News

In the state if Haryana, northern India, a Rs. 4.50 crore (€688,952) 1MW biogas power plant has been set up. The plant, which will convert distillery waste into biogas, has been commissioned at Ashoka Distillers and Chemical Pvt. Ltd. in Hathin, Palwal district. The energy generated will be used to power the distillery. The proposal was put forward by the Haryana Renewable Energy…
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In 2009 heat energy producer International WoodFuels (IWF) was planning the construction of a $20 million (€15.9 million) commercial-scale wood pellet production facility in Burnham, Maine, US. However, plans have since changed due to a current lack of funding. ‘With the economy, what we ended up doing is focusing on our new plant in Louisiana County, Virginia, that went into operation in…
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France-based energy provider GDF Suez is thought to be investing €5 million in a biomass plant located in Bansko, Bulgaria. GDF Suez representatives met with the town mayor Alexander Kravarov and privately owned French company Bul Eco Energy. GDF Suez will present Bansko Municipality with its investment offer by the end of July 2010. To date the French energy company has installed biomass…
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Gameslack Farm, Wetwang, UK, is to be home to a new biomass plant after having been given the green light. Despite huge opposition from local residents, East Riding planning councillors granted permission for the project to go ahead. The plant, which was voted nine to six in favour by the councillors, will burn mostly straw for the generation of 12MW power. Coun Paul Robinson, support…
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In Rwanda, southern Africa, a biogas plant has been constructed for Nsinda Central Prison in Rwamagana District, Eastern Province. The project is supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which came about in an attempt to reduce the amount of firewood being consumed at the prison. The commissioner general of prisons Mary…
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In Oregon, US, three projects dedicated to generating energy from sustainable sources have been awarded $3 million (€2.4 million) in government funding. The US department of Energy’s State Energy Program split the funds between the counties of Lake, Tillamook and Wallowa. The Lakeview Cogenerative project received $1.7 million to convert wood waste into bioelectricity and heat. The…
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Currently under construction in the town of East Cowes, Isle of Wight, is the island’s new 18,000 square foot Waitrose supermarket, which, when completed, could be fully powered by biomass. The retailer has submitted a planning application to the local council and if this is approved the new Waitrose will have permission to convert an electricity substation into a biomass plant. The facility…
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In May this year the Lower Reule Bioenergy anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, supported by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), came online in Staffordshire, UK, with the ability to generate 1.3MW of power from 15,000 tonnes of waste. However it is expected that this will increase to 30,000 tonnes of waste a year once phase two of the development process is completed in October 2010.…
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In a bid to incorporate anaerobic digestion into its composting process, organic recycling firm Ceder Grove Composting has ventured with Germany-based green energy producer BioFerm Energy. ‘Cedar Grove is always seeking proven new technologies to bring waste materials to a higher use, for example, turning food waste into compost or energy,’ Ceder Grove Composting’s CEO Steve Banchero…
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Based in Prineville, Oregon, US, Ochoco Lumber Company has begun building a pellet producing facility in the city of John Day. The plant will be operational by October this year, producing pellets from wood chips, sawdust, shavings and ponderosa pine logs, the majority of which will come from the Malheur National Forest. When the plant is up and running it will supply pellets to hospitals,…
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Following Australia’s lowest wood chip export figures in ten years, demand is on the rise. According to the Wood Resource Quarterly exports for pine chips have risen 38%, while eucalyptus chips are up 12%. In addition, around 100,000 tonnes of wood pellets are set to be transported to Europe by the end of this year. Australia saw its wood export market fall to a ten-year-low in 2009 when…
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The largest power station in the UK, Drax, is set to receive a makeover as company owners embark on a move that could see the plant eventually adopt a 100% green status. One of the plant’s six boilers, which are currently fired with coal, will be converted to enable it to process biomass. Drax has been utilising biomass for the generation of power for the last seven years but this has been…
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Swedish Biogas International is due to begin construction on its Flint Swedish Biogas plant in Flint Township, Michigan, US, at the end of July this year and is expected to come online by the beginning of 2011. The state recently issued a building permit for the facility and on the 1 July 2010 the prototype of the machine that will produce methane gas from human waste by extracting the oxygen…
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In Washington state, US, renewable energy company Farm Power Northwest has started work on the build of its second anaerobic digestion project, which is being constructed by Washington-based Andgar Corp. Due to be completed by the end of 2010 the plant has the capacity to generate 750kW of electricity each year from cow manure. This is enough to benefit roughly 500 households. ‘Our goal is…
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