Pellets News

Statkraft, a European renewable energy generator, has shipped over 3,000 tonnes of woodchips to a customer in Denmark. The consignment is the first woodchip cargo to be shipped from Statkraft's new biomass trading hub which opened in August at the site of the former Södra Cell paper mill, located south of Oslo, Norway, at Tofte. Statkraft is processing round wood to energy chips at the site…
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The US fuel manufacturer Energex has been qualified into the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) Standards Program, a third-party accreditation programme providing specifications for residential and commercial-grade pellet fuel. Energex has qualified its Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, and Lac-Megantic, Quebec, facilities, becoming the eighth company to join the PFI Standards Program. The PFI Standards…
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Rentech, a US wood fibre processing company, says its Atikokan plant in Ontario, Canada, has achieved record production of approximately 1,850 tonnes of pellets for the week ended 14 November. The plant’s design capacity is 110,000 tpy, or 2,115 tonnes a week. Pellet production at the company’s Wawa facility recently resumed, having been offline to modify the log in-feed system and…
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Lignetics, the largest residential wood pellet manufacturing company in the US which now has a production capacity of approximately 550,000 tonnes a year of wood pellets, has acquired the assets of GF Funding (whose facility was formerly known as Geneva Wood Fuels), expanding its footprint into Maine and upper New England. Lignetics has wood pellet manufacturing plants on both the East and West…
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Nepcon has issued a Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) certificate to wood pellet producer SBE Latvia (SBE). SBE is the first in Europe and only second in the world to earn this credential, expected to be in strong demand by European energy producers. With the certificate in place, SBE Latvia is able to meet the European energy sector’s growing demands for sustainable biomass…
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SBP, an industry-led initiative formed by major European biomass energy utilities, has announced its first certification of a biomass producer. NSF International, an SBP-approved certification body, has certified the Aliceville, Alabama, facility of US pellet producer Westervelt Renewable Energy. The SBP certificate issued to Westervelt covers the manufacture of woody biomass pellets,…
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The global wood pellet market for power plants and heating is expected to grow annually by 14.1% and reach a value of €20,073 million by 2023, according to Transparency Market Research. Wood pellets production has increased substantially in the past few years, owing to the implementation of stringent emission norms in Europe and North America. High energy density and easy…
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The Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP), an industry-led initiative by major biomass energy producers, is asking interested parties to provide feedback on draft regional risk assessments (RRA) for the three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. RRAs are a key part of SBP’s focus on identifying and mitigating any risks associated with sourcing feedstock for biomass pellet…
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South Korea’s wood pellet imports dropped by 22% to 126,012 tonnes in July from last year, according to freshly released customs today. Despite the drop from year on year, imports increased by 10% from June. In total, the country has imported 730,364 during the first seven months of 2015, which is 12% less than in the year-earlier period. Vietnam retains its place as the largest pellet…
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Astec Industries has entered into an agreement and received a related down payment to build, deliver and install the first production line of a new turnkey wood pellet production facility. The $30 million (€26 million) agreement with Highland Pellets includes the option to add additional production lines, related equipment and installation services which could bring the total order amount to…
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Okanagan Pellet Company (OPC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Viridis Energy, has commenced a major one to two year plant upgrade that will be conducted in three phases. The OPC plant upgrades are intended to address new regulatory requirements for safe storage and management of wood pellets and ensure the plant complies with National Fire Protection Association and BC Fire Safety code. In…
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Wood pellet manufacturer German Pellets is ramping up capacity at its Urania production plant in Louisiana, from 578,000 tonnes to over 1 million tonnes a year. The commissioning of the first construction phase is complete and work on phase two has now started. The financing for the capacity increase of the plant has been raised in full. 'We are delighted at the fast realisation of the expansion…
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The European Pellet Council (EPC) has published a new version of the ENplus Handbook, to adapt the certification system to the latest market developments. The ENplus certification, covering the entire supply chain of wood pellets, was launched in 2011 to ensure a sustainable development of the pellet market by harmonising quality on the international level. Since the start of the certification…
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Euronext will launch a new wood pellet commodities futures contract in the autumn of 2015, subject to regulatory approval. Aimed at producers, wholesalers and retailers, this physically-settled contract targeting the residential heating sector, will allow the industry to hedge its positions. Wood pellets, manufactured from stem wood and untreated residues from the wood processing industry, are a…
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