云南港鑫集团是国企吗?:美国能源创新背后的中国之手

清洁能源公司阿米那电力环保技术开发(北京)有限公司(LP Amina Inc.，简称：阿米那)创始人拉塔(Will Latta)说，去年他曾试图让美国电力部门对一项新技术测试发生兴趣，该技术可减少煤燃烧产生的污染。

在遭到拒绝后，拉塔拿着自己的发明来到了中国东部产煤大县凤台，并在这里找到了迫切希望采用这项造价数百万美元技术的合作伙伴。

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拉塔说，美国对新技术测试有一种抗拒，他们不喜欢当小白鼠。拉塔今年42岁，是土生土长的迈阿密人，2007年创立了阿米那。

美国政客说，中国向国内清洁能源业给予政府补贴的不公平做法让一些美国公司无法参与竞争。在得到了白宫些许鼓励的情况下，他们就这个问题不断与中国对峙。美国太阳能板生产商Solyndra LLC则通过亲身经历让这个问题具体化。该公司从美国联邦政府那里得到了5.35亿美元的贷款担保，但却以其产品价格被中国竞争对手削弱为由提交了破产申请。

拉塔的故事一方面凸显出美国公司可从中国发展清洁能源的承诺中获益巨大，另一方面也让人质疑那种一国科技进步只能建立在损害别国利益基础上的观念。并非只有初创企业得到了来自中国的助力，像杜克能源(Duke Energy Corp.)这样的能源巨头也从中获益。

Reuters北京市中心一个烧煤的热力站，浓烟滚滚冒出。中国在清洁能源的基础设施投资方面居世界领先水平，另外，也没有几个国家会以如此高的热忱接受那些具有潜在突破性的发明。二者结合使得发明创造能够在商业上被有所开发，如若不然，这些发明可能要永远待在西方的实验室里了。

加州大学(University of California)圣地亚哥分校国际法律法规实验室(San Diego's Laboratory on International Law and Regulation)主任维克多(David Victor)说，大量技术复杂、本来不会被付诸实践的科学技术将被付诸实践。

面对美国国会的不安，奥巴马政府一边推动着日益扩大的美中清洁能源合作，一边宣传着上述说法。阿米那是将从美中清洁能源研究中心(U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center)获益的公司之一。该中心成立于2009年，目的是联手向清洁能源项目提供资金。

拉塔去年想为一项降低发电煤尘的新技术做试点。这一发明的目的是为了改善电厂的煤炭加工效率，在减少一氧化氮和二氧化氮排放方面也展示了潜力。（一氧化氮和二氧化氮具有破坏臭氧层的作用，并且有可能损害人的肺脏。）但他说，美国多家公用事业公司拒绝了他，因为改造一座电厂一般要花1,000万美元左右，它们不愿投这笔钱。

今年年初，拉塔在浙江省能源集团有限公司找到了合作伙伴。浙能集团在它位于凤台的一座电厂布置了他的发明。浙能集团没有回复置评请求。

凤台的试点证明拉塔的技术是有效的。有了这个结果，拉塔又回去找一家曾拒绝他的美国公用事业公司。这家公司终于同意在一座电厂部署拉塔的发明。拉塔以签有保密协议为由，拒绝透露这家客户的名字。

拉塔现在希望一项新工艺也能实现这样的成功。新工艺在发电的同时，还作为副产品生产出一种用于工业化学品的宝贵原料。总部位于北卡罗莱纳州夏洛特市的LP Amina说，相比传统石油工艺，这项技术可将温室气体排放量减少25%。这一工艺是跟拜耳集团(Bayer AG)子公司拜耳技术服务(Bayer Technology Services)合作开发的。

这一次拉塔想都没有想过要请美国公用事业公司来做试点。相反，他跟中国山西省控股的格盟国际能源有限公司建立了合作关系。

小型清洁能源公司被中国吸引，是因为他们可以获得丰厚的政府补贴，而且监管障碍和安全标准也低于美国。与此同时，中国公用事业公司也获得了除此以外可能无法获得的技术。格盟国际说，采取最新技术实现节能减排，始终是我们在建立合资公司时追求的目标。

但合作也有障碍，尤其是美国公众觉得，在美国失业率高企之际，美国企业却在受惠于北京的补贴、在中国创造就业岗位。拉塔与格盟国际的合资公司将在山西创建500到1,000个就业岗位。

