A four-year-old Orono technology company has won a nearly $500,000 boost from a federal grant program to help bring its innovative filtration technology to the commercial market. It's a technology that company President Susan MacKay says could revolutionize the nation's biofuels industry.

Last month, Zeomatrix received a $489,645 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation for its Z-SEP product, a ceramic filtration device for processing and separating fuel from biomass. The SBIR grant program helps cutting-edge R&D companies bring their products to market. The two-year award is the second round of funding Zeomatrix has received from the foundation, building off $120,000 the company already won for a feasibility study on the technology.

Chris Sauer, left, CEO of Ocean Renewable Power Co., and Chris Higgins, president of Stillwater Metalworks, stand in front of a frame for a tidal turbine unitA local metalworking company, of all things, has become part of an effort to make Maine a national leader in tidal ocean energy.

Stillwater Metalworks in Bangor has teamed up with Ocean Renewable Power Co. of Portland to deploy a turbine unit off the coast of Eastport that will be the largest ocean energy device ever submerged in U.S. waters. The eight-employee firm assembled and fabricated steel components for a 46-foot-wide support structure for the installation, unveiled this afternoon at its Florida Avenue facility.

A public-private partnership has been awarded a $25.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to expand broadband access in Maine.  The project, called the Three Ring Binder, will create an 1,100 mile fiber optic network consisting of three redundant loops covering northern, eastern and western Maine.  

The network will pass through more than 100 communities, allowing telecommunications providers to connect small businesses and home to the network.  It will be privately owned and operated.

The project also presents a unique opportunity to create data centers in the place or alongside Maine’s traditional industry mills.  These mills often have onsite electricity and cooling, which are key needs for data centers.  Now, data centers can be located in rural Maine with high-speed connectivity to the rest of the U.S. to the south and to Canada and Europe to the north.

Great Works Internet of Biddeford is leading the project, with partners in other telecommunications companies as well as the University of Maine System and other non-profit entities. The grant, one of 18 projects funded nationwide through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will be supplemented by nearly $7 million in private investment.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visited Bangor in December to announce the award.  He stressed the project’s importance to economic development, research and development, education and health care.

A local metalworking company, of all things, has become part of an effort to make Maine a national leader in tidal ocean energy.
Stillwater Metalworks in Bangor has teamed up with Ocean Renewable Power Co. of Portland to deploy a turbine unit off the coast of Eastport that will be the largest ocean energy device ever submerged in U.S. waters. The eight-employee firm assembled and fabricated steel components for a 46-foot-wide support structure for the installation, unveiled this afternoon at its Florida Avenue facility.

"It's so different than anything we've ever worked on before," says Stillwater President Chris Higgins, adding that tidal energy projects will represent a significant part of the company's future business. "This really opens the doors."
Harbor Technologies of Brunswick manufactured composite components for the frame.
Today's unveiling marks a final step leading to a major milestone for ORPC slated next month. The company will submerge the device -- comprised of a 10,000-pound electric generator flanked by yet-to-be installed hydrokinetic turbines -- early next month in Cobscook Bay. With a capacity of 60 kilowatts, and drawing energy from tides that rise upwards of 20 feet twice a day, the unit will be the largest of its kind ever in U.S. waters, according to ORPC.

"This is a huge deal," says Chris Sauer, ORPC's CEO. "We'll really establish Eastport as the tidal energy center of the U.S."
ORPC began testing a prototype of the turbine off the coast in late 2007. If all goes well during a two-month testing phase of its latest design, during which the Eastport Coast Guard station will draw electricity from the device, ORPC plans to have a commercial-scale tidal generator unit connected to the electric grid by the end of the year. Sauer hopes to have 200 megawatts of capacity installed by 2015.

The Portland firm has also teamed up with US Windblade and Custom Composite Technologies in Bath, as well as the University of Maine, Maine Maritime Academy and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

Bangor's Stillwater Metalworks, founded in 2002 under BanAir Corp.'s business incubator program, has proven itself adaptive and well suited to work with ORPC far into the future, according to Sauer. "These are not off-the-shelf components, obviously," he says. "This is new technology."

