News

A wood pellet plant near Waycross, Georgia, US resumed operations on 13 July 2011, after an explosion forced the facility to close. 'We're ramping up now... starting the equipment and getting it all ready to go,' says Ken Ciarletta, plant manager at Georgia Biomass. The $175 million (€124 million) Georgia Biomass wood pellet plant has been shut since 20 June 2011, when parts of its…
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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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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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Wood pellet manufactures across the US are increasing capacity as the global market for this renewable energy source expands. Between 2008 and 2010 exports from the US to Europe rose from 85,000 tonnes to over 600,000 tonnes a year. Speaking about the US wood pellet market Peter O'Keefe, a partner in Franklin Pellets, said: 'It's exploding.' Franklin Pellets, based in Franklin, Virginia, US, is…
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In Gainesville, Florida, US, the Gainesville Renewable Energy Centre (GREC) is developing a biomass-fired power plant, for which engineering and technology corporation Metso will supply a 100MWe biomass boiler island and plant automation system. The plant is slated for completion by 2013. When it becomes operational, the 100MW of renewable power generated will benefit around 70,000 homes. It will…
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In the UK, new anaerobic digestion (AD) plants could receive financial support thanks to Defra's (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) £10 million (€11 million) Anaerobic Digestion Loan Fund (ADLF). Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) will be responsible for the ADLF, which will be administered in amounts ranging from £50,000 to £1 million to support the…
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Africa Renewables (AfriRen), an international renewable energy trading firm headquartered in London, is looking to raise €30 million in a new round of fundraising. The capital, raised through qualified investors, will help fund a number of sustainable schemes throughout West Africa. The first project, a Ghana-based energy trading project, will require an investment of €5 million. This…
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In Gloucestershire, UK, Glebe Farm has installed a biogas plant to boost the facility's income. The new plant, which farmer James Hart describes as 'a 3,000-tonne cow's stomach', handles animal waste from 4,000 pigs, 100 cows and 100,000 chickens and converts it into renewable energy. It also reduces the farm's carbon emissions by around 10,000 tonnes a year. The 2.2 million kW/h of renewable…
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In India, Bangalore University will install a biogas plant to slash its electricity bills. Planned for Jnanabharati campus, the new plant will cut the University's current electricity expenditure of Rs2.50 crore a year. The biogas plant will be powered by 25 tonnes a day of organic waste, which will be supplied by the Bruhat Bangalore Maanagara Palike (BBMP) free of charge for…
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The Tanzania Sisal Board is to invest $31.1 million (€21.5 million) to encourage the production of sisal biogas in the region. The investment will go towards developing 13 new biogas generation plants, with an overall capacity of 7000kW of electricity. Each plant is expected to consume around 500kW, with the excess energy sold to the national grid. One sisal biogas plant is already in…
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In Hereford, England, Great Ynys Farm will convert litter from 90,000 chickens into biogas for renewable electricity and heat generation. Some of the electricity will be used to power the poultry houses and anaerobic digester, with the remaining 90% will be sold to the national grid. The captured waste heat will warm the chicken houses, reducing the consumption of expensive fuel oil and propane…
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Energy and petrochemical company Shell and biotechnology firm Paques Holding are to enter into a 50/50 joint venture, Paqell, to encourage the use of biological desulphurisation in the oil and gas sector for high pressure gas applications using Thiopaq O&G (oil and gas) technology. Paques has been utilising Thiopaq technology in the water business for atmospheric biogas desulphurisation for…
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In Llangefni, Wales, UK, wood fuel supply company EcoPellets of Cork, Ireland, and energy firm Integrated Energy Systems International are now moving ahead with a pellet production facility and a 30MW biomass-fired power plant. The project, expected to be one of Europe's largest wood pellet plants, was announced in 2009 but developments came to a halt while waiting for approval on the 30MW power…
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In the US, Dominion Virginia Power's efforts to convert three of its coal-fired power plants to biomass-fired ones are costing its 18,000 customers an additional $0.14 (€0.10) a month. The average domestic bill is now expected to reach $108.77 a month, up from $103.91, as Dominion charges an extra $4.86 per month to cover the utility's fuel costs, according to David Botkins, a Dominion…
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