Biomass News

The Tasmania state government in Australia, is actively considering the use of biomass as a renewable energy source. Tasmania Minister for Resources Paul Harriss said that due to recent unprecedented events, including the failure of the Basslink, which is the world’s second longest undersea electricity cable, and low rainfall, the government is now considering the use of biomass to generate…
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Comet Biorefining will build its commercial-scale biomass-derived sugar facility in the TransAlta Energy Park in Sarnia, Ontario. The 60 million lbs/y plant will come online in 2018 producing dextrose sugar from locally-sourced corn stover and wheat straw. Corn stover consists of residues left in the field after harvest, including stalks, leaves, husks, and cobs. Using its proprietary patented…
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UK consumers could save more than £2 billion (€2.56bn) if the country’s government’s planned renewable energy auctions are opened up to include a wider mix of technologies, a new report finds. Drax, UK's largest power producer, commissioned NERA Economic Consulting and Imperial College to look at hidden costs that are not reflected in the contracts the UK government awards…
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Solar 21, an Irish renewable energy company, is set to build a 22MW biomass power plant near Hull in England. The company has acquired the project rights and is seeking to raise €60 million through a fundraising round for the scheme. The Hull plant is the first in a pipeline of five projects in partnership with energy recovery systems company Heat Recovery Solutions, Solar 21 says. The…
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IHI Corp., a Japanese heavy equipment manufacturer, will build a 49MW woody biomass power plant in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima. Construction will begin this year and the plant will start generating power by the end of 2018, the company said in a statement. The station will produce enough electricity to power 77,000 homes.  
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The European Commission (EC) has launched a consultation on the preparation of a sustainable bioenergy policy for the period after 2020. The objective is to consult stakeholders and citizens on an updated EU policy on sustainable bioenergy for the period 2020-2030, as part of the EU renewable energy package foreseen before the end of 2016. In a statement, the EC said: "Identified sustainability…
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More than 110 environmental groups across the globe have signed a declaration demanding that bioenergy be excluded from the EU's next Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The EU is considering renewal of the RED for 2020 onwards in a consultation which ended yesterday (10 February). A decision is expected by the end of the year. The RED will determine Europe's path forward on meeting its carbon…
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Construction work is due to begin on a new biomass pipeline at the planned St Andrews University biomass plant in Scotland. Located at Guardbridge, Fife, the £25 million (€32.5m) plant is being built on the site of a former paper mill. Hot water will be pumped from the plant four miles underground to provide heating to laboratories and student housing at St Andrews. The construction…
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The joint venture of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), PensionDanmark, and Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) has completed the construction of a £162 million (€233m) biomass power plant investment in the UK well ahead of schedule. The construction of the Brigg Renewable Energy Plant, the JV’s first 40MW straw-fired biomass plant contracted in August…
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Orthios, a UK sustainable energy company, is preparing to begin work on two combined food and power plants in the UK. To be located at a former Anglesey Aluminium in Wales at Holyhead, Anglesey, the £1 billion (€1.3bn) Orthios Eco Park will process waste wood to produce 299MW of electricity, enough to power 300,000 homes. The heat produced during power generation process will be used…
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Danish Babcock & Wilcox Vølund (BWV), a subsidiary of the US-based Babcock & Wilcox, has been awarded a $90 million (€82.5m) contract for constructing a bioenergy plant in the UK The contract to design, manufacture, and build the waste-to-energy plant near Haresfield, Gloucestershire, was awarded by a joint venture of Urbased and Balfour Beatty. The facility will treat…
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Bioenergy France 3, the French arm of Spanish biofuels producer Ambene, has obtained permission from local officials to build a 41MW biomass-fired cogeneration plant in the south of France. According to SeeNews, the plant will be constructed in the Torremila industrial zone of Perpignan. At the end of December, the Pyrenees-Orientales prefecture gave the green light to the €50m ($54m)…
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Construction work has officially begun at Glennmont Partners’ Port Clarence Renewable Energy Plant in Stockton-on-Tees, UK. Once completed, the £160 million (€220m) plant will burn 250,000 tonnes of waste wood annually to produce 40MW of combined heat and power. Commercial operations at the plant are expected to begin in 2018. The project was originally developed by Eco2 Limited…
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Local farmers will own and operate a new cooperative-style biomass business that will supply a power company on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula. The A$100 million (€65m) Yorke Biomass Energy (YBE) project, Australia’s first straw-fuelled power plant launched in September this year, has launched a cooperative-style business model that will see local biomass suppliers own and…
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