News

Plans to build the UK’s biggest anaerobic digestion plant have been put on hold following a series of protests and campaigns against it. FD Bird & Sons wants to build an anaerobic digestion plant near Beverley in East Yorkshire. The plant would create biogas through the anaerobic digestion of organic materials, turning up to 50,000 tons of food waste destined for landfill into heat and…
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A wetland centre in Horsell, UK, is combining woodland preservation with a new biomass heating system. The Heather Farm Wetland Centre in Horsell is designated as a ‘Site of Special Interest’ due to the unusual flora and fauna in the surrounding habitat. However, the fragile ecosystem is under threat as secondary woodland starts to take over. HCPS recently began the renovation of its…
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A new state aid scheme to support investments in ‘less exploited’ renewable resources, such as biogas, biomass and geothermal energy, has been approved in Romania. The new support scheme from the Romanian government applies until 2020, and has a total budget of over EUR 100,000 ($107,000). 85% of the budget comes from the European fund for regional development, 15% from the…
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A Japanese research team has revealed the oil synthesis mechanism in microalgae cells, a discovery which could aid in the development of biofuels. The amount of biomass on earth is approximately ten times the amount of energy currently consumed on the planet, and half of that biomass grows in aquatic environments, according to a University of Kobe press release. Ocean based biomass such as…
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Macquarie Bank has bought the UK’s Green Investment Bank for £2.3 billion (€2.74bn). The Green Investment Bank was set up by the UK government five years. The Treasury secures £1.7 billion through the process, with a further £600m of liabilities taken on by the Australia-based business lender. The bank was set up to fund renewable and low-carbon projects and has…
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The Pilbara region of Western Australia has long term potential for bioenergy developments and carbon farming, according to a new scientific review published by the Western Australia Department for Agriculture and Food. Covering an area of 502,000 square kilometres, the Pilbara is a large, dry, thinly populated region characterised by distinctive red earth and huge mineral deposits. At present…
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The territorial government of Yukon, Canada, has given $150,000 (EUR 140,000) in support of a First Nation community’s biomass project, according to a news release. Yukon’s Teslin Tlingit Council is currently converting ten community buildings from propane and electrical heating to biomass heating. The money from the territorial government will be used to contribute to the labour…
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Ancala Bioenergy has acquired Biogen, an operator of anaerobic digestion plants in the UK, from joint owners Bedfordia Group and Kier Group. The price for the acquisition has not been disclosed. As one of the UK’s leading owner/operators of anaerobic digestion plants, Biogen will provide independent infrastructure investment management company Ancala with a platform from which to expand…
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A delegation from Borneo’s Ministry of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development, Trade and Investment has met with several potential investors in Tokyo, Japan at a series of specially arranged meetings, according to Borneo Post Online. The meetings were with three Japanese companies that are interested in biomass to produce pellets for the Japanese and Korean markets, the website…
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Carrefour has taken a big step in its biomethane initiative, opening its first bioNGV service station. The new facility will play a part in allowing the French multinational retailer to expand its fleet of vehicles running on biomethane. By the end of 2017, Carrefour aims to have nine bioNGV service stations throughout France, enabling 200 lorries to make clean, silent deliveries to 250 urban…
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Richard Vlosky, director of Louisiana Forest Products Development Center and Crosby Land, will be speaking at Bioenergy Insight 2017. His presentation is entitled ‘Wood-based bioenergy in North America: All roads lead to pellet exports’ and he will be speaking on the second day of the conference, which will be located in Edinburgh, Scotland. Vlosky is director of the Louisiana Forest…
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Plans to create a new biomass plant in southwest Wales have been put on hold due to uncertainty over the effects the proposed facility could have on the local environment and wildlife, according to the BBC. If completed, the new biomass plant would create some 560 jobs in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire. Cypriot owned energy company Egnedol wants to invest £685 million in a new renewable…
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Environmental campaigners are staging simultaneous protests outside Drax’s annual general meeting (AGM) in York, UK, today (13 April, 2017). In a statement, Biofuelswatch said that protests were being held against what the protestors see as “Drax’s involvement in dirty energy, its contribution to climate change and deforestation, and its continued reliance on government…
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A biomass plant in Alexandria, New Hampshire, will shut down on 30 April, but local legislators hope to make the closure temporary, according to The Laconia Daily Sun. Revenue shortfalls have forced the temporary closing of the 15 megawatt plant fuelled by wood and organic materials. The closure will affect 16 local businesses and dozens of vendors and wood suppliers. Illinois based Indeck…
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