Other News

Construction has begun on the Hairy Hill biorefinery in Canada which is to turn farmers’ grain into ethanol whilst at the same time producing power for the grid. The construction marks the second phase of the development, which already features a biogas plant that produces 1MW for the power grid from manure and other waste. That facility is expected to cost about $50 million (€38…
Read More »

A Californian county has decided to produce 100% renewable energy for county facilities. Sonoma County has signed a year-long agreement with 3 Phases Renewables to produce all of its electricity from renewable sources, generating 15% of it from biomass. Seven county facilities in Santa Rosa and Petaluma will be powered from biomass throughout this year, with the rest being powered by wind…
Read More »

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,…
Read More »

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…
Read More »

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…
Read More »

Despite receiving hundreds of objections, Hertfordshire County councillors have voted unanimously to allow Cattlegate Farm in the UK to build an anaerobic digestion plant and compost facility. Locals signed an objection statement against the facility because they believed it would be an eyesore and affect the surrounding environment through the production of noise and odour. However, the farm…
Read More »

BioDiesel International (BDI) has secured a contract to build a multi-feedstock biogas plant in northern France for €4.45 million. The plant was commissioned by a French waste disposal company that will use the facility to crush, handle and convert the organic waste into biogas to power an electricity and thermal energy system. Each year the plant will produce 4.2 million Nm³, which…
Read More »

Kenyan electricity provider Tower Power is to build two biomass power plants in the country. One facility will provide 30MW of power and will be built at Marigat in the Baringo District. The second plant will be provide 12MW and is planned for Mariakani in the Kwale District. Construction is due to begin in March and the projects will come online by November 2014. The developments will use…
Read More »

A farm in Kirkton, Ontario, has begun to produce electricity and thermal energy through the use of waste streams such as manure and organic material. The waste is used to produce biogas through an anaerobic digestion process, which provides the majority of the heat and electricity for the farm operations as well as for homes on the farm. The electricity that is not used is sold back to grid,…
Read More »

Science Applications International (SAI) and the Carlyle Energy Mezzanine Opportunities are to fund the construction of a new $225 million (€176 million) Plainfield Renewable Energy (PRE) biomass project. The facility will produce 37.5MW, enough to power 37,000 homes in the Connecticut, US area. The feedstock used will include wood waste leftover from construction and demolition projects,…
Read More »

A biomass plant planned for Munford Road in Thetford, UK, has been opposed by the local council, which says the facility would have a visual impact on the surrounding area, including the Thetford forest. The site would have burnt poultry litter and woodchips to power the plant, which Energy Power Resources (EPR), the company behind the proposed project, says would have saved about 120,000 CO₂…
Read More »

Boeing and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have joined forces to examine the potential for aviation biofuels’ feedstock growth in the north of the country. The partnership comes following the release of the Flight Path to Sustainable Aviation roadmap, which recommends research into the area. ‘The roadmap made a compelling case for…
Read More »

The demand for woody biomass in the US over the past three year has decreased because fossil fuel prices have stayed ‘relatively low’, say a report from Wood Resources International. In particular, the pacific northwest of the US has the lowest biomass prices, a little lower than the south, although the northeast of the country has the highest prices. Over the past three years, prices…
Read More »

Verso Paper has finished the construction of a $45 million (€35.5 million) renewable energy upgrade at its pulp and paper mill in Michigan, US. The company has upgraded the existing combination boiler which burns woody biomass, and built a new biomass handling system and a turbine generator. The energy generated will be used within the mill, and is the equivalent to powering about 18,000…
Read More »