Germany's energy wood and pellet sector had a difficult year in 2015 as falling oil and gas prices impacted on investment, according to a report by the Germany Energy Wood and Pellet Association (DEPV). In its annual report entitled Pellet market 2015 and Forecast 2016, the industry association said the "massive drop" in oil prices has "hampered" the pellet trade with... [Read More]

The Welsh Assembly has passed a new Environment Bill (Wales) that will cap the amount of waste sent to waste-to-energy plants. Set to come into effect in 2017, the Bill will require businesses to limit the amount of recyclable waste being sent for incineration and a ban on disposable food waste being discarded in sewers. Any businesses that fail to comply with... [Read More]

Ireland should launch the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme to help create jobs and accelerate the switch from fossil fuels to bioenergy, according to the Irish BioEnergy Association (IrBEA). A RHI, which has been promised for more than a year and is still under discussion at the Department of Energy, would benefit both farmers and those installing the heating systems,... [Read More]

Construction work is due to begin on a new biomass pipeline at the planned St Andrews University biomass plant in Scotland. Located at Guardbridge, Fife, the £25 million (€32.5m) plant is being built on the site of a former paper mill. Hot water will be pumped from the plant four miles underground to provide heating to laboratories and student housing at St... [Read More]

Finnish pulp and paper manufacture Stora Enso said it will invest €16m to start wood pellet production at its Ala sawmill in Sweden and €10m to revamp its biomass-fired boiler in Finland, as it attempts to transform into a renewable materials company. In its 2015 fourth-quarter statement published today (4 February, 2015), the firm said sales decreased by 2.5%... [Read More]

US-headquartered wood pellet producer Enviva Partners is due to open a wood pellet manufacturing facility in North Carolina, US, by the end of 2017. The plant will be built in Richmond County, North Carolina. A company representative told the Richmond County Board Commissioners that construction of the facility should begin later this year, according to the Richmond County... [Read More]

The joint venture of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), PensionDanmark, and Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) has completed the construction of a £162 million (€233m) biomass power plant investment in the UK well ahead of schedule. The construction of the Brigg Renewable Energy Plant, the JV’s first 40MW straw-fired biomass plant... [Read More]

China has become the major destination for eucalyptus chips from Australia with record-high shipments in 2015, according to new research from forest industry consulting firm Wood Resources International. Eucalyptus chip export volumes from Australia were up 15% in 2015 year-over-year to reach a record-high of 5.2m tonnes, valued at almost one billion Australian dollars.... [Read More]

The US House of Representatives has passed the Electrify Africa Act to help develop renewable electricity supply in the sub-Saharan Africa. The bill, which passed on Monday and will now be sent to President Obama to be signed, sets a framework for a public-private partnership between the US and sub-Saharan governments to “develop an appropriate mix of power solutions”,... [Read More]

North Yorkshire-based industrial shredding firm UNTHA UK has appointed a new managing director. Marcus Brew takes the reins at the helm of the company, following a promotion from his previous role of sales director. Chris Oldfield, who has led the shredding business since 1997, will become chairman, concentrating on UNTHA UK's over-arching strategic direction and other... [Read More]

Macedonia’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy has opened the country’s first anaerobic digestion facility. Minister Mihail Cvetkov cut the ribbon at the €20 million Pelagonija AD facility, located at a cattle farm in the city of Bitola. “I hope there will be similar investments in agriculture in the future with funds provided by... [Read More]

Orthios, a UK sustainable energy company, is preparing to begin work on two combined food and power plants in the UK. To be located at a former Anglesey Aluminium in Wales at Holyhead, Anglesey, the £1 billion (€1.3bn) Orthios Eco Park will process waste wood to produce 299MW of electricity, enough to power 300,000 homes. The heat produced during power generation... [Read More]

Waste and resource management company Biffa is creating a network of strategic food waste transfer stations across the UK, as it continues to focus on the anaerobic digestion (AD) market. Biffa is making a £1.5m investment into four new food waste transfer stations across the UK, which will be used to collect and sort food waste before it is sent to be treated at... [Read More]

The UK government has been advised to not alter its 57% carbon emissions reduction, despite the call for more ambitious action by the Paris climate agreement. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), a government climate watchdog, made its latest recommendations for the UK’s fifth carbon budget in a letter sent to Energy Secretary Amber Rudd. In the letter, the CCC... [Read More]

Danish Babcock & Wilcox Vølund (BWV), a subsidiary of the US-based Babcock & Wilcox, has been awarded a $90 million (€82.5m) contract for constructing a bioenergy plant in the UK The contract to design, manufacture, and build the waste-to-energy plant near Haresfield, Gloucestershire, was awarded by a joint venture of Urbased and Balfour Beatty. The... [Read More]

Mandatory separate collections for biowaste and recyclables should be put in place by EU member states, according to a new report published by the European Commission (EC). The research, Assessment of separate collection schemes in the 28 capitals of the EU, was led by the Copenhagen Resource Institute and German consultancy BiPRO and assessed the legislation and practice... [Read More]