Biomass News

In Scotland, Scot Heat and Power and Cochran have signed a joint agreement for the development of industrial biomass projects. Scot Heat and Power is one of Scotland's largest independent suppliers of biomass fuel stock, including woodchips and pellets, while Cochran is a supplier of industrial steam and hot-water boiler plants. Together the two companies will be able to target a wider market and…
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In Texas, US, Gemma Power Systems, an EPC company and wholly owned subsidiary of Argan, has finished building the East Texas Electric Cooperative (ETEC) Woodville Renewable Power Project, three months ahead of schedule. The 49.9MW biomass in Woodville has now completed testing and been turned over to ETEC for commercial operation. 'The Gemma team worked in close partnership with our customer ETEC…
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Harvest Power, a North American-based company dedicated to converting organic waste into clean energy, has announced a $20 million (€15.8 million) financing round. The lead investors were True North Venture Partners, Industry Ventures, and Generation Investment Management. This financing will allow Harvest to accelerate development of new opportunities in the clean energy space with its…
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Ireland's electricity utility Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed a loan facility for €100 million. The funds will be used for continued investment in the electricity network in the south west region of Ireland to connect renewable energy to the national transmission network. This is the second part of a total loan facility of €200 million…
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The Gainesville Renewable Energy Center (GREC), a 102.5MW biomass-fired power plant in Florida, US has received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. The certification affirms that GREC's purchase procedures for its waste wood fuels conform to the FSC Chain of Custody standard. It is the first power generation facility ever to receive this certification. The certification assessment was…
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Renewable fuels company BlueFire Renewables has received a letter of intent (LOI) from the Export Import Bank of China (China EXIM) to provide up to $270 million (€212.7 million) in debt financing for its bioenergy project in Fulton, Mississippi. 'There are significant opportunities for replicating the BlueFire Fulton size or larger facilities in China and the US to deal with problematic…
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The Allendale, South Carolina joint venture project between Vega Biofuels and Agri-Tech Producers – ATP-SC – has been awarded a $200,000 (€157,000) Value-Added Producer Grant from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Vega entered into the JV to build and operate a 'biocoal' production plant in the US state of South Carolina. Feedstock for the plant will be timber waste and…
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NexSteppe, a seed company developing crops for the biofuels, biopower and bio-based industries, has raised $22 million (€17 million) in its third round of funding. The company will use the proceeds from the round to continue to improve its Palo Alto biomass sorghum and Malibu sweet sorghum product lines, already available to customers in Brazil and the US. It will also help launch additional…
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In Brazil, Solvay has opened its first fully dedicated Industrial Biotechnology Laboratory (IBL) to boost the development of innovations and solutions based on sustainable chemistry, used in a growing range of end-markets. The fully integrated laboratory in Paulinia will chiefly focus on researching new processes and molecules derived from biomass, which is mostly plant or vegetable based and…
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Renewable energy producer ReEnergy Black River has been awarded a 20-year contract by the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to supply renewable energy to the Fort Drum army base in New York. This contract is the largest renewable energy project in the history of the US Army. The federal government is increasing its demand for long-term renewable energy as a result of renewable goals established…
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RWE Innogy and Fri-El Green Power have concluded the transfer of RWE Innogy's 80% stake in Enna, a biomass power plant based in Sicily, Italy, to Fri-El. The deal includes the respective biomass harvesting and forest management activities. RWE Innogy Italia, with an 80% share in the power plant, and Fri-El, with a 20% share, were the sole parties in the joint venture following RWE Innogy's recent…
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DNC Energy, an environmental firm focused on building renewable energy infrastructure, has received major funding through a bond programme to build a waste wood and crop residue fired biomass electric generation plant in Ukraine's Kyiv region. The 25MW facility is the thirteenth biomass plant to be built in Ukraine, which currently has six burning biomass plants and seven biogas anaerobic…
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A new public-private partnership led by Clemson University and a worldwide biomass and bioenergy producer will research the use of crops that can both open new markets for South Carolina, US landowners and support the growing global demand for renewable energy. In forming the Carolina Energy Crop Alliance, Abengoa Energy Crops has committed more than $1 million (€900,000) annually to support…
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JFE Holding's Engineering unit will build a 50MW biomass plant for Erex in Oita prefecture, southwestern Japan. The plant will use palm kernel shells and coal as fuel. Production at the facility is expected to begin late 2016.
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