Biomass News

Sustainable Biomass Partnership has suspended PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) from issuing certificates in Canada and the U.S. for not fulfilling an SBP requirement. According to an SBP statement, PwC did not effectively correct a major non-conformity and demonstrate conformity to the SBP requirements within the required timeframe. The suspension took effect 23 January. PwC has six months to…
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A biomass site, based near Daventry, Northamptonshire, UK,  is using Heliex GenSet technology to turn the steam produced in its steam-raising biomass boiler into electricity. The Pedigree Power recycling site, operated by Silvertree and developed by Larch Group, is converting up to 25,000 tonnes of waste wood per annum into a green source of power. The company said it has also been able to…
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Alberta is in a prime position to convert its coal-burning plants to biomass fuel in order to meet its climate targets at a low cost by using existing coal-firing infrastructure. This is the argument four University of Victoria researchers are making in a Policy Options article titled: Refuelling Alberta coal plants with biomass.  "Biomass, which today accounts for only 3% of…
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Canadian pulp manufacturer Mercer International has agreed to buy one of Germany's largest sawmills and a biomass power plant. Mercer International will acquire the Friesau facility for around CAN$55.1 million (€39.7m) plus defined working capital of approximately $9 million. Mercer International did not disclose the owner of the facility in its press statement. According to Mercer, the…
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Using biomass to generate low-carbon  electricity is a flawed policy that is speeding up and not slowing down climate warming, according to a new study from Chatham House. The report is entitled ‘Woody biomass for power and heat impacts on the global climate’. The study maintains that wood is not carbon neutral and emissions from pellets are higher than coal. Subsidies for…
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The Renewable Energy Association (REA), the UK’s largest trade association for renewable heat, power and transport, has slammed the Chatham House report on wood-based biomass and labelled it “misleading”. Yesterday (23 February), a report published by Chatham House, a London-based policy institute,  stated that using wood pellets to generate low-carbon electricity is a…
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Canada-based firm Airex Energy officially inaugurated its biomass torrefaction plant, located in the La Prade industrial park in Bécancour, Quebec. The industrial-size demonstration plant, which required around CAN $10 million (€14m) in public and private investments for its design, construction, and start-up, showcases the latest trademarked biomass torrefaction technology, CarbonFX.…
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UK power giant Drax said it was reviewing its dividend policy after reporting another decline in annual profits on the back of weak energy prices, according to Reuters. As its core power production business struggled with low market prices, the company more than trebled revenue from providing back-up generation. It saw scope to grow this business significantly as rising renewable energy…
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A US, Alabama-based, company has agreed to buy a shuttered biomass plant fuelled by wood chips, from Niagara Worldwide in Maine. 42 Railroad Ave plans to reopen the plant by late June and plans to bring around 300 jobs the area. In a statement, company CEO Steven Johnson, said he plans to rebuild the turbine, activate new transmission lines and build a rotary kiln to produce more than 100 tonnes…
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US-based Rocky Mountain Power will test a new biomass fuel that may reduce the amount of coal being burned by power plants, according to a media report in Bloomberg. The Utah-headquartered utility, which is part of Pacificorp, will use a plant in Utah to test a biomass fuel made by Active Energy Group Plc, Paul Murphy, a spokesman for RMP told Bloomberg. Active Energy’s fuel,…
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Canada-based Hefler Forest Products has sold its 3.7MW biomass power plant in Middle Sackville, Nova Scotia, the first sale of its kind in Canada. The new owners, Hawthorne Capital and Katalyst Wind, are considering having a third party operate the sawmill on site.  Kevin Bromley, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner, told The Chronicle Herald the sale is the first of its kind in…
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A well-known biomass recycling plant located on the Pengarnddu Industrial Estate in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, is to be sold by online auction by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. The council has recently been successful in regaining control over the property through court action. The green energy recycling complex lies within an elevated 6.5 acre site on the busy Pengarnddu estate,…
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ILC Construction AS has placed an order worth NOK 35 million (€3.91m) with Pilum, the energy and environmental technology Group’s subsidiary Hotab Biosystems , for a turnkey subcontracting solution to deliver a heating plant to the Oslofjord Convention Centre in Stokke, Norway to provide district heating for the convention centre.   Oslofjord Convention Centre in Stokke is…
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Michael Wild, president of the  IBTC (International Biomass Torrefaction Council), gives his views on the year ahead. Right now, the question on people’s minds is what 2017 might have in store for us. Yet, what we do know is that the turn from 2016 and 2017 seems to be a kind of watershed for the torrefaction industry. For many years the industry put a lot of resources and investment…
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