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Date Published:
08 June 2014

Volume 5, Issue 3


RHI changes implemented

Feature
At the end of May changes to the UK’s non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) came into force. The changes will introduce new technologies to be covered by the scheme and new tariffs which may affect existing participants. This incentive for nondomestic applications pays organisations for every unit (kWh) of useful heat produced using eligible renewable technologies. This counts towards... [read more]

Competing for CfDs

Feature
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has published a number of renewable energy proposals that could affect support mechanisms in place for renewable energy technologies, including those in the bioenergy sector. In the consultation, published on 13 May, DECC stated: ‘This consultation document seeks views on the government’s approach to the use of technology groupings... [read more]

AD gets a break

Feature
The UK government, on 19 May, announced that it will allow continued investment in anaerobic digestion (AD) plants from funds which qualify under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). It was previously announced in the 2014 Budget that companies accredited under the Renewables Obligation (RO) or Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will be excluded from the EIS and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs). At... [read more]

EPA releases CO2 reduction plan

Feature
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently released its Clean Power Plan proposal which, for the first time, cuts carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution from existing power plants — the single largest source of carbon pollution in the US. Under the proposed rule, which was published on 2 June, the agency aims to slash CO2 emissions in the US by 30% in 2030, compared to 2005 levels.... [read more]

Power for the people

Feature
Construction has reached an advanced stage on Britain’s latest biomass power plant, a 30MW waste wood-fuelled facility that Europe’s second largest electricity company, E.ON, expects to commission later this year near Sheffield. Located at Blackburn Meadows, expected to burn about 180,000 tonnes of waste wood annually, the £120 million (€150 million) plant will generate... [read more]

Slowly but surely

Feature
There is something very symbolic about the fact London’s first commercial-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) plant has been built on a former coal handling yard and certainly reflects the UK’s changing energy market, which is moving away from fossil fuels and evolving to consume more and more clean energy. The new AD and composting facility is located at East London’s Dagenham Dock... [read more]

The bigger the better?

Feature
Renewable energy has grown in popularity across the UK during the past few years, in both the residential and industrial sectors. And it has done so to such an extent that, in its recent report ‘Review — Renewable Energy View: 2014’, the Renewable Energy Association (REA) revealed that renewable energy supports more than 100,000 jobs in the UK and has attracted almost €37... [read more]

The wait is over

Feature
The biomethane-togrid market in the UK has finally gained true momentum, that is, if the number of recently announced projects receiving the go-ahead is taken as an indicator. The most commercially efficient use of biogas produced by anaerobic digestion (AD) is to upgrade it to biomethane and inject it into the national grid, known as ‘biomethaneto- grid’ (BtG). Following the... [read more]

Measure that methane

Feature
The development of biogas production and monitoring has had many twists and turns since its early days in Germany, and is now driven by the economic considerations of each varying application and country. Government incentives and generation of revenue for renewable energy, local infrastructure and the characteristics of waste are now key factors in biogas production, monitoring and use. Europe... [read more]

Hybrid AD holds the key

Feature
Dry’ or high solids anaerobic digestion (AD) is commonly used to process bio-waste in mainland Europe. In the UK, however, the first tranche of AD facilities have all ‘wet’ systems where pumpable substrates, energy crops and organic waste materials are digested and stirred in cylindrical tanks. Applying this type of digestion means the full potential of bioenergy in the UK is... [read more]

Room to grow

Feature
In 2008, faced with increasing power utility bills, Cannington Cold Stores, a supplier of prepared and packaged products to UK supermarkets, established Cannington Bio-Energy to produce an affordable renewable energy solution for its cold storage through the use of anaerobic digestion and waste management. Kirk Environmental was initially approached to design, supply and build two anaerobic... [read more]

From bathrooms to biogas

Feature
It is not unfair to say that working with sewage waste is a fairly unpleasant business, especially when dealing with a whole town’s-worth. However, for KB Bioenergy, owner of the anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Akron in the US state of Ohio, it is all in a day’s work. The plant was constructed in 2007 across the river from the city’s wastewater treatment plant as a joint... [read more]

Membrane technology goes global

Feature
Biogas is an eco-friendly energy source that is becoming increasingly important in today’s energy supply. It can be used to generate power and/or heat or as a fuel, and provides a high energy yield per m2 of land. This, however, does not unfold the full potential of biogas. Conventionally and historically, biogas has been turned into electricity right where it is produced. Only as much as... [read more]

Preventing corrosion

Feature
Biomass fuels appear as a promising economic and environmental alternative to fossil fuels, being renewable and not contributing to the increase of the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. Nonetheless, the combustion of biomass fuels causes important difficulties to combustor operation and maintenance due to their higher concentration of problematic inorganic matter and volatiles, such as K and Cl,... [read more]

Replacing coal with biomass

Feature
Minnesota Power operates the Hibbard Renewable Energy Center in Duluth, Minnesota, US. At Hibbard, superheated steam for power generation is supplied by two identical boilers. The units, originally supplied in the 1950s to burn pulverised coal, were converted in 1985 to each generate 136,100kg/hr of superheated steam by firing a mixture of wood and stoker coal (in a 60:40 heat input split) on a... [read more]

Overcoming hurdles

Feature
Direct fire heating — specifically boiler technology — is not a new technology and is still arguably the most common way to produce energy from biomass. Since the 1800s direct combustion of solid biomass has been deployed to generate hot flue gases which in turn produce steam in a boiler. A variety of material (e.g. lignin, citrus peel, animal waste) can be used for electrical... [read more]

Adding value

Feature
New biomass conversion technologies create opportunities for companies, especially in the pulp and paper, oil and gas, chemicals and materials, and power generation industries. It is estimated that by 2030 there will be several entirely new value chains. Increasing numbers of biobased markets are expected to grow and pave the way towards new technologies, products and production systems. New... [read more]

Harbouring new opportunities

Feature
In real estate, it is said that location is everything. If this is the case, Halifax Grain Elevator occupies a prime piece of real estate, ideally situated to support the growing biomass sector in Nova Scotia, Canada. The elevator is a large storage facility located in the Port of Halifax, one of the largest natural ice-free harbours in the world. The elevator storage has capacity for over... [read more]

Energy specialist

Feature
Amsterdam, Europe’s largest petrol port and second largest coal port, has a unique logistical location within the world’s largest international energy hub ARA (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp) — three connecting seaports serving the European hinterland. It is one of the leading players in the fossil energy market and also an excellent hub for renewable energy and the bio-based... [read more]

All systems go

Feature
Drax Power Station in the UK, already the largest power station in the UK, is also set to become the UK’s largest single renewable energy generator through the operation of the new Biomass Eco Store Project. This project involved the installation of 28 conveyors, totalling 3.5km in length, with a total belt length of 7.9km.The conveyors will transport fuel from trains into four special... [read more]

Quality control

Feature
Since its inception in 1998, the international market for wood pellets has grown from zero to 24 million tonnes and is expected to double again by 2020. Wood pellets are shipped internationally, to be burnt as a coal substitute in thermal co-firing power plants and stand alone utilities. In a world increasingly conscious of the impact of human activity on the health of the planet, wood pellets... [read more]