures, and more rapid field installation, all of which will drive the total cost of a CSP facility down.

* Terrafore, Inc. – Riverside, CA – up to $1.4 million
Terrafore is developing an efficient and economical thermal storage system for baseload power generation that takes advantage of the energy that is transferred when materials melt and solidify. One of the primary challenges for solar energy is dealing with the issue of intermittency; in other words, how to supply reliable power when the sun is not shining. Therefore, optimizing the design of CSP systems to store the heat for later use could help build confidence in the widespread adoption of solar energy.

* University of South Florida – Tampa, FL – up to $2.5 million
The University of South Florida will develop and demonstrate an innovative thermal energy storage system based on materials that absorb heat when changing from a solid to a liquid and release heat when changing from a liquid to a solid. Integrating thermal energy storage into CSP plants makes CSP a reliable source of baseload electricity.

* Wilson TurboPower, Inc. – Woburn, MA – up to $3.7 million
Wilson TurboPower is utilizing a small transportable turbine power system in a modular CSP solar power tower configuration. By building a more compact CSP power block, the power block can be assembled in-factory and shipped to the worksite. The power block design also incorporates an advanced cooling method that reduces water usage. This novel design will operate at high temperatures and allow for super-efficient operation.

Please visit the Solar Energy Technologies Program home page for more information about the program and selections.

Verenium Corporation (Nasdaq: VRNM), a pioneer in the development of next-generation cellulosic ethanol and high-performance specialty enzymes, today announced that it has been awarded an additional $4.9 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to fund ongoing activities at its demonstration-scale facility in Jennings, Louisiana. This cooperative agreement is an extension of the grant previously awarded to the Company in July of 2008 under a DOE program supporting the development of demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol biorefinery plants.

“We are very pleased to receive this additional funding from the DOE, particularly given the critical work currently being performed at Jennings to optimize our cellulosic process,” said Carlos A. Riva, President and Chief Executive Officer at Verenium. “I believe this award demonstrates further the DOE’s support for our technology and commitment to developing a cellulosic ethanol supply industry.”

The Company plans to use the additional funds to support on-going cellulosic technology and process optimization at its Jennings, LA demonstration facility.

Full Press Release

The systems could benefit companies who want to use alternative fuels in their fleets, potentially save money and simplify their supply chains, but face challenges with the limited availability.

Dallas-based Allard Research and Development LLC unveiled the mini refineries capable of producing 100, 200, 500 or 1,000 gallons of ethanol per day, depending on the model. The systems are available in either automated or manual versions.

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POET Biorefining – Bingham Lake (Minn.) has eliminated water discharge through new technology, making its process for producing ethanol even more efficient.

The Bingham Lake facility already used less water than the industry average. The 35 million-gallons-per-year-plant on average used 3.42 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol. With zero-liquid discharge, that is cut by 23 percent, to an estimated 2.64 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol.

“This process is yet another way POET is working to continue making ethanol production more efficient,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said. “Zero-liquid discharge technology benefits the plant, the community and all the area water users.”

Zero-liquid discharge means no water will be discharged into the environment. Water leaving the plant is limited to steam and the water content present in POET products such as Dakota Gold dried distillers grain.

POET plants on average use 3 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol. Besides the Bingham Lake facility, several other POET plants use creative and innovative ways to cut water use. At POET Biorefining – Corning, Iowa, most of the water used in the cooling process is obtained from the Corning Waste Water Treatment Plant. One hundred percent of the water at POET Biorefining – Portland, Ind. is recycled from a nearby quarry. POET Biorefining – Big Stone, S.D. gets 80 percent of its water from the cooling ponds of an adjacent power plant and discharges it back to the power plant.

Ethanol, like most other industries, uses water in the production process. Plants in Minnesota used about 4 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of ethanol in 2006. That’s a water efficiency improvement of 30 percent since 1998, according to a December study by the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board titled “Managing for Water Sustainability.”

About POET
POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, is a leader in biorefining through its efficient, vertically integrated approach to production. The 20-year-old company produces more than 1.54 billion gallons of ethanol annually from 26 production facilities nationwide. POET recently started up a pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, which uses corn cobs as feedstock, and will commercialize the process in 2011. For more information, visit www.poet.com.