Other News

Bioenergy now represents a sixth of UK renewable electricity generation capacity, according to UK Government statistics released on 22 December. Bioenergy has an 11.5% share of generation in 2019 following the first full year since Lynemouth converted its 420 MW coal unit to biomass in 2018. Since the conversion of four Drax coal units to biomass, the majority of biomass generation capacity by…
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Several barriers prevent citizens from becoming bioenergy producers, according to the Institute for European Energy and Climate Policy (IEECP), based in the Netherlands. In a statement published on 15 December, the IEECP said there is a lack of preparedness for communities to tap the full bioenergy market potential, lack of bioenergy stakeholders’ awareness of the potential of communities…
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In 2019, 96,000 hectares (ha) of agricultural land in the UK were used to grow crops for bioenergy. Government statistics released on 10 December show the area of non-food crops grown in the UK and their usage in bioenergy applications. The figures show 20% of land used for bioenergy was for biofuel (biodiesel and bioethanol) in the UK road transport market, with the remainder mostly used…
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Covanta Holding Corporation, Green Investment Group (GIG), and Biffa have announced the financial close and commencement of construction on the Protos Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) in Cheshire, UK. Covanta and GIG will each own 37.5% of the state-of-the-art energy-from-waste (EfW) facility, with Biffa, the primary waste supplier for the facility, owning the remaining 25%. The facility will…
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Drax, BP, National Grid ESO, Shell, Sembcorp Energy UK, and SSE have written a letter to the UK Government urging them to commit to a net-zero power system as part of COP26. The organisations wrote to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, COP26 President Alok Sharma, and the Minister for Energy and Clean Growth Kwasi Kwarteng, urging them to expand on the government’s…
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The UK’s electricity grid has decarbonised faster than other countries in the last decade, with emissions falling twice as quickly as on any other major economy, according to a new report. Independent analysis conducted via Imperial Consultants, by academics from Imperial College London for Drax Electric Insights, shows the UK’s move away from coal to renewable sources, such as biomass and…
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A second waste-to-energy plant will be built in the UK’s Tees Valley, attracting £430 million (€482 million) of private investment and creating hundreds of jobs. The announcement from PD Ports and Wentworth Clean Power (WCP) comes two weeks after PD Ports announced a £230 million (€258 million) deal to bring a waste-to-energy plant to the region. The second project, also based in…
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Swedish state-owned energy firm Vattenfall and Midlothian Council in Scotland have formed a joint venture to deliver low-carbon energy projects across the area. The first project under the new energy services company (ESCo), a 50/50 joint venture, will be a low-carbon district heating network supplying Shawfair, a new town which will be built in the north of the council area on the outskirts…
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SUEZ and bp have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the feasibility of the UK’s first carbon capture and storage project from energy-from-waste (EfW). The Net Zero Teesside Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) project plans to capture up to 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, the equivalent to the annual energy use of over 3 million UK homes. The agreement…
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On 13 November, the bioenergy industry celebrated ‘European Bioenergy Day’, meaning from that date, bioenergy alone would be able to cover all the energy needs of EU Member States until the end of the year. To coincide with this milestone, Bioenergy Europe announced the launch of the fourth edition of the European Bioenergy Day campaign, which aims to shed a light on the increasingly…
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A new study by Veolia and YouGov revealed 77% of UK adults believe limiting climate change is the responsibility of the current generation and its leaders. The survey showed two in five UK adults said their concern about carbon in 2020 had grown over the last five years. Despite some growing concern, only 17% of those asked had faith in the UK reaching its net-zero targets by 2050. Carbon…
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Researchers at the University of Liverpool in the UK have unlocked new possibilities for the future development of sustainable, clean bioenergy. The study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates how bacterial protein ‘cages’ can be re-programmes as nanoscale bioreactors for the production of hydrogen. According to the university, the carboxysome is a specialised bacterial…
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US waste and environmental services company, Denali Water Solutions, has acquired the stock of Veris Environmental and AWS Dredge. Veris Environmental is a residuals management services company, providing biosolids recycling and transportation, dewatering, digester cleaning, lagoon services and land application services in the western US. AWS Dredge is a service provider to hard rock mines in…
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National Grid, Shell, bp, Eni, Equinor and Total have formed a new partnership to develop offshore carbon dioxide (CO2) transport and storage infrastructure in the UK North Sea. With bp as the operator, the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) will serve the proposed Net Zero Teesside (NZT) and Zero Carbon Humber (ZCH) projects that aim to establish decarbonised industrial clusters in Teesside…
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