News

Active Energy Group (AEG), a London Stock Exchange-listed firm and renewable energy specialist, has raised £11.57 million (€13.50m) via the issue of five-year convertible loan note to existing and new investors, with the cash set to be used to accelerate the development of the company’s CoalSwitch technology. In a statement, AEG said it plans to build the first…
Read More »

Wood pellet manufacturers in both the US and Canada are increasingly diversifying their feedstock to reduce fibre costs and take advantage of less utilised fibre sources, according to analysis by Wood Resources International. In a statement, the forest industry consulting firm said that the key fibre furnish in both countries are sawmill by-products and forest residues, together…
Read More »

A Chatham House expert has welcomed the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) contribution to the debate on whether using wood-based biomass for energy is speeding up climate warming. Rob Bailey, research director of the Energy, Environment and Resources Department at Chatham House, told Bioenergy Insight: “It's good this discussion is being had and, while I disagree…
Read More »

The European Parliament has voted to restore the recycling targets for member states set out in the original incarnation of the Circular Economy Package tabled in 2014. The votes means by 2030, at least 70% by weight of so-called municipal waste (from households and businesses) should be recycled or prepared for reuse, (ie, checked, cleaned or repaired), say MEPs. The European Commission proposed…
Read More »

Vietnam has huge potential to produce renewable energy from biomass-based sources, according to a new report for the Vietnam Energy Association (VEA). Vietnam.net reported that the VEA said that this could amount to up to 1 billion kWh in 2020 and 6 billion kWh in 2050 from waste, Vietnam.net said, with a total amount from biomass and waste of up to 9 billion kWh in 2020 and 80 kWh in…
Read More »

Finland-based energy group Fortum has announced that a joint venture to build an energy-from-waste, combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Lithuania is moving forward and construction will start in the autumn. The €160 million project, based in Kaunas, will have electricity generation capacity of 24MW and thermal capacity of about 70MW. It is a joint venture between state-owned Lietuvos…
Read More »

Italy-based FCA Research Centre has announced that it is testing the use of sewage-based biomethane in a Fiat Panda car. The road test will take several months over 80,000km. The car was delivered to the Cap Group, a company managing water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment for the Metropolitan City of Milan, to assess - with the participation of the FCA Research Centre - the effects of…
Read More »

US-based Sandia National Laboratories is working with three industry partners to commercialise what it describes as a distributed power system that can produce cheaper, cleaner, more efficient electricity. The labs signed three-year cooperative research and development agreements with Peregrine Turbine Technologies of Wiscasset, Maine, Xdot Engineering Analysis of…
Read More »

Feminine hygiene products, incontinence pads and millions of nappies currently sent to landfill by commercial organisations and public bodies could now be turned into clean energy by a new mechanical process called Lifecycle unveiled earlier this week. Hygiene product waste is one of the largest contributors to UK landfill. According to hygiene waste disposal company PHS Group, who have spent…
Read More »

US imports of biomass-based diesel, which include biodiesel and renewable diesel, increased by 65% in 2016 to reach a record level of 916 million gallons, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Increasing Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) targets and the recently expired biodiesel blender’s tax credit were strong drivers of biomass-based diesel demand in 2016,…
Read More »

German waste to energy equipment manufacturer Steinmüller Babcock Environment has secured a contract to build the boiler and furnace unit for a new energy from waste plant in northwest Stockholm, Sweden. The company secured the deal from the Swedish subsidiary of the German utility E.ON, to supply the single-line waste to energy plant. According to Steinmüller, with a performance of 100…
Read More »

UK-based food waste recycling firm ReFood, is expanding its Widnes biogas facility by 33% with the construction of a new anaerobic digestion (AD) tank. The expansion will take the site’s processing capacity to 160,000 tonnes of food waste each year, making it one of the largest AD plants in Europe. The plant is situated between the major cities of Liverpool and Manchester and will be able…
Read More »

Plantation Energy is to re-open a wood pellet processing plant, which has been closed for the last five years, in Albany, Australia. It is set to be recommissioned due to a low Australian dollar and increased international demand, according to media reports in ABC News. Plantation Energy secured AUS$7 million (€4.96m) of funding from multinational energy company ENGIE to recommission the…
Read More »

Schmack Biogas, a Viessmann Group company, has been awarded a further contract for the construction of a biomethane plant in Sourdun in northern France. In mid-December, the French government adopted a new feed-in tariff for electricity from biogas. France is the biggest country in the EU and uses a much larger area for agriculture than Germany. The potential for biogas plants is enormous. With…
Read More »