One of the biggest energy companies in Northern Ireland, Energia Group, has announced plans to build an anaerobic digestion plant in Belfast, the Belfast Telegraph has reported. The Power NI parent company, known as Viridian until May 2019, has revealed the £40 million (€44.3 million) project will create 200 construction jobs to build the renewable energy plant,... [Read More]

Global energy company Engie has been awarded a government contract to build and operate a biomass heating plant in Spain. The new plant will be built in Pamplona in Spain’s Navarre region with a capacity of 29 MW. The plant will have permission to operate for 25 years and will supply heat to 4,500 households, as well as several public buildings in Pamplona. It is... [Read More]

The UK Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) is urging the government to maintain momentum on building a more sustainable circular economy. The plea follows new appointments to the cabinet by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, including Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers, and Business, Energy and Industrial Secretary Andrea Leadsom. ABDA believes that... [Read More]

An application to convert an Irish peat plant to co-fire with biomass has been rejected, putting hundreds of jobs at risk. The local planning authority An Bord Pleanála refused permission for the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) plant in Shannonbridge, County Offaly due to climate concerns. The future of at least 300 jobs at the plant, run by Bord na Móna, is now uncertain. The... [Read More]

Brazil’s Parana state government has announced the operation of the country’s first biogas-fired plant to rely on pig manure for its fuel. The project, which cost BRL 17 million (€4.48 million) and was financially supported by power utility company Copel, created two 240kW motor-generators enabling the plant to produce around 3,000 MWh annually. It will consume... [Read More]

An English creamery is now using its by-products to create biogas in a new sustainable energy project. Yorkshire cheese producer Wensleydale Creamery will supply whey – which was previously discarded - to a local biogas plant to generate 10,000 MWh of thermal power, enough to heat 800 homes per year. Wensleydale Creamery produces around 4,000 tonnes of cheese annually... [Read More]

British power stations are producing 100 million tonnes less carbon dioxide (CO2) per year than they were 10 years ago, renewable energy company Drax has reported. The amount of carbon being saved is equivalent to flying the entire population of the UK to Beijing and back. On 30 June, carbon emissions from electricity fell to 97g per kW, meeting the Committee on Climate... [Read More]

A former biomass plant in Lyonsdale, New York State will be dismantled by the end of 2019. The plant previously burned wood waste to power more than 20,000 homes in the area. Lyonsdale Biomass plant has been dormant for almost two years while the county’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has been searching for a new tenant. The facility used biomass material... [Read More]

The biomass conversion of a previously coal-fired power station in South Wales is on track to begin operations by 2021. According to global sustainable energy company SIMEC Atlantic Energy, the Uskmouth plant in Newport will be fuelled with pellets derived from waste. The pellets will contain high levels of plastic waste, which cannot be recycled and may otherwise be... [Read More]

UK energy major BP has agreed to form a 50/50 joint venture (JV) with US agricultural trader Bunge, creating a bioenergy company in Brazil. The JV, which will be known as BP Bunge Bioenergia, will operate 11 mills across the southeast, north and Midwest regions of Brazil, one of the largest fast-growing markets for biofuels in the world. The new company will have... [Read More]

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revealed that there is over $400 million (€356.5 million) available in financing under a programme that provides loan guarantees to help rural small businesses in the US lower energy costs. Encouraging farmers, rural small business and agricultural producers to apply for the financing, acting assistant to the secretary for... [Read More]

The recently established Bright Biomethane North America, a subsidiary of Dutch company Bright Biomethane, has said that it will soon realise its first biogas upgrade projects in the state of New York, US. The renewable natural gas (RNG) projects are reportedly the first on the US East Coast to be equipped with high efficient three-stage membrane separation technology,... [Read More]

The Government of Canada has invested CAD$2.7 million (€1.8 million) in a sustainable forestry project run by the Indigenous Oujé-Bougoumou Cree Nation in Quebec, which will create jobs, support the economy and displace diesel use. Announced by Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, on behalf of Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Natural Resources, the funding... [Read More]

The Bioenergy Association of New Zealand welcomed the proposal from Government in its Action on Agricultural Emissions to provide credits for reductions of gross greenhouse gas emissions from farms. Brian Cox, executive officer of the Bioenergy Association said that “The Government proposals will open up opportunities for farmers to offset biological emissions from... [Read More]

Ireland’s Energy in Agriculture 2019 returns for the fourth year on August 20 and aims to provide practical information for farmers and the rural sector about the various renewable energy and energy-efficiency options available for farm businesses. It is organised jointly by Teagasc, Tipperary County Council, the Irish Farmers’ Association, Tipperary Energy Agency... [Read More]

From several stories up at Exelon’s Albany Green Energy plant, you can see a massive pile of chipped up wood, known as biomass. A long conveyor carries it up into the plant, where it’s fed into a boiler. The biomass burns to make electricity for Georgia Power. Around the corner from the wood pile, a long tube snakes off, carrying leftover steam to power a Proctor... [Read More]