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Volume 6, Issue 1
Biomethane industry welcomes tariff certainty
Feature
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published the outcome of its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) biomethane tariff review on 9 December 2014. The department’s response to the tariff follows a consultation during the summer of last year, which collected evidence on whether economies of scale justified reducing tariffs for new, larger scale projects. Prior to the publication of...
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Industry voices
Feature
Market leaders from around the world reflect on 2014 and make their predictions for the year ahead
On the right road
Feature
For Sweden’s Göteborg Energi, Christmas came early last year when its biogas plant began supplying renewable, synthetic natural gas to the natural gas grid on 15 December 2014. The 20MW plant, known as GoBiGas, is the world’s first plant for large-scale production of biogas via the gasification of biomass. It has been under development since 2011, when the main contracts were...
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A solid sector?
Feature
Plunging oil prices, the return of EU deflation and the continued slow march of energy policy formulation in many EU member states looks set to create a challenging environment for Europe’s biomass pellet industry in 2015. It would be easy to portray the coming 12 months as a pressured period for European business investors and developers. Before drawing that conclusion, however, it is...
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Peering into the crystal ball
Feature
The majority of people, even now, still think of the bioenergy sector as ‘one thing’. Yet it ranges from huge cofired coal power stations all the way down to domestic systems, transport fuels or biochemicals, which makes it extremely difficult for policy to adequately cover all these different dimensions. It is a multi-faceted sector, but the current UK government’s actions do...
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The seal of approval
Feature
Over the past 15 years, the wood pellet industry has stood out among other renewable energy sectors as one of the fastest growing sources for sustainable heat and electricity available to today’s consumer. As renewables grew rapidly in importance and their necessity in our energy mix was further realised during this period, the demand for secure and sustainable energy sources became...
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British engineering excellence
Feature
In February 2014, following a 10-month programme of works, Hull, UK-based engineering company Spencer Group handed over the new biomass handling facilities at the Port of Hull to port operators Associated British Ports (ABP). It is the first project to be completed as part of a £100 million (€131 million) investment in biomass handling operations at the Humber Ports. Along with a...
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A lot to consider
Feature
Selecting a storage tank manufacturer for an anaerobic digestion (AD) project is not merely about choosing a tank. Such a decision requires consideration of supply chain performance, health and safety (H&S) credentials and financial security. As the global AD markets open up and make a significant contribution to renewable energy targets, there are opportunities for manufacturing companies to...
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Rendered useful
Feature
The rendering business is not known for its glamour or its cutting edge technology, but in North America’s first project of its kind, that is all about to change for an industry that is positioned for growth. US-based Biogas Energy, a full service anaerobic digestion (AD) construction company, has built an AD plant at North State Rendering in Oroville, California that is already paying...
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On the rise
Feature
Electricity generation from solid biomass continues to increase internationally. In late 2013, around 2,650 operational power plants worldwide were using solid biomass only, or very large shares of this fuel. These plants had an electricity generation capacity of about 42GWel. Additionally, around 350 fossil power plants were co-incinerating biomass. In 10 years, there will be approximately 4,100...
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Biogas comes to Bremen
Feature
On 27 January 2015, the 24th Biogas International Convention and Trade Fair will return to Germany. To be held at the Bremen Exhibition Centre across three days, the event is set to welcome thousands of industry specialists and visitors, who will meet to discuss the latest market trends for biogas plants. Here are just a few of those that will be exhibiting…