BY JACKIE FARWELL
Mainebiz Staff Reporter

 
©2010 New England Business Media

Bangor ranked number 23 among Money Magazine’s Best Places to Retire, one of only three northeastern cities to make the cut. The city’s much older population, small town atmosphere and wide variety of activities for seniors were among the top reasons why the magazine’s editors chose Bangor.  The two others were Philadelphia, ranked No. 10, and Providence, R.I., which came in at No. 17, according to the article, which can be seen on the magazine’s Web site.

The profile also noted that the region in which Bangor is located “has four distinct seasons, and outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy snowmobiling and cross-country skiing in the winter and switch to golfing, fishing and hiking when the weather turns. Acadia National Park and Baxter State Park are about 90 minutes away, but there are 30 parks in Bangor. The City Forest comprises 650 acres with 5 miles of biking and cross-country trails.

The profile doesn’t, however, mention that Greater Bangor has a wide range of amenities that retirees might be drawn to. These include two major hospitals, the Hammond Street Senior Center, a public bus system, a number of assisted living and senior housing facilities and several educational institutions, to name a few.

The magazine looked at nearly 2,000 communities before coming up with its list of the top 25 places to retire. Selection factors included tax rates, recreational opportunities, medical care, arts and culture, housing costs, income and age ranges, job growth, fastest and slowest commutes, weather, air cleanliness and statistics regarding rich singles.

Good news for Bangor International Airport came from Allegiant Air as it announced that it will expand its service at BIA through a twice-weekly non-stop service between Bangor and the Tampa Bay area. The new route started on November 20 at an introductory rate of $89.99.

Forbes magazine recently issued its list of the 20 best franchises in the nation. So who made it in? Bangor franchise Coffee News ranked 18th with a worldwide circulation of 7 million readers.  

Coffee News has 725 franchises in the United States, including 29 in Maine from Kittery to Caribou, Buckley says. It claims a worldwide weekly readership of 7 million, and Buckley estimates about 200,000 per week in Maine. The operation charges $8,000 for the first franchise and $5,500 for subsequent franchises. With recent declines in home equity loans, home values and available credit, Coffee News is for the first time working with outside lenders to finance new franchises, including a local bank that may soon finance franchises nationwide, Buckley says.

Though recognized several times over the years by Entrepreneur magazine, Coffee News has earned its first-ever recognition from Forbes, a fact Buckley attributes to the glossy magazine's recent effort to attract franchisers to its ad base. "We're just flabbergasted," he told Mainebiz. "Not that we think we didn't deserve it. We didn't think people would notice. We're a niche publication; we're not The Wall Street Journal."

The Air National Guard base in Bangor is expected to construct a $28 million hangar as part of the President’s new budget. The hangar will provide space for crews to do scheduled maintenance checks on the bases 10 KC 135 aircraft. These aircraft perform aerial refueling with other planes.

Orono Spectral Solutions was incorporated in August 2004 for the purpose of advancing and commercializing chemical and biological agent detection research and they moved to an existing Stillwater building in Old Town in early 2008.  Dean Smith, Luke Doucette and Carl Tripp head up this innovative organization and have worked diligent to secure the company’s strategic plan.

According to their website, OSS is a small, high tech company that is supported through Department of Defense contracts.  They develop innovative, absorbant materials and sampling methods which enable trace level detection of chemical and biological agents in both air and water.

Most recently, OSS has developed an improved method for detecting petroleum hydrocarbons in industrial waste and produced water.  This company’s property is assessed at $298,600 into this facility and currently employs 8 people.

The City thanks OSS for expanding into Old Town. Their lead may pave the way for more technology based firms to locate in the City all within reach of the R & D offered at the University of Maine.

A local contractor is constructing the Maine Army National Guard’s new $18 million regional training center on Hildreth Street in Bangor. The 47,000 square foot facility will include a 144 seat auditorium, a maintenance training bay, gymnasium classrooms and multipurpose space.