Archive for August, 2010
Enviva signs 480K ton annual wood pellet contract with Belgium’s Electrabel
Just as biofuels ties are deepening between US technologies and Brazilian feedstocks, European biomass companies are deepening their dependence on low-cost supplies of US wood chips for biomass boilers.
Exemplifying the trend, in Virginia Enviva announced the signing of a long-term wood pellet supply contract with Electrabel, a subsidiary of GDF SUEZ Group, one of the [...]
Vail looks to biomass to utilize dying pine trees
In Colorado, the city of Vail is exploring the development of a biomass power facility to utilize the dead and dying pine trees in the region. Thanks to the mountain pine beetle, 80% of Vail’s lodge pole pines are expected to die within the next four years. Due to the contagiousness of the disease, city [...]
Dow Corning looking to install Michigan biomass-fired facility
In Michigan, Dow Corning is looking to install a biomass-fired energy facility near its Midland manufacturing headquarters using wood waste from sustainable forestry initiatives. The facility would produce both electricity and steam. Cirque Energy recently filed planning permission for the facility, who would build, own and operate the facility on behalf of Dow Corning.
More on [...]
California’s Sierra Pacific Industries announce shutdown of biomass-powered facility
In California, Sierra Pacific Industries announced the immediate shutdown of its biomass-powered facility in Loyalton. The company said that lower off-take prices for the energy from NV Energy as well as reduced timber sales from the US Forest Service led to the mothballing of the facility.
The facility had only re-opened in January after shutting down [...]
Wisconsin residents express concern over proposed biomass project
In Wisconsin, more than 275 residents in Rothschild voiced their concerns at a village Board of Appeals meeting of a proposed We Energies $250 million biomass project to be sited next to the Domtar paper plant. The board approved the installation of stacks and a boiler building higher than village ordinances typically permit.
The project still [...]
India’s Orient Green Power Company Ltd. to add 60MW of biomass power
In India, Orient Green Power Company Ltd. expects to add another 60MW of biomass power to its portfolio during the current financial year. The company currently has 40MW of biomass power in its overall energy mix of 200MW of renewables, of which the remaining is wind power.
In presentations made as part of the company’s IPO-related [...]
India company fires up 1.5mW anaerobic power plant
In India, Energen has fired up its anaerobic digester biomass power plant in Salem, Tamil Nadu that will produce 1MW of electricity by September and 1.5MW by October using chicken manure as a feedstock.
There is sufficient chicken litter feedstock available within 35 km of the plant to support in excess of 10MW/h of renewable electricity [...]
Xcel Energy to develop a 30 kW pilot-scale biomass power system
In North Dakota, Xcel Energy has teamed with the University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) to develop a 30 kW pilot-scale biomass power system that combines a microturbine and biomass gasifier. According to, Phillip Hutton, Ph.D., Research Manager at the EERC, “For residue biomass, where the cost of the biomass is [...]
Manitoba hearings may make the approval process for clean energy systems simpler
In Canada, Manitoba provincial government is planning to hold public hearings on new regulations to simplify the approval process for clean-energy systems such as biomass. Officials said the goal of the proposed changes is to encourage more use of biomass material as a fuel source, replacing fossil fuels such as coal.
The province has posted the [...]
Opinion: biomass facility is “an attempt to utilize a locally renewable and currently dying resource”
Tom Richard, Director of Penn State’s Institutes of Energy and the Environment: “The push-pull between economies of scale for conversion facilities and diseconomies of scale for feedstock supply chains suggest three distinct business models for biomass feedstock supply: independent local suppliers, large contiguous plantations and regional or global commodity markets.”
Kristen Bertuglia, the town of Vail’s [...]
