News

The Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Authority has received license application to build a biomass power plant from Lurosa Investments. The proposed 2MW facility would generate electricity from timber waste feedstock in the east of the country. Zimbabwe currently uses more electricity than it produces at peak times (2,000MW against 1,200MW). It has been reported that 70,000 tonnes of biomass is…
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The Canadian government has awarded the village of Telkwa a grant to retrofit a municipal building with a biomass heating system. The grant comes in at CA$680,230 (€522,375) and the facility will burn waste wood from a nearby forest. As well as the municipal building, heat will also be provided to a nearby business, a school and four residences. ‘Building clean energy infrastructure is…
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Denmark-based conglomerate Maersk is working on two new projects to develop biomass-based marine fuels. Each project involves work using lignin taken from plants and from the production of paper and bioethanol. ‘Lignin has a variety of industrial uses already because of its chemical characteristics, energy content and its abundance,’ says Peter Normark Sørensen of Maersk Oil…
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Canada-based Port Allen, owned by the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, may become the location for a new wood pellet facility. Biomass Secure Power (BSP), situated in British Columbia, has an option on 90 acres of the Port Allen land up until the end of August. BSP CEO Jim Carroll says a plant would represent ‘$400 million (€307 million) investment across four phases which could ultimately…
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Two hospitals in Cambridge, UK are set to benefit from a multi-million pound investment from the Green Investment Bank for a biomass project. The £18 million (€21 million) injection is the Bank’s first foray into aiding a National Health Service renewable energy project. If planning permission is approved, the new facility will provide Addenbrooke and Rosie hospitals with a…
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Algae-based green crude oil producer Sapphire Energy has entered into a commercial agreement with Tesoro Refining and Marketing, a subsidiary of Tesoro. Tesoro will purchase crude oil from Sapphire’s green crude farm in New Mexico, which recently reached continuous cultivation and crude oil production. “In less than one year, we have started up commercial demonstration to grow algae,…
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Renewable energy business Kedco has revealed its Enfield, UK-based biomass CHP project has made more strides towards realisation. The project already has full planning and environmental permissions to generate 12MW of electricity and heat from 60,000 tonnes of waste wood a year. But Kedco has now appointed N+1 Singer as its equity advisor and received outlined terms from a UK bank to contribute…
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Research conducted by bioeconomy consultants NNFCC and WRAP has placed the number of anaerobic digesters (AD) in the UK, outside of the water industry, at over 100 for the first time. The number of facilities has nearly doubled since September 2011 and totals 106, processing over 5 million tonnes of food and farm waste a year. ‘This is a significant milestone for this industry in the UK and…
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A commercial-scale lignin separation plant has been installed by Domtar at its mill in North Carolina, US. The company claims this is the first facility of its type in the country in over 25 years. The production of lignin began in February, with a targeted rate of 75 tonnes a day, for industrial applications such as a bio-based alternative to the use of petroleum and other fossil…
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More biogas plants are set to be introduced in the eastern province of Holguin, Cuba this year. Thirty-five new facilities, specially adapted to handle the estimated mass and volume of animal waste produced by private swine producers, will produce methane to help power food plants. The are already 32 biogas facilities in the province producing around 8,750 cubic metres of methane per month,…
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Danish firm Burmeister and Wain Scandinavian (BWS) has been given planning permission to build a new biomass power plant in Widnes, UK. The proposed plant is believed to be able burn 147,000 tonnes of wood a year via truck deliveries to generate around 20MW of energy and 3.5MW of heat energy. The project was passed by council officials as it is based on ‘environmentally-friendly way to…
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According to a report by Wood Resource Quarterly the exportation of logs and lumber from North America to China fell by 17% to $2.1 billion (€1.6 billion) last year. Despite this recent decline, timberland owners in the US and lumber companies in Canada have greatly benefited from China’s increased wood consumption over the past five years. The report says 2012 was the second highest…
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Two international organisations have signed an memorandum of understanding to share and develop bioenergy sectors this March. Rotterdam Biomass Commodities Network (RBCN) and the Wood Pellet Association of Canada will now cooperate together by sharing knowledge and organising biomass events. ‘RBCN is an organisation dedicated to strengthening and promoting the Dutch bioenergy sector and…
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Norwegian investment company Byggleverandørene has added a wood pellets plant to its portfolio in Lithuania. The Biowood Nordic plant cost LTL 4 million (€1.1 million) to construct via almost LTL 2 million of EU and government aid received under the scheme supporting migration of farming companies towards non-farming activities. ‘It is a new plant, built from scratch in…
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