Biomass News

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), the fifth largest energy producer in Florida, has switched to burning biomass in the aftermath of a mechanical failure at the company’s Deerhaven coal plant. The fuel swap had already been in the plans earlier due to a previous breakdown, but the Deerhaven incident caused the company to hurry the decision along. But the change has been controversial in…
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EnMass Energy, a US-based green biomass start-up founded in 2015, is commencing its first large-scale biomass energy development project. EnMass, headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, takes crop waste and turns it into clean and sustainable electricity for rural communities, helping them reduce energy poverty and mitigating climate change.   Pakistan possesses significant biomass…
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The state of Punjab in India has the potential to generate 2GW of electrical power from biomass alone, a state secretary says. According to Anirudh Tewari, principal secretary for industries, commerce, and renewable energy in the Government of Punjab, biomass is an important part of the northern Indian state’s energy market. “One area of renewable energy which Punjab is concentrating…
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The European Commission (EC) has approved support for a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Vilnius, Lithuania, under EU state aid rules. The project will be financed by the European Investment Bank through the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), along with state aid granted by Lithuania. "The Lithuanian project to build a CHP plant in Vilnius is a good example of the Juncker…
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In the US, California State Legislature has passes a bill that is expected to help the state’s ailing biomass facilities by setting a mandate for wood waste-based energy production. The bill, which is expected to be signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown by 30 September, requires the state's largest utilities to get 125MW of biomass power from dead trees in high hazard forested zones. The…
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UK energy and environmental investment company Newbridge Energy will install three wood chip-fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) units in northern Wales. The move comes after the company reported receiving a "multi-million pound" investment from Iona Capital. The three units, to be situated in the town of Ruthin, will have a combined capacity of 3MWe and 12MWh, and they are expected to come…
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Testing will begin at a 20.2MW Northwest England biomass power plant, which is expected to start commercial operation in April 2017, developers say. The 147,000 tonnes-per-year capacity waste wood biomass facility is being developed within the 180-acre Mersey Multimodal Gateway project – a logistics hub to the west of Liverpool – by Danish firm Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian…
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The upsurge in the consumption of fuel derived from biomass, wood, and waste heat is likely to boost the installation of combined heat and power (CHP) across the globe. Transparency Market Research (TMR) forecasts the global CHP installation market to exhibit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.38% between 2014 and 2024. The prospects for CHP installations have improved globally in response…
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Finland’s export credit agency Finnvera will contribute £100 million (€120m) to the funding of the planned Teesside biomass plant in the UK. Finnvera is the second Finnish player pitching into the project, as the circulating fluidised bed boiler and the flue gas cleaning system are delivered by Amec Foster Wheeler Energia.  The construction of the world’s largest…
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Finnish technology developer Valmet and Danish energy utility Hofor Energiproduktion have signed a contract regarding delivery of a biomass-fired boiler plant and related biofuel storage and conveyor systems. The equipment will be delivered to Hofor's new Amagerværket heat and power plant in Copenhagen. The order is included in Valmet's third quarter 2016 orders received and it is valued at…
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UK-based renewable heat specialist Scot Heat & Power has announced that it is ramping up its entry into the Cumbrian market. According to the firm, it is one of just three UK companies to offer ElectraTherm’s innovative Power+ Generator, which is a US-produced generator that utilises biomass for efficient clean energy production. Scot Heat & Power, has been established since 2010…
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Conventional and advanced biomass gasification is a promising and economically beneficial technology, according to a new study by a global team of researchers. A new review paper published in journal Energy & Environmental Science presents a case for biomass gasification as a promising, viable and economically beneficial technology for fuel and energy. Until recently, very few…
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Japanese energy supplier Erex Co will add more biomass power plants and expand into wind farms as it seeks to reach out to more customers following the opening up of Japan’s power-retail market, according to media reports in Bloomberg. The company currently has a 20MW operating biomass power plant in the western prefecture of Kochi and has several more biomass projects in varying stages of…
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The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, the government of Canada and the Clean Technology Fund will make a $161 million (€146.3m) joint investment in 70MW of biomass power capacity in the Philippines. In a statement, IFC said that the financing will be mobilised under the IFC-Canada Climate Change Programme and the Managed Co-Lending Portfolio…
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