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The UK’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) had its tariff for large-scale biomass heating dropped from £0.027 (€0.031) per KWh to £0.010 after the European Commission (EC) ruled it was too high. Initially the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had planned to put in place the RHI at the end of September but was forced to postpone after the EC said it was unhappy... with the tariff price. Paul Thompson, head of policy at the DECC says although the industry expected the EC to reduce the tariffs lightly, such a significant drop was unexpected. ‘The government was clear that it wants to stimulate this area so I don’t really understand the cut. Taking a step back I think that the worrying thing is that people have ordered boilers and they didn’t expect one of the key planks of the policy to be blown out of the water,’ he says. ‘Over 60% in reduction is quite alarming and I think it will have implications on how people act towards future announcements. They will be very cautious now as they’ll realise they’re not necessarily certain. It’s such a huge change in the tariff figure. [read more]

Following the high standards and market acceptance of the ENplus certification scheme for woodpellets that was introduced to the German market in 2010, the German Pellet Institute (DEPI) and the German Biomass Research Centre Leipzig (DBFZ) are developing a certification scheme for wood briquettes. This is based upon the new European Norm EN14961-3, which define schemical and physical parameters... for wood briquette quality. The main aim of the new certification scheme is a high quality product that matches the EN Norm and can be used trouble free in standard heating installations for solid fuels. As vast amounts of wood briquettes are imported into Germany the certification scheme cannot focus on production alone. Different from wood pellets, briquettes are not traded in bulk. They are packed on the production site and then sent to the trader on palettes.Thus, the risk of the loss ofquality on the way to theend customer is significantlydecreased and information about the origin of the bundle is printed on the inlay. [read more]

Nine years ago the first certification body, Germany based DIN CERTCO, created certification for wood pellets and since then has been established as the leading wood pellet certification body. The idea behind the certification was to create an unambiguous and convincing guide and decision-making aid for pellet trade worldwide and help end consumers make the right decision when buying wood pellets... for their households. With 120 certificate holders worldwide, DIN CERTCO is well on its way to reaching this goal. The European Standard EN 14961-2 was published in September 2011. However this still does not cover the growing pellet trade around the world, so an international standard is in development. One part of the certification is the annual factory inspection of the pellet manufacturer. The inspection is necessary to control the quality assurance system which has to be installed in the production site. These systems assure the high quality of the pellets and therefore cover the production process from the raw material, through to the pelletising and packaging of the pellets. [read more]

Oil storage regulations are part of the devolved legislative framework within the UK. Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England each have separate regulations that suppliers and distributors throughout the UK must abide by; these individual regulations can cause confusion and enforcement difficulties. In many instances companies may be inadvertently breaching oil storage regulations, thereby... putting the health and safety of individuals at risk, as well as placing the organisation at danger of heavy penalties. In fact, the stark reality may be that the organisation believes it is operating within the law, although the laws it is operating within, may actually be for a different country. Oil storage regulations cover issues such as secondary containment, fire protection and planning permission, but the requirements cover different products in differentcountries. For example, inScotland waste cooking oilis within the scope of the regulations whereas it is not in England. In Northern Ireland, oil storage depots come within the scope of the regulations whereas they do not in England or Scotland. In Scotland oil stored ‘internally’ is included whereas it is not in England. [read more]

Co-firing biomass pellets with coal in power utilities and industrial plants in Europe is widely practiced. European users have sourced their supplies fromRussia, eastern Europe, NorthAmerica, and Australasia. Asia on the other hand, isa very different market. Incontrast to European nations,the biomass industry in Asiais relatively nascent, both inthe production of biomassand in the usage of... pellets. However, now renewablepolicies are becoming morecommonplace, especially inSouth Korea and Japan, thedemand for biomass pelletsmay well be on the up. The reality of the situationis of course, not thatstraightforward. Demand forpellets in Asia is still relativelysmall and slow, and verymuch determined by bottomline figures. Governmentintervention still plays a largedetermining factor in usage. South Korea, with its LowCarbon Green Growth policyand the Renewable PortfolioStandard requiring 14 state-runand private power utilities toboost supplies of renewableenergy starting in 2012, looksto be most promising Asiancountry to prompt demand. Power companies mustproduce a minimum of 2%renewable energy in 2012,increasing by 0.5% per year untila minimum of 10% by 2020. [read more]

Almost 94% of biomass produced in Malaysia comes from oil palm, while wood waste accounts for up to 4% with the remaining coming from rice and sugarcane residues. The fact that crude palm oil is Malaysia’s largest export comes as no surprise. Around 20,000 palm kernel shells (PKS) are exported to other countries every year. Locally, PKS are used by the world leader of building materials,... Lafarge, as a substitute for coal in the company’s cement manufacturing process. Pellets are the best alternative method for heating besides using oil and natural gas. They are safe, easy to use and have higher density than woodchips. The most commonly used feedstock for producing pellets comes from sawdust. Currently in Malaysia, many small pellet producers produce 1,000-3,000 tonnes of wood pellets on a monthly basis using sawdust as feedstock. There are around 10 active pellet producers, which export to Korea, Japan, Europe and China. There is an abundance of sawdust, but it facesc ompetition from other sectors, such as agriculture, gardening and the wood sector. [read more]