Other News

In the US, Dominion Virginia Power's efforts to convert three of its coal-fired power plants to biomass-fired ones are costing its 18,000 customers an additional $0.14 (€0.10) a month. The average domestic bill is now expected to reach $108.77 a month, up from $103.91, as Dominion charges an extra $4.86 per month to cover the utility's fuel costs, according to David Botkins, a Dominion…
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The Tanzania Sisal Board is to invest $31.1 million (€21.5 million) to encourage the production of sisal biogas in the region. The investment will go towards developing 13 new biogas generation plants, with an overall capacity of 7000kW of electricity. Each plant is expected to consume around 500kW, with the excess energy sold to the national grid. One sisal biogas plant is already in…
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In Hereford, England, Great Ynys Farm will convert litter from 90,000 chickens into biogas for renewable electricity and heat generation. Some of the electricity will be used to power the poultry houses and anaerobic digester, with the remaining 90% will be sold to the national grid. The captured waste heat will warm the chicken houses, reducing the consumption of expensive fuel oil and propane…
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In India, Bangalore University will install a biogas plant to slash its electricity bills. Planned for Jnanabharati campus, the new plant will cut the University's current electricity expenditure of Rs2.50 crore a year. The biogas plant will be powered by 25 tonnes a day of organic waste, which will be supplied by the Bruhat Bangalore Maanagara Palike (BBMP) free of charge for…
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Wyke Farms, a UK-based independent cheese and milk producer, has signed major new deal with supermarket giant Sainsbury's to supply the retailer with green gas generated at its dairy farm in Somerset. The milk producer will supply Sainsbury's with biogas from its anaerobic digestion (AD) plant alongside its cheese and butter products. The company said the deal would see enough green gas provided…
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Canada-based renewable energy firm StormFisher Environmental has acquired an anaerobic digester, called London Energy Garden, from Ontario firm Harvest Ontario Partners. Chris Guillon, vice president of StormFisher Environmental, said: "These developments open up even more opportunities to serve the organic waste processing needs of the region." The facility, which was developed by anaerobic…
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Under RENEW LA, a scheme designed to help the US state of Los Angeles send 0% of its waste to landfill, a new waste-to-energy plant is being developed in the region. Los Angeles has now started contract negotiations with Green Conversion Systems (GCS), which will design and construct the plant. Domestic waste designed for the tip stands at around 3,300 tonnes a day in Los Angeles alone.…
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Martin Engineering, a US-based company dedicated to conveyor technology and bulk materials handling, has revealed its final plans for a new 10,000m2 facility in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China. Scheduled to open in late 2011, the new Martin Engineering building will house 8,000m2 of manufacturing and warehouse operations and 2,000m2 of office space, making it eight times larger than the…
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The owner of the Kawasaki biomass-fired power plant in Yokohama, Japan, could potentially open another in Fiji. Company officials from the Japanese plant and Fiji's President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau met on 21 June 2011 to discuss the possibility of setting up a biomass plant in the country. Fiji is an ideal country in which to develop a bioenergy industry, due to the high availability of wood…
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Thermya, a French engineering firm dedicated to biomass-to-energy conversion technologies, has begun building three industrial biocoal production units using Torspyd – the company's biomass torrefaction process. The first unit is currently in construction on the site of Urnieta, in the Spanish Basque Country, under the supervision of Grupo Lantec, promoter and developer of the project. 'The…
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In Scotland, UK, a wood pellet production plant is being developed that, when operational in March 2012, will produce wood pellets. Land Energy is behind the project, which will come to realisation on a site previously occupied by a textile factory. Work at the site is scheduled to get underway in July 2011. Based in Belfast, Ireland, Lagen Construction will be responsible for the civil,…
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In Lithonia, Georgia, US, a biomass plant proposed for DeKalb County has led to a protest from local residents. A county consisting of homes and businesses, citizens say they do not want the facility to be built close by. According to some residents, the plant was originally planned for north DeKalb County but this proposal was rejected. On 13 June 2011 citizens fighting against the plans…
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Wood pellet manufacturer Biomass Secure Power is developing a torrefied wood pellet plant in British Columbia, Canada. The production facility will have an annual production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of pellets, made from wood harvested by the company itself. A small portion will come local logging businesses. One hundred per cent of the pellets produced at the site will be exported to Europe…
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In the UK, Real Ventures is looking to invest £260 million (€290 million) in the construction of two biomass-powered plants. In 2010 Real Ventures revealed plans to build a £130 million facility in the Isle of Wight but has since further developed these plans and will erect a second wood-pellet burning plant in the port of Immingham in Lincolnshire. The company is yet to receive…
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