Major US energy player to invest in NTR joint venture

A New York-listed alternative energy player is to invest €3.8 million in Irish utility NTR's joint venture in the US.

Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings plans to invest $5 million (€3.8 million) in Indiana Bio-energy, one of two biofuel production facilities that NTR's subsidiary Bioverda is developing jointly with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin at a cost of €260 million.

Aventine is a major player in the US, where it processes corn, rapeseed and other crops to produce ethanol, which is used to produce renewable fuels like biodiesel.

It is listed on New York's Nasdaq, the stock market associated with companies specialising in new and emerging technologies, and has a market capitalisation of $1 billion.

Aventine yesterday reported that it made profits in 2006 of $55 million, double the surplus it recorded a year earlier. It had revenues of $429 million.

NTR confirmed yesterday that the investment was going ahead. It would not disclose what share of the business Aventine would get.

The US company already has a distribution and marketing structure in place, and will distribute the fuel produced in Indiana.

Virgin Bioverda is also building a facility in Tennesse. The partners hold a majority stake in both operations, with smaller stakes held by their suppliers.

The facilities will each produce 100 million gallons of ethanol a year. NTR says the US is using four billion gallons of the substance a year, and this is set to increase to 10 billion by 2010 as mandatory quotas laid down by the US government are met.

NTR set up Bioverda last year to exploit what it sees as a growing market. The company is building two rapeseed processing plants in Germany, and has plans for facilities in this country.

This week the Government announced that it was buying out NTR's interest in Dublin's West Link toll bridge on the M50 for €600 million.

The company began as a toll road operator but has since expanded into waste management and energy.