Recently I was afforded the opportunity to chat with Mr. Riggs Eckelberry, CEO and co-founder of OriginOil, a publicly traded alternative energy company based in Southern California. According to their website, OriginOil “has developed a breakthrough energy production process for harvesting algae and cleaning up oil & gas water.”
Mr. Eckelberry and his brother Nicholas co-founded OriginOil in 2007. With experience running technology companies, Riggs (normally I would refer to him by his last name, but given that he co-founded the company with his brother, that could get confusing rather quickly) came to this venture with a background in technology, while Nicholas brought years of scientific know-how to OriginOil. In the course of our conversation, I asked Riggs about this move from technology to clean energy. He noted that in 1982 he was working in the technology space at a time when it was a nascent field, much like clean energy was when he started up OriginOil 6 years ago. This early adopter perspective has given Riggs the insider view and type of insight necessary to steer OriginOil in the relatively early days of the alternative energy boom.
Given his 30 plus year track record running companies, I was curious as to the lessons Riggs learned in the tech realm and how he saw them being applied to algal oil. As with many startups, he noted that the greatest challenges relate to scalability. However, OriginOil has placed itself in position to do just that – scale up its technology – proclaiming OriginOil open to do deals with customers.
If biofuel is to compete with crude oil, one of the biggest obstacles will undoubtedly be assimilation. Drop-in fuels of the kind that OriginOil produces represent a major step toward integration. As Riggs mentioned, scaling up to meet consumer needs will also serve as a challenge.
Riggs was quick to point out that algal oil is not reliant on freshwater, and that it performs best in brackish and slightly polluted waters. In fact, one of OriginOil’s major revenue streams comes from a proprietary technology that removes waste and impurities from water contaminated in the course of hydraulic fracturing. Much like Solazyme’s move into diversified products, OriginOil may find itself successful if it can secure multiple revenue streams and proffer itself as a leader in sustainable fuels.
