The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved $21 million (€19 million) in grants for energy innovation and efficiency programmes. Almost 12 of these projects, including one to convert forest residues to electricity and another to turn dairy manure into biogas, were funded through four key grant and loan programmes. Under the Electric Program Investment Charge... [Read More]

Cleanergy, an energy solution provider headquartered in Sweden, has installed one of its combined heat and power (CHP) systems at a wastewater treatment plant in Slovenia. The system, which comprises Cleanergy's GasBox – the centrepiece of its CHP technology – has been deployed at the Jesenice plant in the north west of the country and is now generating heat... [Read More]

Weltec Biopower has started building a 500kW anaerobic digestion plant in Loughgall, Northern Ireland for vegetable producer Gilfresh. 'This is our third plant in Northern Ireland and the eleventh in the UK,' says Kevin Monson, sales manager of Weltec Biopower UK. Gilfresh grows a number of vegetables, including salad crops, root vegetables, cabbages and pak choi. The... [Read More]

Aria Energy, a provider of baseload renewable energy, has started commercial operations and renewable energy production at Sarasota County's Central County Solid Waste Disposal Complex located in Nokomis, Florida. The Sarasota project is a 4.8MW landfill gas-to-energy facility that produces renewable energy by capturing and processing the methane gas generated at the landfill... [Read More]

Inspection company USFGIS and Twin Ports Testing have signed a strategic agreement to jointly enter the biomass market. Jane Vogt, USFGIS VP, says: 'By combining the strengths of both companies we create a single source solution for inspection and testing services to the biomass industry in a highly efficient way.' Twin Ports Testing has been involved in the wood pellet... [Read More]

Alstom has signed two contracts with Danish power plant company Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) for Geared Reaction steam turbines (GRT) to be used in two UK biomass projects. The first contract uses a 23MW GRT for a waste wood combined heat and power (CHP) biomass plant in Widnes, Merseyside that is being developed by BWSC and UK logistics company... [Read More]

Scotia Atlantic Biomass, a wholly owned subsidiary of Viridis Energy, has received a working capital loan of $2 million (€1.9 million) from Cornwall Investments, which will be used to procure Nova Scotia wood fibre for the production of its industrial pellets. The loan is secured by inventory in the form of a demand note with interest calculated daily and compounded... [Read More]

Balfour Beatty Investments has reached financial close on a £51.6 million (€72 million) advanced conversion technology waste wood power station located in Northamptonshire, UK. Balfour Beatty will invest £17.2 million, as will each of its two consortium investment partners, Noy Infrastructure & Energy Investment Fund and Equitix. The 26 month construction... [Read More]

Some of the leading players in the UK's biomass industry have joined forces to develop a skills standard under the government's Apprenticeship Trailblazers programme. The programme sees groups of employers pool their expertise to develop apprenticeship standards in their own sector with the aim of ensuring young people develop world class skills to take into industry. The... [Read More]

ICM and JUM Global, a waste solution developer contracted with the City of San José, California, have signed a contract for a gasification demonstration unit using ICM's proprietary technology. This gasification demonstration unit will be operated at the San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility, which will process up to 10 tonnes per day of urban... [Read More]

Valmet has announced that it will deliver a biomass boiler plant to Nokianvirran Energia in Finland. A letter of intent for delivery was signed in November 2014. The delivery will include a HYBEX boiler with a steam power of 68MW that employs the fluidszed bed technology, flue gas purification equipment, and the plant's electrification and automation system. The boiler... [Read More]

The Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) has announced the resignation of Brad Bennett as president and director. Michele Rebiere will succeed Bennett and president and director. Rene Landry has been appointed VP and director, and Wayne Young appointed as director. Bennett is said to have stepped down for 'personal reasons'. The WPAC board of directors thanks Bennett... [Read More]

A joint venture between Interserve, the international support services and construction group, and Babcock & Wilcox Vølund has been awarded a £150 million (€210 million) contract by the Brite Partnership North East to build a biomass-fired power plant in Rotherham, UK. Based in Templeborough, the 'Brite' power plant will be fired with locally sourced... [Read More]

Drax has acquired Billington Bioenergy (BBE), the UK's second largest wood pellet distributor. The move signals the power generator's intention to enter the country's growing biomass heat sector. Drax is now the UK's largest renewable power generator by replacing much of its coal capacity with biomass, and is also a world leader in sourcing sustainable biomass through... [Read More]

Viridis Merchants (VM), an aggregation and trading service of wood pellets and wholly owned subsidiary of wood pellet manufacturer Viridis Energy, has secured a contract with an existing supplier, for exclusive distribution of up to 18,000 tonnes of 100% Douglas fir pellets. The contract value is over C$6 million (€4.4 million) during 2015. VM launched its Okanagan... [Read More]

Law firm Eversheds advised Eco2 and Iceni Energy on the sale of the 44.2MW straw-powered biomass project in Snetterton, East Anglia. The £160 million (€223 million) Snetterton Renewable Energy plant will be primarily fuelled using locally sourced straw and will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 82,000 homes. It will also result in... [Read More]