Other News

The UK’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) had its tariff for large-scale biomass heating dropped from £0.027 (€0.031) per KWh to £0.010 after the European Commission (EC) ruled it was too high. Initially the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had planned to put in place the RHI at the end of September but was forced to postpone after the EC said it was unhappy…
Read More »

Biomass Secure Power (BSP) is to build its first pellet plant in Cowichan Lake, British Columbia, covering 30 acres of land and producing up to 250,000 tonnes of pellets a year. Support from the city council and local fibre suppliers was the main reason why the Canadian site was chosen. BSP signed a joint venture with LG International back in May to secure the development. The plant will use a…
Read More »

ReEnergy Holdings has purchased five US biomass production facilities located in Maine and New York from Quebec company Boralex for about $93 million (€67.5 million). In Maine the purchases include a 40MW facility in Ashland, a 36MW facility in Fort Fairfield and a 40MW site in Livermore Falls. In New York the facilities include a 50MW plant in Stratton and a 20MW site in Chateaugay. Along…
Read More »

The first US commercial flight to be powered by biofuels derived from algae has flown from Houston’s IAH airport to Chicago’s O’Hare airport. The microbially-derived biofuel, called Solajet, was manufactured by Solazyme and is a 60% petroleum-derived jet fuel. Solazyme has signed a letter of intent with United Airlines to produce 500,000 tonnes of renewable fuel by 2015, and to…
Read More »

Viaspace Green Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with Seema Energy in Thailand to grow ‘giant king grass’ to power Seema’s proposed 90MW biomass plant. Giant king grass is similar to sugarcane but it is not a food crop and develops cellulosic characteristics rather than sugar strands. Viaspace believes the grass has the highest energy yield per hectare of potential…
Read More »

Oneida Seven Generations (OSG) has been given approval by the US Department of Energy (DoE) to build an electricity plant to run on waste in the City of Green Bay, Brown County, Wisconsin. The US state previously received nearly $55.5 million (€40.6 million) under a federal grant, and will give a $2 million loan to OSG from the funds. Municipal solid waste is to be brought to the plant,…
Read More »

Laidlaw Energy Group, a renewable energy company, has acquired a biomass-fired power plant in Susanville, California, US. Renergy and Natural Energies formerly owned the idle facility, which is able to generate 12.5MW of electricity. Both companies will become equity shareholders in Laidlaw Energy. Laidlaw will spend around one year and $20 million (€14.7 million) restoring the plant and…
Read More »

Varn Wood Products is to build a new wood pellet production plant next year, utilising waste pinewood from its sawmill facility in Hoboken, Georgia, US. The company is scheduled to break ground on the project in Q2 2012, with startup slated for the end of 2012. The plant will be able to manufacture 80,000 tonnes of wood pellets annually, but this could be expanded to 120,000 tonnes if demand from…
Read More »

AD plant developer Farmgen has started operations at its plant at Dryholme Farm, West Cumbria in the UK. The biogas plant cost £4 million (€4.7 million) to install and started supplying electricity to the national grid on 4 November. The project was partly financed by Nuclear Management Partners, which supplied a £350,000 grant. The plant converts locally farmed crops into 1.2MW…
Read More »

At the end of November, energy company E.on will break ground on a £120 million (€140.6 million) biomass-fired power plant in Tinsley, Sheffield, UK. According to the project's final plans, which have now been announced, the plant will produce up to 30MW from UK-based waste wood only. This is enough to power 40,000 homes when it comes online in mid-2014. The new development will also…
Read More »

Turkey producer Bernard Matthews is looking to become more self-sufficient with the installation of a biogas plant at its factory in Suffolk, UK. The £4 million (€4.7 million) AD plant will produce heat and power for the factory's onsite operations from 28,000 tonnes of poultry effluent, blood fluids and fat. It is hoped the new facility will supply 13% of the factory's electricity and…
Read More »

In Barsikow, Brandenburg, Germany, production has started at Weltec's biomethane refinery. The plant will handle around 1,000m3 of biological raw gas an hour and convert it into around 4.3 million m3 a year of biomethane. This total quantity is the equivalent to around 5MW, which is enough to power 3,000 households. 350m3 of the biomethane produced will be fed into the natural gas network and…
Read More »

Kyriakos Maniatis, Principal Administrator from DG Energy, part of the European Commission, will open the conference on the 16th of November by discussing the most recent developments in biofuels in Europe. Talking about advancements being made in aviation biofuel in particular, Maniatis’ presentation promises to be an insightful analysis of the European market as a whole. Also on day one,…
Read More »

A group of six green banks and two leading non-profit groups are establishing a Green Bank Network to help meet the urgent need of increasing and accelerating investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency worldwide. With nations around the world making new commitments to reducing heat-trapping pollution, more capital than ever will need to be deployed for clean energy solutions. Green…
Read More »