Biomass News

UK timber frame manufacturer SO Modular has installed new machinery at its facility in South Wales, including production lines, a treatment tank and a biomass boiler. The development of the facility in Neath began in April 2020 and is set to open at the end of the summer. Once completed, with all the new machinery installed and running, the site will immediately be able to expand from its…
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Australian firm Sweetman Biomass (SBM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sweetman Renewables, has signed a waste biomass supply agreement with a ‘leading Japanese conglomerate’. The 20-year binding supply agreement will secure the supply of waste biomass to help power Japan with renewable fuel. SBM will export 60,000 tonnes per annum of green woodchip to a power plant near Kitakyushu, Japan.…
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Apollo Global Management, together with its consolidated subsidiaries (Apollo), will acquire a majority stake in pellet producer AS Graanul Invest. With funds managed by Apollo’s affiliates, the company has agreed to invest in the largest producer of sustainable wood pellets in Europe, and one of the largest producers globally. Since its inception in 2003, Graanul has pioneered some of…
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Work is underway at Drax Power Station to upgrade one of its turbines to help drive down the cost of biomass power generation. Over the next four months, more than 1,000 contractors will work ‘around the clock’ to boost the performance of one of the station’s four biomass units and improve its efficiency. The work will include installing a new high-pressure turbine barrel, new…
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Low-carbon energy firm Clean Energy Technologies (CETY) will co-develop a $15 million (€12.6 million) renewable energy processing facility with Ashfield Ag Resources in Massachusetts, US. The facility will use Heat Recovery Solutions' ‘revolutionary’ high-temperature ablative fast pyrolysis reactor (HTAP Biomass Reactor). The Ashfield facility will convert around 10,000 tons per year of…
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Due to the ongoing situation surrounding the pandemic, we have decided to postpone the joint International Biogas Congress & Expo, International Biomass Congress & Expo, and Biofuels International Conference & Expo event to March 2022. “The safety and wellbeing of our attendees is of paramount importance to us,” said Peter Patterson, managing director of Woodcote…
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Sweetman Renewables is targeting the biomass and green hydrogen sectors with a $4 million (€2.48 million) pre-IPO capital raising ahead of its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) later this year. Unlike most proposed new entrants to the ASX, Sweetman has a ‘massive advantage’ in the form of a profitable 100-year-old sawmill business that has long-term off-take contracts in…
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East Fraser Fiber Company (EFF) has received close to $615,000 (€413,000) from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) to recover low-quality fibre. The funding is helping to support jobs in Mackenzie, BC, and recover close to 30,000 cubic metres (m3) of low-quality fibre that would otherwise not have been used. Extracting as much useable fibre from a block and not burning it at the…
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Enviva has reported strong quarterly results and shared an update on its plant expansion projects in the US South. The company reported a net revenue of $285 million (€239 million) in Q2 2021, a 70% increase compared to the same period in 2020. With the commissioning and expansion of pellet facilities in the US underway, Enviva’s chairman and CEO, John Keppler, said the firm is…
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UK gas distribution company SGN has partnered with Vital Energi to develop low- and zero-carbon heat networks. Under the ‘ground-breaking’ 50:50 joint venture, SGN and renewable energy solutions provider Vital Energi will develop, own and operate low- and zero-carbon heat networks. The joint venture will create an Energy Services Company, representing the UK’s leaders in utility…
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Drax Group has cut the carbon emissions from its power generation by over 90% in less than a decade, the company reported in its half-year results. With this reduction, Drax has become one of Europe’s lowest-carbon intensity power generators, moving it closer to achieving its ambition to be carbon negative by 2030. Formerly the largest coal power station in Western Europe, Drax has this…
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Following the opening of Fonterra’s wood pellet boiler at its Te Awamutu site, the dairy cooperative revealed plans to convert another of its sites from coal to biomass. Fonterra, a multinational dairy cooperative based in New Zealand, officially opened Te Awamutu’s pellet boiler facility with the Minister for Energy and Resources, Dr Megan Woods. At the same time, plans were revealed to…
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Network Rail has started essential work on a £2.1 million (€2.4 million) project to repair a bridge in North Yorkshire, UK, used by Drax. The track over Aire Bridge is used exclusively by freight services travelling to and from Drax Power Station, which supplies around 11% of the UK’s renewable electricity, and must be replaced so that services can continue to run reliably. Network…
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The UK Government could further delay the long-awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy, limiting the renewable heat sector’s routes to market. Responding to the news, the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) expressed its disappointment, stressing that the sector cannot afford any more delays. The REA said the government must urgently address the large policy gap for…
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