Other News

The Green Investment Bank (GIB), a world first initiative to encourage private investment into green energy projects, has received 32 bids from cities in the UK willing to host the bank. The city that wins the bid would need to be able to recruit and retain the staff, work closely with other parties involved in order to further develop investment projects, and ensure that the bank is cost…
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Algae producer Aquaviridis has joined forces with OriginOil to develop a new technology that extracts oil from the algae and will develop this multi-phase production at its Mexicali site in Mexico. Through the North American Free Trade Agreement, a region in the country has been put aside for such developments and OriginOil will help by harvesting and developing its algae cultivation…
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An African renewable energy company has secured $5 million (€3.8 million) in fundraising to develop its first biomass energy project on the continent. Takoradi Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Africa Renewables and a biomass producer and trader, received the funding from Standard Chartered Bank in Ghana. The money will be used to double the company’s biomass exports to Europe by 2016,…
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A new plant in Plymouth, UK is to open, converting 40,000 tonnes of wood waste into renewable heat and electricity annually, which should reduce CO₂ emissions by around 16,500 tonnes a year. Three companies, MITIE's Asset Management, O-Gen UK and the Una Group are working together on the development, under the name of O-Gen Plymtrek. During construction, about 50 jobs are expected to be created…
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Monsanto and Novozymes have announced a new acreage target for 2025 that will guide the companies’ microbials business for the next decade. The two partners in The BioAg Alliance are develop new microbial solutions for global agriculture and project that their products will be used on 250-500 million acres globally by 2025, equivalent to 25-50% of all US farmland. Currently the…
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The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) has provided bioenergy company Vaskiluodon Voima Oy with €18 million to build a gasification plant in Vaasa, Finland. The total project cost is expected to be about €40 million. The facility will produce 140MW and is to be connected to a power plant that is already established, allowing for the coal from the old plant to be substituted by domestic…
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Bioenergy crop company SG Biofuels has closed a $17 million (€13 million) round of fundraising to go towards further developments of its hybrid jatropha seeds which can be used for biodiesel production. The series B of financing was led by Thomas, McNerney & Partners; and Finistere Ventures and current investors Flint Hills Resources and Life Technologies were also involved. Using the…
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Bioenergy company ZeaChem has been awarded a $232.5 million (€176 million) loan guarantee from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to build a biorefinery that will convert biomass into sustainable fuels and chemicals. It will be the company’s first commercial size cellulosic biorefinery and will use woody biomass and agricultural residues to produce bio-based fuels. Speaking…
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Cool Planet BioFuels has been granted approval from the California Air Resources Board to test its negative carbon petrol. The technology converts biomass, including grass and woodchips, into biodiesel. Through the process, a byproduct is created, which can be used as a fertiliser. The first part of the testing will involve blending of the negative carbon fuel with E10 petrol to try and hit the…
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Scientists from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC) have uncovered a series of genes which could help grasses being breed with better characteristics for bioenergy production. The genes help to better develop the wood part of the grass, called the fibrous, such as what is in rice and wheat. In understanding how these genes…
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The province of Manitoba in Canada has introduced a new programme that will give $400,000 (€308,000) in grants to coal companies that switch to biomass energy projects. The Manitoba Biomass Energy Support Program (MBESP) is aimed at supporting the growth of biomass within the energy production industry, and the agriculture, food and rural minister, Ron Kostyshyn says the biomass will be…
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Green Biologics Limited (GBL), a UK-based industrial biotechnology company has merged with butylfuel, a US-based renewable chemicals and biofuels company. The new company will operate under the Green Biologics name and continue to be head-quartered in Abingdon, UK with a strong operational presence and commercial focus in the US contributed by butylfuel, which will become Green Biologics. The…
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The founder of Bioenergy Solutions has filed for bankruptcy which means hundreds of people will lose their jobs. David Albers’ business went into the red and means the dairy farm in Fresno County, California, will close. The gas produced from the 5,000 cows used for cheese production at this factory was put through an anaerobic digester, producing enough electricity to power 1,200 homes.…
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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has formed a $25 million (€19 million) partnership with Fiberight, money which will be put towards building a new biofuels plant in Blairstown, Iowa. The facility will convert waste into biofuels, producing six million gallons a year when the plant comes online in the first half of next year. Fiberight is spending $20 million into the plant, combined…
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