News

Boeing has completed the world's first flight using 'green diesel', a sustainable biofuel that is widely available and used in ground transportation.The airline powered its ecoDemonstrator 787 flight test airplane in December with a blend of 15% green diesel and 85% petroleum jet fuel in the left engine.'Green diesel offers a tremendous opportunity to make sustainable aviation biofuel more…
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Wood-based biofuels developer UPM and WWF Finland, a conservation organisation, have teamed-up to discuss and promote the status of wood-based liquid biofuels in Finland. The duo will create a list of joint measures to promote sustainability and will perform a scientific forest carbon impact study that looks specifically at wood-based biofuels. As a result, both will contribute to the development…
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A new terminal at Hull Port has opened that will import wood pellets to supply Drax Power Station. The Associated British Ports facility will handle millions of tonnes of wood pellets a year that have been imported from North America. Once transferred from ships to a silo, the pellets will be loaded onto specially-designed freight train wagons, and delivered to Drax Power Station in North…
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Last year, around 51,000 hectares of UK agricultural land were utilised for bioenergy crops – around 0.8% of all arable land in the nation. This is according to a new report, Areas of Crops Grown for Bioenergy in England and the UK: 2008-2013, released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Of this 51,000 hectares of land used for bioenergy, 42,000 of them (just…
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Helsingin Energia and Vapo have agreed on wood pellet deliveries to the Salmisaari and Hanasaari combined heat and power (CHP) plants. Under the agreement, Helsingin's Salmisaari coal-fired power plant will begin co-firing wood pellets with a ratio of 5-7% by the end of this year. And at the company's Hanasaari power plant, pellets will be co-fired with the same percentage once the pellet…
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The quantity of biomethane being injected into the UK's gas grid will more than quadruple by the end of this year. This is according to data compiled by the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA). Having analysed information shared by the UK's four Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs), ADBA's results show that the number of biomethane upgrading plants has doubled each year since…
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Renewable energy has overtaken nuclear power to become Scotland's main source of power, new figures show. In the first six months of 2014, renewable sources produced 32% more electricity than any other single source of power in Scotland. In total, the renewables sector generated 10.3TWh, compared to 7.8TWh from nuclear power – previously Scotland's main source of electricity. 'Every unit of…
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Mineral Hill Industries, a Canada-based mineral exploration company, has announced it will acquire international waste management company Avis Energy Global Holdings. Avis manages and recycles municipal waste using its Cold Catalytic Biomass Liquefaction technology (BML) to offer sustainable management of urban waste disposal across the world. The technology converts this waste into electricity,…
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Tanac S.A. is building a 400,000 tonne per year, $60 million (€48 million) wood pellet manufacturing plant at its Rio Grande port site in the south of Brazil. Construction began in October and is scheduled for completion at the beginning of 2016. The first pellets are due for export in mid-2016. Under a long-term agreement, Tanac will supply its wood pellets to Drax Power. Tanac says the…
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LC Energy, a UK-based supplier of sustainable wood fuel, has acquired Ecolyf, an MCS accredited company which specialises in the supply, installation and maintenance of wood fuel boilers. The acquisition means LC Energy is now a provider of one-stop biomass services covering the supply and installation process through to fuelling and maintenance for boilers. It will also give the company, which…
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Bester Generación, a company dedicated to the development, engineering, construction, operations and maintenance of renewable energy infrastructures, has broken ground on a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Northamptonshire, UK. Construction began following the closure of £23 million (€29 million) in project finance. It is expected to take around 12 months, with the plant…
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Welsh renewable energy company Eco2 has sold its 44.2MW straw-fired biomass plant in Snetterton, East Anglia to BWSC PCL in a £160 million (€201.7 million) deal. BWSC PCL is a joint venture between Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor and PensionDanmark. This marks the second deal of its kind to BWSC PCL, following Eco2's sale of its Brigg straw-fired biomass plant in North…
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Enel Green Power has started building the Cornia 2 geothermal power plant in the town of Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, in Tuscany. This will be the first plant in the world to use biomass to heat geothermal steam in order to increase the energy efficiency and electricity output of the geothermal cycle. The existing geothermal plant will be supplemented by a 5MW plant powered with locally sourced…
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Foresight Group and the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) are investing in the construction of a new waste wood combined heat and power (CHP) facility in Merseyside, UK. The plant, which will generate 20.2MW of electricity and 7.8 MW of thermal power, will be powered by 146,000 tonnes per year of waste wood, sourced by Stobart Biomass Products under a long-term fuel supply contract. The facility…
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