News

The Welsh Assembly has passed a new Environment Bill (Wales) that will cap the amount of waste sent to waste-to-energy plants. Set to come into effect in 2017, the Bill will require businesses to limit the amount of recyclable waste being sent for incineration and a ban on disposable food waste being discarded in sewers. Any businesses that fail to comply with the new regulations will…
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In the UK Evonik New Energies UK is continuing work on its first biomass plant in Ridham Dock, Kent. The combined heat and power (CHP) plant will handle approximately 160,000 tonnes of landfill-diverted wood waste annually for the generation of 25MW of electricity, significantly reducing CO2 emissions. The electricity produced will be supplied to the National Grid, with potential to utilise…
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Noble Group, a Hong Kong-headquartered agricultural, industrial and energy products company, has acquired two sugarcane/ethanol mills in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Both the mills, Catanduva and Potirendaba, are fully operational, situated 50km apart from each other and located just over 100km from Noble’s UNP facility. Catanduva has a nominal sugarcane crushing capacity of 4.6…
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The UK government has set targets stating that 12% of all heat will be generated from a renewable source by 2020. This will be supported by the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), confirmed by Westminster in October 2010. With this in mind renewable energy consultancy Natural Power has developed a rapid ‘heat assessment’ package aimed at small-scale biomass projects which provides initial…
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Dedicated to the engineering, construction and installation of coal-fired power plants, Chinese company Wuhan Kaidi Electric Power is to purchase three biomass plants. The plants, Suqian Kaidi Green Energy Development, Wanzai Kaidi Green Energy Development and Wangjiang Kaidi Green Energy Development will be acquired from China-based Wuhan Kaidi Holding Investment for a consideration of CNY 296…
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The construction of a 25MW biomass power plant proposed for Oregon, US, can now move forward after the La Pine, Oregon, city council denied an appeal against the project. Renewable energy developer Biogreen Sustainable Energy is behind the plans. Around 25,000 bone dry tonnes (BDT) of the biomass utilised at the plant will be forest thinning materials from Biogreen’s own timberland holdings…
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In the US the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (UWO) is to install a dry fermentation anaerobic biodigester for the production of biogas from yard and food waste. Designed by BIOFerm Energy Systems, a provider of clean renewable energy solutions, the $3.5 million (€2.6 million) plant will generate 3071MW a year of electricity and 4183MW a year of heat for the campus. Any excess power will be…
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In the city of Waterville in Maine, US, the construction of a biomass cogeneration plant has begun. The $11.2 million (€8.36 million) facility, located in Colby College, will produce heat from steam and electricity from hot water, replacing approximately 1 million gallons of heating fuel a year. According to college estimates, the plant will pay for itself within six to 10 years. A…
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Metso, a global supplier of sustainable technology and services, is to supply Oü Helme Energia with a biomass power plant for combined heat and power (CHP) in Helme, Estonia. Oü Helme Energia is a subsidiary of AS Graanul Invest, a private capital-based company dealing with bioenergy and renewable energy production. MW Power, a joint venture between Metso and Wärtsilä dedicated to…
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Ireland should launch the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme to help create jobs and accelerate the switch from fossil fuels to bioenergy, according to the Irish BioEnergy Association (IrBEA). A RHI, which has been promised for more than a year and is still under discussion at the Department of Energy, would benefit both farmers and those installing the heating systems, as well as helping to…
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Construction work is due to begin on a new biomass pipeline at the planned St Andrews University biomass plant in Scotland. Located at Guardbridge, Fife, the £25 million (€32.5m) plant is being built on the site of a former paper mill. Hot water will be pumped from the plant four miles underground to provide heating to laboratories and student housing at St Andrews. The construction…
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On 5 January this year Ineos New Planet BioEnergy, a joint venture between bioenergy firm Ineos Bio and New Planet Energy, received a conditional commitment for a $75 million (€57 million) loan guarantee from the US Department of Agriculture’s 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program. The loan will fund the Ineos BioEnergy Center, a US, Florida-based facility that will convert biomass, including…
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In Nicaragua, fresh produce exporter Xagro and its multi-faceted business partner Jam are to begin testing the commercial production of cassava chips to be used for the production of ethanol in China. Testing will include assessing a number of different cassava varieties for high starch content, which is needed in the ethanol process, in addition to the production of several thousand tonnes of…
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In the US, lumber firm Allengheny Wood Products, based in Preston County, West Virginia, is to start up a new wood pellet company. Appalachian Wood Pellets will manufacture wood pellets for use as heating fuel in residential pellet stoves. The wood pellet company will acquire the sawdust needed to produce the pellets from Allengheny, which will be transported from the mill to the plant via…
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