Will Latta is the founder and CEO LP Amina, a US-based energy and environmental company with focus on sustainable power generation. He speaks to Acquisition International about LP Amina and how it felt to win the Environmental Technology Deal of the Year Asia Pacific award.
LP Amina is a multinational environmental engineering company with research and development activities in the US, Europe and Asia. Established in 2007, LP Amina now has over 100 full-time employees and a vast network of site technicians working in diverse locations around the globe.
Asked about the company’s vision, Will Latta comments: “We strive to be an innovative clean energy development company with a focus on solutions that will create an environmentally sustainable and affordable energy future.” There is much to show for this claim. LP Amina of today focuses on two main areas:
1. Emission reduction and efficiency improvement solutions of existing coal-fired power plants through set of proprietary technologies. LP Amina is one of the leading providers of De-NOx solutions for power plants in China. Since opening its China office in 2008, the company has built track record of implementing advanced emission reduction solutions using cutting-edge technologies, and to date has completed over 30 projects in 11 provinces and 2 municipalities.
2. In addition to the emission reduction business, LP Amina is developing and commercializing poly-generation systems for converting coal and biomass into a wide range of chemicals parallel to power production. The poly-generation technology improves power plant’s efficiency by converting a current waste stream into a wide range of high-value industrial chemicals, significantly improving the economics and carbon footprint of the facilities.
“Since opening its China office in 2008, LP Amina has formed strong relationships with utilities, research institutes, universities and other companies, collaborating on both commercial and R&D projects. For example, LP Amina’s poly-generation technology was developed in collaboration with Bayer and has undergone rigorous proof of concept and lab testing since 2010. At the moment, in partnership with a major Chinese power producer Gemeng International Energy (GMIE), LP Amina is building its first commercial scale 50 MW demonstration facility in China.”
LP Amina has also achieved alignment with the public sector in the areas of clean energy technology development in the US and China. LP Amina is a founding member and co-chair of US-China Energy Cooperation Program (http://www.uschinaecp.org/) and US-China Clean Energy Research Consortium (http://www.us-china-cerc.org/). Both platforms have been recognized by the highest level of officials from the US and Chinese government for the advancement of clean energy.
Recently, LP Amina completed a series C funding round. Will Latta explains more about the deal including the rationale behind it:
“The Series C investment will support rapid growth of LP Amina’s core pollution control business and promote the development of several innovative clean energy technologies in China, US and other global locations. We plan to expand company’s engineering, field service and product development departments to satisfy rising customer demand and provide better technical support in China and other Asian markets. The other part of this investment will go into company’s R&D efforts, where we plan to introduce several innovative clean energy technologies in China, US and other global locations in the near future.”
LP Amina builds and maintains relationships with a select group of investors on an ongoing basis. After the company decided to pursue Series C funding, it says it took about three months to select the optimal combination of investors and another two months to complete due diligence and the legal work.
When asked about LP Amina’s plans in the next 12 months, Will Latta comments: “In the next 12 months we plan to grow our pollution control business in China and will start to introduce our technologies to other international markets. In addition to this, we will continue to focus on developing our poly-generation Technology. At LP Amina we truly believe that this technology has the potential to be industry transformational. By utilizing existing coal fired power plants we can derive high value liquid hydrocarbons, including gasoline, from upgraded coal, biomass and waste ash, for a fraction of the cost of conventional technologies,” he said
“Our first commercial demonstration is being commissioned now and is scheduled to be fully operational in 2014. The demonstration facility is a full-scale 50 MW coal plant that has been retrofitted to co-produce 100,000 barrels of synthetic crude. So in the next 12-24 months we plan to build similar demonstration facilities in U.S. and other locations, and are in the process of identifying strategic and financial partners. We are very excited about the benefits that this technology will bring to utilities and their customers globally.”
LP Amina
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