联合国数据显示，中国去年投资498亿美元用于开发可再生能源，超过这个行业全球投资总额的三分之一。这些补贴从一个方面提高了中国清洁能源设备制造商走出去的雄心。

支持合作的人认为，在中国实现新技术的商业化，能够让新技术更快地走向市场，最终会起到在美国创造就业岗位的作用。

中国的生物燃料创新者也在研发新方法。利用炼钢过程中产生的废气制造乙醇的新西兰LanzaTech NZ Ltd.公司已经与中国两家最大的钢铁企业宝钢集团(Baosteel Group)和首钢集团(Shougang Group)设立了合资企业。

LanzaTech的首席执行长郝珍妮(Jennifer Holmgren)称，中国拥有全球最大的钢铁市场，从中国开始非常合适。LanzaTech的总部在新西兰，但在美国也设有运营机构。

该公司的一些技术是利用美国能源部(Department of Energy)和国防部高级研究计划局(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)的资金在美国研发的。乙醇生产试点项目的建设成本几乎全部由LanzaTech在中国的合作伙伴承担。

中国对清洁能源技术的研发也促使美国主要的能源企业来中国寻找新技术。

到2050年之前，由于机组老化，杜克能源(Duke Energy)需要把几乎所有的一整套发电基础设施更新换代。两年前，杜克能源与中国华能集团(China Huaneng Group)签订了第一份在中国开发清洁能源技术的协议。华能集团是中国最大的能源企业。

杜克能源首席技术长莫勒(David Mohler)问道，如果由我们自己来进行基础设施建设的话，我们真的能更快捷、更廉价、以更低的风险把清洁技术带给美洲的客户吗？中国之所以引人注目，是因为中国能够如此大规模地、如此迅捷地建设出清洁能源基础设施。

总部设在北卡罗莱纳州夏洛特的杜克能源在美国就已经认识到，推出新技术需要花费很大的成本。该公司正在印第安那州建设的一个洁净煤气化技术工厂就曾遇到过成本超支约10亿美元的情形。目前该项目已经进入了最后阶段。这家工厂将于明年开始运营，届时成本将达到29.8亿美元（不包括融资成本）。

杜克能源称，这个项目在印第安纳州创造了大约3,000个与建筑相关的工作岗位，并且在工厂开工时需要100多个全职人员。支持与中国展开合作的人士称，如果新的清洁能源技术能够更快地进入市场，美国就会创造出更多的此类工作机会。

阿米那能源环保公司(LP Amina)的拉塔(Latta)说，新建电厂需要规模非常庞大的投资，而推进研发取得最终成果，也需要非常大的投入。为什么要让某一个国家来承担这样的成本呢？

在这件事上，不能采取各自为战的策略，他说。

2011年 12月 07日 07:22 China Fuels Energy Innovation

Will Latta, the founder of clean-energy company LP Amina Inc., says he tried last year to interest U.S. power utilities in testing a new technology that reduces pollution from burning coal.

Rebuffed, he took his invention to the coal-belt city of Fengtai in eastern China, where he found a partner eager to install the multimillion-dollar technology.

'In the U.S. there's a resistance to demonstrate new technology,' says Mr. Latta, a 42-year-old Miami native who founded LP Amina in 2007. 'They don't like to be the first.'

U.S. politicians, with some encouragement from the White House, are gearing up to confront China over what they say are unfair government subsidies to its clean-energy industry that make it impossible for some U.S. companies to compete. The saga of U.S. solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC, which got a federal $535 million loan guarantee but filed for bankruptcy saying its prices were undercut by Chinese rivals, has crystallized the issue.

Mr. Latta's story underscores how U.S. companies can gain from China's commitment to clean energy and challenges the notion that technological advances by one of the countries comes at the other's expense. Start-ups aren't the only companies getting a boost from China, so have energy giants like Duke Energy Corp.

China leads the world in investment in clean-energy infrastructure, and few nations embrace potential breakthrough inventions with such zeal. That combination allows commercial development of innovations that otherwise might never make it out of labs in the West.

'A wide array of technologically complex technologies will be viable that wouldn't be viable otherwise,' says David Victor, director of the University of California at San Diego's Laboratory on International Law and Regulation.

