Biomass News

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 facilitates the recovery…
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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 to demonstrate to…
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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 of bioenergy generated by…
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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 biomass-fired power plants…
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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 be reduced from its…
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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, including moving forward…
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Drax Group has partnered with Phoenix BioPower, based in Sweden, to explore ways of driving down the costs of second-generation bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology. The feasibility study by Phoenix BioPower will look at how energy-efficient gas turbines could make new-build BECCS projects more cost-effective by generating 50% more power with the same amount of fuel,…
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Wood pellets and chips result in a 65-100%+ reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to heating oil, according to the Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC). The figures were highlighted in a study by the BTEC and Life Cycle Associates titled ‘Life Cycle Analysis of Renewable Fuel Standard Implementation for Thermal Pathways for Wood Pellets and Chips’. The 65-100+ reduction…
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The UK Government must ‘reassert its commitment’ to delivering a strong biomass sector, said the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA). The REA’s response welcomed the government’s recognition that biomass has a critical role to play in reaching net-zero, but said it was essential that policy gaps facing the sector are addressed. Policy gaps highlighted by the…
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HeidelbergCement will upgrade its plant in Gotland, Sweden to become the world’s first carbon-neutral cement plant. The installation at the Slite plant of HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary, Cementa, will also be scaled to capture 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 annually, covering the plant’s total emissions. Additionally, the use of bio-based fuels in the cement production at Slite will be…
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Proparco and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) have partnered to finance the first biomass plant with grid injection in Africa. During the visit to Côte d’Ivoire by Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Proparco, the private sector financing arm of Agence française de développement (AFD) Group, and EAIF closed a €165 million project finance…
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Markus Süßman is the head of special projects at German energy company, Danpower. Having studied energy engineering and worked in the bioenergy sector since 1992, Süßman certainly knows a thing or two about the industry. Danpower supplies heat, cooling, power and wood pellets to more than 250,000 homes, public institutions, and commercial customers in more than 150 municipalities. The…
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JLEN Environmental Assets Group (JLEN) has acquired a 100% equity stake in Cramlington Renewable Energy Developments (CRED), which owns a biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant in the UK. The acquisition of CRED, for an undisclosed amount, was made on a debt-free basis and represents JLEN’s first investment in a large-scale biomass CHP facility. The plant is located north-west of the…
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Active Energy Group has been awarded a ‘Notice of Allowance’ for the Canadian patent for its CoalSwitch process and the beneficiation of biomass. The Notice of Allowance will ensure AEG, based in London, holds the legal rights to exclude any other Canadian company from producing, selling, or using the claimed CoalSwitch process for 17 years after the date of issuance. AEG’s new patent…
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