Other News

Renewable energy group Kedco has begun the export of power from one of its biomass plants to the Northern Ireland grid. The plant announcement, which is based in Newry and produces a total of 4MW, sees Kendo’s transition from a pure development company to an operator of renewable energy assets. The receiving grid is Bord Gais Eireann. Kedco now intends to move towards the completion of the…
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India is set to see some new biomass power projects up and running thanks to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Haryana state government. The MoU has been signed with four independent power producers to set up five biomass projects each producing up to 51MW of power via an investment of Rs230 crore (€33.3 million). Haryana has been heralded as a leading state in furthering…
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The Renewable Energy Association (REA) has voiced concerns following a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) consultation for biomass power/CHP which it feels has ‘raised more questions than it answered’. The DECC has laid out tough criteria to ensure UK power stations are using sustainable biomass including all wood fuel to come from sustainably managed forests, plus a…
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The ribbon was officially cut on a new biogas facility in Tongeren, Belgium this month. Independent energy provider Enovos International, along with project partners NPG Energy and Pholpa, started the plant’s engines in the presence of Economy and Innovation minister Ingrid Lieten and Tongeren mayor Patrick Dewael. The plant will be powered by local corn feedstock provided by farmers within…
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Biomass gasification technology company Zeropoint Clean Tech will work with Germany-based engineering company Envirotherm to build turnkey power plants. Two plants are currently operational in Europe and construction on the first of the next eight projects is expected to begin before the end of this year. According to Zeropoint, these plants will range in size from 2MW to 20MW and be the first…
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Sustainable oil and chemicals company Kiverdi has received a grant from the California Energy Commission’s Research, Demonstration and Development programme. A total of $747,126 (€578,450) has been made available and which Kiverdi will put into research to developing beneficial uses for carbon dioxide. ‘The Commission applauds Kiverdi's technology which captures and converts…
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Renewable energy system provider Nexterra claims to have completed North America’s first commercial demonstration of a transformative energy-from-renewable-waste CHP system. The system combines Nexterra’s gasification and syngas conditioning with partner GE’s Jenbacher internal combustion engines and it is based at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Vancouver…
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A new cash injection will go towards funding microbiology research looking into new ways of cleaning up pollutants in Norwich, UK. The Norwich Research Park’s Earth and Life Science Alliance (ELSA) will use £750,000 ($1.2 million) donated by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to identify environmental responses to climate change. ‘The big challenge of environmental sciences…
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Funds provided by the National Science Foundation will go towards the assessment of bioenergy projects in both North and South America over the next five years. The $4.81 million (€3.67 million) grant will fund a team of researchers, led by Michigan Tech University professor Kathy Halvorsen, which will visit bioenergy projects in Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Michigan for the first three…
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A council vote on a proposed new biomass facility near Wrexham, Wales has been deferred ahead of a site visit. There have been concerns that the new facility, to be constructed by wood panel product producers Kronospan in the town of Chirk, would have a negative impact on local tourist attractions. Wrexham mayor Ian Roberts convinced fellow committee councillors to both visit the Kronospan site…
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Sawn timber and pellet provider Vapo Group posted a drop in overall turnover for the first half of 2012. Its turnover for the January – June period dropped from €418 million ($523.4 million) to €391.3 million compared to the same time last year. The company puts this figure down to a warmer spring season and lower electricity prices which aided a drop in energy peat turnover of…
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Switzerland-based chemicals group Clariant has entered into a partnership agreement with Emerald Technology Ventures. Clariant will work with Emerald in order to identify opportunities to invest in, or cooperate with, technology companies active in the area of cleantech advances like new catalysts to improve process efficiency, advanced materials for the reduction of energy consumption, materials…
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UK-based green energy company ITM Power is set to work with one of Germany’s top local utility companies on power-to-gas energy storage. ITM believes the integration of renewable energies into the existing electricity and gas networks in Germany presents great challenges to energy providers. The collaboration will investigate the potential of energy storage by the production of…
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Fuel brand BP Biofuels has signed a three year agreement to work alongside Texas AgriLife Research (TAR) in developing feedstocks in the US Gulf coast. The team at TAR will focus on production agronomics and plant breeding, while also concentrating on researching new varieties of energy cane, napiergrass, pearl-millet, miscane and kinggrass. ‘The goal is to develop a pipeline of genetics…
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