News

In Tasmania, Australia, power stations which burn domestically grown timber are not eligible for renewable energy subsidies, as the carbon tax plan no longer classes local forest woodchips a renewable energy source. While Environment Tasmania supports the decision and the leader of Tasmanian Greens Nick McKim stating: 'This is a big step forward towards valuing our forests properly', state-owned…
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China is ramping up its installed biomass power capacity and hopes to generate 13 million kW by the end of 2015, according to China Business News. Currently, 5.5 million kW of power is generated from biomass in the nation. This includes the production of marsh gas and the burning of household waste. China has the potential to produce 5 billion tonnes of biomass-derived power a year. This is…
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TeaM Energy Philippines, a partnership between Tokyo Electric Power and Marubeni Corp., will install over 50MW of new capacity from renewable energy sources. More than $150 million (€107 million) will be invested to make these renewable energy projects a reality; each project is predicted to cost between $2.5 and $3 million. A biomass plant, which will generate 11MW of renewable energy from…
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In a move that will slash its CO2 emissions, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) will supply its trademark fizzy beverages to the London 2012 Olympic Games on biomethane-powered lorries. In a £1.75 million (€1.99 million) investment, CCE will use biogas sourced from a landfill site in Surrey to power a 14-strong fleet. 'In the Olympics, every delivery we make will be made on one of these…
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Production has stopped at the Georgia Biomass wood pellet plant in Waycross, Georgia, US, after an explosion on 20 June 2011. The incident occurred at around 8am. No one was injured. 'It did extensive damage to the processing end,' says Dennis Keen, Ware County fire chief. 'They'll probably be down an extended period of time.' Georgia Biomass is a subsidiary of Germany's RWE Innogy, an…
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In Canada, the Toronto Zoo is planning to build a $5.4 million (€3.76 million) biogas power plant on site that will generate power from zoo animal excrement. The zoo will partner with Toronto-based ZooShare Co-operative to get the project off the ground. ZooShare will then fund the project, as well as design, develop, build and operate the plant, which will be located on land leased from the…
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Russia is turning to biogas in a bid to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. According to the Energy Ministry, Russia has the potential to generate 66 billion m3 of biogas a year from agricultural waste. This could produce 110 billion KW/h of electricity, 1 billion GJ of heat or 8.7 billion gallons of petrol or diesel. The Energy and Agriculture Ministries are now urging the Russian government to…
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Construction on a proposed biomass plant in Rothschild, Wisconsin, US, is due to begin shortly, after Domtar, a paper company behind the proposal, agreed to certain conditions. The plant, which is a joint venture between Domtar and energy firm We Energies, was originally announced back in September 2009. According to Craig Timm, manager of public affairs at Domtar, the project is due to break…
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Wyke Farms, a UK-based independent cheese and milk producer, has signed major new deal with supermarket giant Sainsbury's to supply the retailer with green gas generated at its dairy farm in Somerset. The milk producer will supply Sainsbury's with biogas from its anaerobic digestion (AD) plant alongside its cheese and butter products. The company said the deal would see enough green gas provided…
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Canada-based renewable energy firm StormFisher Environmental has acquired an anaerobic digester, called London Energy Garden, from Ontario firm Harvest Ontario Partners. Chris Guillon, vice president of StormFisher Environmental, said: "These developments open up even more opportunities to serve the organic waste processing needs of the region." The facility, which was developed by anaerobic…
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Under RENEW LA, a scheme designed to help the US state of Los Angeles send 0% of its waste to landfill, a new waste-to-energy plant is being developed in the region. Los Angeles has now started contract negotiations with Green Conversion Systems (GCS), which will design and construct the plant. Domestic waste designed for the tip stands at around 3,300 tonnes a day in Los Angeles alone.…
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The owner of the Kawasaki biomass-fired power plant in Yokohama, Japan, could potentially open another in Fiji. Company officials from the Japanese plant and Fiji's President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau met on 21 June 2011 to discuss the possibility of setting up a biomass plant in the country. Fiji is an ideal country in which to develop a bioenergy industry, due to the high availability of wood…
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In Scotland, UK, a wood pellet production plant is being developed that, when operational in March 2012, will produce wood pellets. Land Energy is behind the project, which will come to realisation on a site previously occupied by a textile factory. Work at the site is scheduled to get underway in July 2011. Based in Belfast, Ireland, Lagen Construction will be responsible for the civil,…
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Wood pellet manufacturer Biomass Secure Power is developing a torrefied wood pellet plant in British Columbia, Canada. The production facility will have an annual production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of pellets, made from wood harvested by the company itself. A small portion will come local logging businesses. One hundred per cent of the pellets produced at the site will be exported to Europe…
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