The Obama administration trumpets that calculation as it promotes growing U.S.-China clean-tech cooperation in the face of unease from Congress. LP Amina is among the companies set to benefit from the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, which wascreated in 2009 to jointly fund clean-energy development.

Last year Mr. Latta tried to create a pilot demonstration for a new piece of technology that reduces the size of coal particles during power generation. The invention is meant to improve coal-processing efficiencies in power plants and has shown promise in cutting nitric-oxide and nitrogen-dioxide emissions, which contribute to ozone-layer depletion and can harm a person's lungs. But he says several U.S. utilities turned him away, unwilling to invest the about $10 million it costs to retrofit a typical power plant.

Early this year, Mr. Latta found a partner in Zhejiang Energy Group, which installed his invention at one of its power plants in Fengtai. Zhejiang Energy didn't respond to a request for comment.

Armed with results from Fengtai showing that his technology worked, Mr. Latta returned to one of the U.S. utilities that had turned him away. This time, the utility agreed to install the invention at a plant. Mr. Latta declined to name the customer, citing a nondisclosure agreement.

Mr. Latta now is attempting to replicate that success with a new process that simultaneously produces electricity and, as a byproduct, a valuable ingredient for industrial chemicals. LP Amina, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., says the technology reduces greenhouse-gas emissions by 25%, compared with traditional petroleum processes. The process was developed in collaboration with the Bayer Technology Services unit of Bayer AG

This time, he didn't even consider asking U.S. utilities to pilot the project. He instead forged a partnership with Gemeng International Energy Co., which is owned largely by Shanxi province, in central China.

Small clean-energy companies are attracted to China because they can get lucrative government subsidies and find fewer regulatory hurdles and safety standards than in the U.S. Chinese utilities, meanwhile, gain access to technology that otherwise might be unavailable. 'Adopting the newest technology to achieve energy savings and emissions reductions is always our pursued goal' in forming joint ventures, Gemeng said.

There are obstacles to collaboration, however, not least of which is public perception in the U.S. that American companies are benefiting from Beijing's subsidies and creating jobs in China while the U.S. struggles with high unemployment. Mr. Latta's joint venture with Gemeng will create 500 to 1,000 construction jobs in Shanxi.

China last year invested $49.8 billion in development of renewable-energy sources, more than one-third of total global investment in the sector, according to the United Nations. Such subsidies are helping bolster the global ambitions of China's clean-energy-gear manufacturers.

Proponents of collaboration argue that commercializing nascent technology in China ultimately creates U.S. jobs by bringing burgeoning technologies to market more quickly.

Biofuel innovators also are developing new methods in China. LanzaTech NZ Ltd., which uses waste from making steel to create ethanol, has joint ventures with two of China's largest steelmakers, Baosteel Group and Shougang Group.

'China has got the largest steel market in the world, so it's a natural place to start,' says Jennifer Holmgren, chief executive of LanzaTech, which is based in New Zealand but has operations in the U.S.

Some of the company's technology was developed in the U.S. with funding from the Department of Energy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which sponsors technology research for the Defense Department. LanzaTech's Chinese partners are paying nearly all construction costs for the ethanol pilot project.

The research and development of clean-energy technologies in China also has prompted major U.S. utilities to search for new technology in China.

Duke Energy, which will have to replace nearly the entire power-generating infrastructure for its aging fleet by 2050, two years ago signed its first agreement in China to explore clean-energy technology with China Huaneng Group, the country's largest utility.

'Can we actually bring clean-energy technologies to our customers in the Americas quicker, cheaper and with less risk than if we did it ourselves?' asks Chief Technology Officer David Mohler. 'What made China stand out was they were building so much clean energy infrastructure so quickly at such huge scales.'

Duke, which is based in Charlotte, N.C, has learned firsthand the high cost of launching new technology in the U.S. It is in the final stage of building a clean-coal gasification plant in Indiana that has faced roughly $1 billion in cost overruns. The plant will cost $2.98 billion, excluding financing, when it begins operation next year.

Duke says the project created roughly 3,000 construction jobs in Indiana and will require more than 100 full-time positions when the plant opens. Proponents of working with China say the U.S. could see more such jobs if new clean-energy technologies are brought to market more quickly.

New power plants 'are massive capital investments,' says LP Amina's Mr. Latta. 'To push the envelope on the R&D side, it's also a massive investment. Why should one nation shoulder that?'

'It should not be us versus them,' he says.

BRIAN SPEGELE