Biomass News

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it will finalise the volume requirements for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), in addition to the 2017 volume requirement for biomass-based diesel, by 30 November. The following schedule has been established following a proposed consent decree in litigation brought against EPA by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the…
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HoSt, a European supplier of bioenergy systems, has received an order of €20 million from Croatian electricity company HEP to build two wood-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plants. The biomass plants will supply 3MWe of electricity to the grid. The residual heat generated will be supplied to the district heating networks in the cities of Sisak and Osijek. The design of these plants will…
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NexSteppe, a producer of sustainable feedstock solutions for the bio-based industries, sold more than 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of its Palo Alto biomass sorghums in Brazil this past growing season, compared to just over 1,000 hectares in the previous year. Just as many of the leaders of the bio-based economy have begun proving their conversion technologies at commercial scale, NexSteppe says…
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Following an order placed in March 2013, Siwertell, part of Cargotec, has delivered, installed and commissioned two Siwertell ship unloaders at ABP's port of Immingham, UK. Manufactured and assembled in Italy, the type ST790-D screw type unloaders are equipped with slewable gantry tail conveyors. They will be used to discharge wood pellets and coal to supply the Drax power station. Both types of…
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Albioma has signed final documentation relating to the acquisition of a 65% equity interest in Codora Energia, which owns a 48MW bagasse-fired cogeneration plant in the Brazilian state of Goiás. The plant, commissioned in 2011, backs onto a distillery that currently processes 1.6 million tonnes of sugarcane annually. The distillery is owned by Jalles Machado, the world's second-largest…
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Sappi Southern Africa CEO Alex Thiel has welcomed the announcement that Ngodwana Energy has been chosen as a preferred bidder in the Department of Energy's 4th window Renewable Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The Ngodwana Energy project is situated in the Mpumalanga Province on the Sappi Ngodwana Mill Site and will feed electricity into the national grid near its…
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Energia Reino Verde (ERV) has signed an agreement for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) supervision of the 12MW biomass power plant that will be co-located with the 834 hectare (2,060 acre) Giant King Grass (GKG) plantation project in Nicaragua. Viaspace owns a 50% interest in ERV, the special-purpose company that will own and operate the project. The other 50% is owned by…
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AssetGen Partners, a specialised investment fund, has signed a contract worth roughly £82 million (€110 million) with Bouygues Energies and Services for the turnkey construction of a waste-to-energy gasification plant in the Hertfordshire town of Hoddesdon, UK. Bouygues Energies and Services will be responsible for the engineering and construction of this 10MWe facility and procurement…
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Baker and McKenzie (Gaikokuho Joint Enterprise) is advising Renova and Kuni Umi Asset Management Co. (collectively the 'sponsors') on their plans to develop and invest in a woody biomass power plant with a generation capacity of 20MW in Mukaihama, Akita city, Akita, Japan. The plant will be the largest power generation facility of its kind, using woody biomass as fuel in Japan's Tohoku…
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DRT, a company working to develop rosin and turpentine extracted from pine trees, says that commissioning has begun at its biomass cogeneration power plant in Vielle-Saint-Girons, France. The cogeneration plant is being developed by Biomass Energy Solutions VSG – a venture between DRT, Cofely (GDF Suez Group) and the Caisse des Dépôts. Following a four-month testing phase, the…
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According to UNEP's ninth 'Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2015', prepared by the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Bloomberg New Energy Finance — the past year brought a rebound of green energy investments worldwide with a surge of a solid…
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Business energy company GDF Suez Energy UK has been awarded two new power purchase agreements (PPAs) – one by BWSC East Anglia (formerly ICENI Energy) and one by Templeborough Biomass Power Plant (formerly Brite Partnership (North East)). The first agreement is to buy electricity generated by the Snetterton biomass plant in Norfolk when it opens in late 2016. Operated by BWSC East Anglia…
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UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) and Irish electricity utility Electricity Supply Board (ESB) have made a combined commitment to invest £70 million (€95 million) in a new £190 million renewable power facility at the Port of Tilbury, Essex. GIB and ESB are each committing £35 million in a combination of equity and shareholder loans, with an additional £2 million…
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The Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) has launched the SBP Framework to representatives of the EU Institutions at an event in Brussels. The Framework consists of standards and independent certification procedures which together provide a tool enabling users of woody biomass for energy production to demonstrate the legal and sustainable sourcing of its feedstock material in compliance with…
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