Biomass News

A major UK pension pool has invested £40 million (€44 million) in Sleaford Renewable Energy Plant, a straw-fired biomass plant in Lincolnshire. The transaction by Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, based in Leeds, marks its first co-investment made with Greencoat Capital, one of the UK’s largest investors in resource-efficient and renewable energy, for a minority stake in 39 MWe…
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KPA Unicon and Sokol Timber Company have signed a turnkey delivery agreement for the design and construction of a biomass boiler plant in the city of Sokol, Russia. The capacity of the Unicon Biograte steam boiler is 20 terawatt-hours. It will generate steam for the sawmill’s process using bark biomass as fuel, which is produced as a waste stream – approximately 60,000 cubic metres…
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Bruks Siwertell has been contracted to replace an existing wood chipper with a new, higher-capacity model, to enhance operations for Polish firm, Paged. Due for delivery in early 2021, the drum chipper will be used to process veneer production waste and feed the biomass boiler at Paged’s veneer and plywood production facility in Pisz, northeast Poland. The new model will increase…
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‘Cutting-edge’ green energy technologies in the UK’s Humber region could create tens of thousands of jobs, boost skills, and transform the area’s fortunes in the face of economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report. The report from Vivid Economics was commissioned by Drax Group, a founding member of the Zero Carbon Humber partnership, to evaluate the…
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Burning wood is ‘significantly’ more climate-friendly than coal and ‘slightly’ more climate-friendly than natural gas in the long-run, according to a new report. The analysis by the University of Copenhagen saw researchers quantify what the conversion of 10 Danish co-generation plants from coal or natural gas to biomass has meant for their greenhouse gas emissions. A conversion to…
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Spanish firm Duro Felguera has won a new contract for the operation and maintenance of the ENCE biomass plant in Huelva, Andalusia. Duro Felguera, which specialises in the delivery of turnkey projects and the provision of specialised services in the energy mining and handling, and oil & gas sectors, will be in charge of the operation and maintenance of ENCE’s 50 MW biomass plant in…
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Samoa has opened a biomass gasification plant - the first of its kind in the region. The $11.3 million Tala (€3.69 million) facility will produce 5 million kWh of electricity annually based on running the 750 kW plant at 85% of its capacity, 90% of the time. Afolau Biomass Gasification Power Plant will use wood chips, as well as weeds and invasive species like tamaligi, puluvao, coconut…
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UK biomass heat leaders have welcomed the government’s decision to extend the non-domestic renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme. The UK Government and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will extend the non-domestic RHI for a further 12 months from March 2021. Representatives from the UK Pellet Council and Biomass Heat Works! are ‘fully supportive’ of…
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With woodchip biomass in greater demand, the Energy Crops Consultancy (ECC) has acquired a New Holland self-propelled Forage Harvester from Lloyd in Carlisle, UK. The machine has been fortified with extra protection and fitted with New Holland’s purpose-built compact FB103 coppice header for its use in ‘meticulously’ harvesting renewable energy crops, such as SRC willow and poplar wood…
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Chiyoda Corporation has completed the EPC operations contracted with Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions (Toshiba ESS) for a large-scale carbon capture facility at a biomass plant in Japan. The new bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) facility has been established at Mikawa Power Plant, which utilises palm kernel shells and has a capacity of 50,000 kW. The plant is to be…
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The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IndianOil’s Research and Development (R&D) Centre have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop and demonstrate biomass gasification-based hydrogen generation technology for producing affordable fuel cell-grade hydrogen. Under the MoU, IISc and IndianOil will work on the optimisation of biomass gasification and hydrogen purification…
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An international research team has sequenced the full genome of an ornamental variety of miscanthus, a wild perennial grass emerging as a prime candidate for sustainable bioenergy crops. The genome project, led by scientists at the Centre for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), a US Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centre, provides a ‘roadmap’ for researchers…
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Drax Group has teamed up with non-profit organisation, the Earthworm Foundation, on an evidence-based tool to measure and evaluate the health of a forest. The new tool, known as Healthy Forest Landscapes (HFL) will ensure that working forests continue to benefit the communities that rely on them, as well as the environment, amid increasing demand for sustainable wood products across a range of…
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Enviva has released its inaugural Corporate Sustainability Report, outlining the firm’s commitment to sustainable wood bioenergy. The report focuses on three key topics that define Enviva’s mission: people, forests, and climate change. It highlights the progress the company has made to help landowners in the US Southeast keep and use generational forestland, address climate change by…
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