A major biomass facility in Wales, UK is undergoing its final phase of testing with developers. Construction of Barry Biomass initially began in 2016; the operators now hope the 86,000 tonnes-per-year capacity facility will become fully operational in 2020. Developers are currently testing waste wood fuel in the form of wood chips. Once fully operational, the plant... [Read More]

US-based biofuels company Gevo has partnered with three dairy farms that will provide manure to be converted into pipeline-quality biogas or renewable natural gas (RNG). The three dairy farms expect to generate around 350,000 MMBTU of biogas per year for sale to off-takers, or to be used by Gevo’s affiliate, Agri-Energy. Through the new contracts, Gevo is hoping to... [Read More]

Danish biomass firm Linka Energy has acquired Weiss, a French company specialising in advising and servicing biomass and waste-based boilers. Weiss has previously supplied many customised energy plants using both biomass and other waste products; however, in recent “turbulent” years, it has not taken on new projects. The firm still owns all technical and design... [Read More]

Just over 1.6% of the UK’s agricultural land was used to grow bioenergy crops for use in transport fuel, electricity and biogas production in 2018. Recent statistics from the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) revealed that a total of 94,000 hectares (ha) of land were used to grow crops for bioenergy. However, the overall land area used to... [Read More]

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will provide up to $75 million (€67.4 million) over five years for research to develop sustainable energy crops that are “tolerant of environmental stress and resilient to changing environmental conditions”. According to the DOE, the research will focus on better understanding the genetic and physiological mechanisms influencing... [Read More]

A UK wood recycler has been fined £15,000 (€17,500) after investigators found it was storing nearly four times as much waste as permitted by law. The Environment Agency estimated that the firm, Red Jon, held 1,790 tonnes of wood at its site in Oxfordshire, whereas it was only permitted to store 500 tonnes in one place over a seven-day period. The piles of wood posed... [Read More]

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), a national entity for economic development aid, has allocated $105 million (€94.4 million) for eight renewable energy projects, including a biogas project. The funding forms part of the seventh cycle of its partnership with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The IRENA/ADFD facility announcement marks a record... [Read More]

Residents at a town in Staffordshire, UK are calling for an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility to be fined for causing unpleasant odours. People living outside the Biffa-owned Poplars Landfill and Anaerobic Digestion facility have complained about the smell from the site and even created a Facebook group called ‘Cannock tip – stop the stench’, which has attracted... [Read More]

Spanish renewable energy company Energia & Celulosa (Ence) has opened its new 50MW biomass plant in La Mancha, central Spain. The new facility will produce an estimated 325,000 MWh per year, providing power for around 60,000 people, and consume around 238,000 tonnes of biomass formed of pomace, vine shoots, olive leaf, woody biomass and agricultural waste. The biomass... [Read More]

US-based meat processing company Smithfield Foods is now producing renewable natural gas (RNG) from the wastewater treatment system at one of its processing facilities. Working in partnership with Duke Energy and bioenergy project developer OptimaBio, the company is producing biogas via its pork processing plant to help power more than 2,000 local homes and businesses... [Read More]

A UK wood recycling trade body is making an urgent appeal to demolition companies to take part in a wood waste sampling programme. The Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) is seeking waste wood samples from the demolition of buildings built before 2007 in a bid to avert a ‘potential crisis’ that could cost the demolition sector more than £100 million (€117 million)... [Read More]

A UK renewable energy firm is expecting around 10,000 tonnes of Christmas food waste to be delivered to its facilities in January. Severn Trent Green Power will use the unwanted food waste from approximately 1.5 million homes to create biogas and electricity, using anaerobic digestion (AD). The company has eight waste plants across the Midlands, Oxfordshire, South Wales... [Read More]

Foresight Group has acquired a 2.5MW anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Norfolk, UK. The plant processes around 40,000 tonnes of agricultural feedstock annually to produce power for sale to the grid. The facility also benefits from the associated Feed-in Tariff (FiT) income, as well as Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) revenue from on-site waste heat utilisation. Foresight... [Read More]

QUBE Renewables, a company that created flat-pack anaerobic digestion (AD) kits, is using its technology to tackle India’s air quality crisis. The company is installing 50 QUBEs (AD kits) in the paddy fields of the Punjab region to help deal with the growing air pollution problem. Crop burning in the region is estimated to make a 40% contribution to Delhi’s pollution... [Read More]

Canadian biogas firm Greenlane Renewables has won an $8.3 million (€7.4 million) biogas upgrading contract for a landfill gas to renewable natural gas (RNG) project in California, US. The company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Greenlane Biogas North America, secured the contract with the customer whose name has not yet been revealed. Engineering work... [Read More]