Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions (Toshiba ESS) announced its consolidated subsidiary held a ground-breaking ceremony on 25 October for a new biomass plant in Fukuoka Prefecture. Sigma Power’s new plant in Omuta City will be built as the Omuta No.1/No.2 power plant beside the Mikawa power plant, which is already in operation. According to Toshiba, all preparation... [Read More]

One of the largest pellet producers in Europe, Graanul Invest, has acquired Texas Pellets Inc and German Pellets Texas, collectively Texas Pellets. The wood biomass pellet manufacturer was purchased for $63 million (€56.6 million) in a deal which closed on 18 June 2019. Texas Pellets operated a 500,000 metric tonne nameplate manufacturing facility in Woodville Texas,... [Read More]

Finnish renewable energy firm KPA Unicon will supply a biomass steam boiler plant to Danone’s Nutricia spray drying facility in New Zealand. This marks the first delivery for KPA Unicon in the Oceanian market. The new steam generating plant, which will be located at Danone’s facility in New Zealand’s South Island, will have a capacity of 15MW and produce 21 tonnes... [Read More]

Ince Bio Power, the largest waste wood gasifier in the UK, has officially opened. The new facility is the UK’s largest biomass plant generating 21.5MW of electricity – enough to power 40,000 homes every year. The plant was officially opened by the Mayor of Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, northern England. It is owned by the Bioenergy Infrastructure Group (BIG) – an... [Read More]

Drax has ‘strengthened’ its biomass sustainability policy and set up an Independent Advisory Board (IAB) of scientists, academics and forestry experts. It aims to ensure the biomass it uses to generate renewable electricity meets ‘the highest standards’. In its updated policy, Drax has outlined how it will use ‘the latest science and best practice’ and work... [Read More]

Canadian firm Pinnacle Renewable Energy announced it has signed a contract with Japanese company Mitsui to supply 100,000 metric tonnes of industrial wood pellets. The long-term contract will see Pinnacle - the third-largest producer of industrial wood pellets in the world - supply the pellets beginning Q3 2023. The industrial wood pellets will be used by a biomass... [Read More]

GoodChips, the first international quality certification for wood chips and hog fuel, has secured its first certified company - UK wood fuel heating specialists, LC Energy. Bioenergy Europe’s latest certification scheme is the sister scheme of world-leading pellet certification scheme, ENplus. It has been working towards creating a more ‘transparent and harmonised’... [Read More]

The UK’s London Stansted Airport will become the first in the world to convert all its waste coffee grounds into biofuels, following a successful trial with bio-bean – the world’s largest recycler of coffee grounds – Cambridge Network has reported. Passengers at Stansted Airport create over 150 tonnes of coffee waste annually. The new partnership, which will... [Read More]

Two UK packaging firms have joined forces to create the world's first dedicated sustainable energy facility fuelled by organic waste to power the manufacture of corrugated sheet board. Scottish drinks packaging firm McLaren Packaging and Staffordshire-based printed packaging supplier Swanline Group have joined forces to create their new CorrBoard Bioenergy (CB Bio)... [Read More]

The UK Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) has welcomed the environmental pledges outlined in the Queen’s Speech to “enshrine environmental principles into law to protect and improve the environment for future generations”. The Queen announced the proposed creation of the Office for Environmental Protection to provide independent scrutiny and... [Read More]

Renewable electricity from windfarms, solar panels, biomass and hydro plants generated more electricity than fossil fuels in the third quarter of 2019. A study by UK website Carbon Brief, which aims to deliver a clear understanding of climate change, discovered that during July, August and September this year, renewables generated an estimated total of 29.5 terawatt hours... [Read More]

Finnish renewable energy company KPA Unicon will supply a biomass plant for Kemin Energia ja Vesi Oy, a local utility firm in the town of Kemi, Finland. The new woodchip-fed facility will provide district heating for the area and will serve as the main heating plant together with an existing power plant during summer and winter. Although local woodchips will be the... [Read More]

Enviva, the world’s largest producer of wood pellets, is to build a new production plant in Alabama, US. The company is expected to invest around $175 million (€159.2 million) to build the plant, which would create 85 full-time jobs and a further estimated 180 jobs in logging, transportation and local services in the state. Governor Kay Ivey joined with Enviva and... [Read More]

A Japanese firm specialising in renewable energy projects has partnered with the Butuan City Government in the Philippines to build a biomass plant. Chodai Group will work with the local government in Mindanao, an island in the southern Philippines, to build a 2.5MW biomass plant to convert rice husks into fuel. According to the Manila Bulletin, Chodai’s vice-president... [Read More]

UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Andrea Leadsom, has approved plans for Drax Power to install four new natural gas turbines at its plant in North Yorkshire, overturning a decision by the UK’s Planning Inspectorate. Drax operates a biomass and coal-fired power station in Selby and wants to build four combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs)... [Read More]