The UK’s Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) has published a new standard for the maintenance of biomass boilers. The publication follows months of industry engagement to design this new standard to help improve the air quality of emissions from biomass boilers. The standard was commissioned following the UK Government’s Clean Air Strategy 2018, Urban... [Read More]

Drax has agreed to acquire a 20% minority interest in Alabama Pellets, the joint venture (JV) which owns the Demopolis and Aliceville pellet plants, increasing its total interest in the firm to 90%. Drax will acquire the stake from The Westervelt Company for $29.7 million (€25 million) cash consideration. The move, expected to be completed in July, will increase its... [Read More]

ReGenerate Energy Holdings (ReGenerate) has completed the acquisition of Albany Green Energy (AGE), a biomass heat and power facility in Albany, Georgia. Regenerate, the recently formed joint venture (JV) between Ember Infrastructure and ReEnergy Biomass Operations, acquired the plant from a subsidiary of Exelon Generation Company. The AGE facility uses woody biomass... [Read More]

Global action to deliver negative emissions technologies is falling far short of what is required to address the climate crisis, a new study has warned. Research by the newly-formed Coalition for Negative Emissions, conducted with knowledge and analytical support from McKinsey & Company, states that to limit global warming to 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels as... [Read More]

Australian firm Sweetman Renewables is in advanced negotiations with forest and plantation owners regarding the supply of biomass residues. Sweetman, based in New South Wales, has attracted “strong interest” from sawmills keen to provide the company with plenty of biomass to produce domestic renewable energy, including green hydrogen and for export, according to... [Read More]

PIC Group has been awarded the operation and maintenance (O&M) agreement for the Eagle Valley Clean Energy Biomass plant in Gypsym, Colorado, by Eagle Valley Clean Energy. Under the terms of the $8 million (€6.7 million) O&M agreement, PIC Group, a global power and energy service provider, will provide a standards-based approach to O&M services, along... [Read More]

A simple tool that allows users to calculate how much bioenergy they can produce from biomass is being launched by UK researchers. The easy-to-use tool - Bioenergy Mass-Energy Balance Model - developed by researchers from the Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI) at Aston University allows the user to experiment virtually with different biomass materials... [Read More]

The Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) has urged the UK Government to recognise the value that waste wood biomass adds to the UK’s efforts to decarbonise when developing its Biomass Strategy 2022. In its response to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) call for evidence consultation, the WRA stressed that there is a limit to the... [Read More]

Delta Biofuel has shared proposals for a $70 million (€58.8 million) biomass fuel pellet facility in Louisiana, US. Governor John Bel Edwards and Delta Biofuel’s CEO Philip Keating announced that the company is evaluating Iberia Parish in Louisiana for the planned renewable fuel plant. The facility would produce biomass fuel pellet made from residual sugarcane fibre,... [Read More]

Mercer Celgar, a pulp and paper mill in British Columbia, is working to facilitate and increase fibre utilisation with help from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC). The company, which also produces bioenergy to power its operations and serve homes in the area, is working in the Kootenay-Boundary Forest Region with $3 million in funding from FESBC. The funding... [Read More]

Dutch wood pellet imports reached a new high in 2020, totalling $511 million (€427 million), or 2.76 million metric tons (MMT). Figures released by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service on 26 April showed the US was the leading non-EU supplier of pellets to the Netherlands in 2020. The report shows the current share... [Read More]

Woodsure, the UK quality assurance certification scheme for woodfuel, will take over the running of the government’s Biomass Suppliers List (BSL), on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The BSL is a list of woodfuel that meets the eligibility requirements for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. It allows RHI participants... [Read More]

US Senators have written to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging the Biden Administration to support the biomass industry. In a bipartisan letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Susan Collins, among others, call for the US Government to address ‘languishing applications’ under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) programme,... [Read More]

UK construction products distributor Artex has received £300,000 (€349,000) to install a biomass heating system. The company, which forms part of the Saint-Gobain Group and is based in Nottinghamshire, was chosen as a recipient of Saint-Gobain’s INVEST Carbon Fund, one of two carbon funds available to businesses and employees to suggest ways in which carbon can... [Read More]

AC Energy Corp has divested of biomass power companies in Negros, the Philippines, to focus on expanding its solar and wind portfolio. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, The Philippine Star reported, AC Energy said its joint venture with the Zabaleta Group, Negros Island Biomass Holdings, signed binding agreements to divest its shareholdings in three... [Read More]