Other News

BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners has bought a straw-fired renewable energy plant from Eco2 for its clean energy fund. It is the first biomass facility the fund has bought, although it also owns a wind power facility and solar photovoltaics and other assets in France, Italy, the UK and Ireland. The new plant is based in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, UK and will be able to produce 40MW, enough power to…
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Shipping company Maersk and the US navy are working together to test biofuels derived from algae by fuelling a container ship with the alternative fuel for a journey from the north of Europe to India. The ship, called Maersk Kalmar, was chosen for the tests because it features an engine that has been specifically designed for auxiliary testing, meaning risk of damage on the voyage is reduced. The…
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OriginOil, an algae technology developer, has joined forces with Australian company Future Energy Solutions (FES), and its subsidiary Alternate Energy Systems (AES), to carry out feasibility studies on the potential for biorefining centres around the world. The biorefineries would serve US and NATO military requirements for alternative fuels, including biofuels. OriginOil has also recently teamed…
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Construction has begun on a new bioenergy plant in Stockport, UK, which will convert food waste into gas, providing about 1,400 homes with renewable gas in the north west of England. The plant will run on organic material taken from hotels, restaurants and offices in the surrounding area and is scheduled to open in April 2012. The facility is expected to cost about £5 million (€5.8…
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Biomass to ethanol producer TMO Renewables says it has raised £7.6 million (€9 million) in a financing round from new and current shareholders. This will be combined with the £4.6 million that was raised at the beginning of the year, and will be used to help the company come into commercialisation. The company is working with plant owners and land official from Minas Gerais, a…
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US company Fulcrum Bioenergy has raised $100 million (€74.5 million) in an venture capital financing round. The company uses municipal solid waste (MSW) to produce renewable fuel and currently makes about 700 million gallons a year from 13 million tonnes of rubbish taken from landfills in the US. The company uses heat generated from its refinery process to power its plant, therefore reducing…
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A new municipal solid waste (MSW) to energy centre will be built in Plymouth, processing up to 75,000 tonnes of MSW a year and exporting 3.2MW to the national grid. Wardell Armstrong, the engineering and environmental consultancy, has received permission for the £15 million (€18 million) development from Devon County Council and will work with AAD South West, an Aero Thermal company,…
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Universal Bioenergy says it generated revenues of nearly $50 million (€37 million) for the first three quarters of this year, an increase of more than $7 million made on the same time last year. The company increased its total operating expenses for the three months ending on September 30 2010 by 7.5% to more than $576,000 for the same period in 2011. The company’s assets have also…
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Biogas plant developer Malaby Biogas is to begin commissioning an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility in the second quarter of 2012, which will be the first plant of its kind in Wiltshire, UK. The Bore Hill Farm Biodigester at Warminster will use commercial food waste, abattoir waste, spoiled non-woody crops and animal slurry to produce the gas. By the third quarter of next year, the plant is…
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Vega Biofuels has entered into a joint venture agreement to manufacture green energy products from industrial hemp. The joint venture (JV) company includes Vega Biofuels and Oregon, US-based Now Corp., and it will operate under the name Vega Now from the Now Corp.'s property in Colorado. The two companies will be working together to test industrial hemp as a feedstock to produce various green…
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The Port of Amsterdam is preparing for a growth in biomass product as European countries look to replace existing coal-fired power plants with renewable materials. As the port gears up to meet the expected growth in this sector, new developments of fossil fuel terminals are no longer allowed, although expansion projects of existing terminals will still be able to go ahead. The Port of Amsterdam…
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KTG Agrar, a producer of agricultural commodities, has reached a 20MW milestone as it continues to expand its biogas capacity. To date the company generates enough electricity for 34,000 homes; a significant increase from the 28,000 households it served in mid-2011. This figure is set to increase further as KTG Agrar is currently building more biogas plants with a combined capacity of over…
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In Amel, Belgium, one utility company has co-fired fossil coal with biocoal supplied by renewable energy company 4Energy Invest. 4Energy Invest manufactures the biocoal, which it made from black torrefied woodchips, in its large-scale production unit. The co-firing trial lasted for around 20 hours. The utility reported successful results as it did not have to modify the existing power plant to…
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In Berlin, New Hampshire, US, a new programme has been set up to encourage local homeowners to convert from burning fossil fuels to wood pellets. The Model Neigborhood Project, a collaboration between the Northern Forest Center, Berlin BetterBuildings, the city of Berlin and Maine Energy Systems, is to offer subsidies to around 40 local homeowners to incentivise them to switch. These financial…
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