Archive for July, 2010
California looks for biomass power options at Lake Tahoe
In California, the Placer County government is partnering with federal agency representatives and NV Energy to secure land in the city of Kings Beach suitable to construct a biomass plant. One piece of real estate has been identified and is owned by NV Energy. It is already zoned for energy production and currently houses [...]
One potato, two potato
Following the all-but-certain defeat of a renewal of the ethanol tax credit, left-wing environmental activists, confederated into the National Anti-Biomass Incineration and Forest Protection Campaign, are making a move to destabilize support for biomass-based power generation.
At issue: is burning biomass carbon-neutral, and are there other emissions associated with it that make biomass an unappealing alternative [...]
Vista International, Emerald Energy partner for US biomass power projects
In Colorado, Vista International Technologies, Inc., a specialist in biomass and waste-to-energy projects, and Emerald Energy, LLC, a producer of proprietary high-value agricultural products for biomass feedstock, announced that they have signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate on Closed-Loop Biomass-to-Energy projects in the US and abroad.
According to the agreement, Vista will have an exclusive [...]
Montana legislation may provide $800,000 to three-county biomass project
In Montana, a biomass project in Lewis and Clark County is getting closer to obtaining federal funding under the Energy and Water Appropriations Act that was passed last week by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The legislation would provide $800,000 for the Tri-County Biomass Pilot Project, which would use woody biomass produced in Lewis and Clark, Jefferson [...]
Viridas to supply 240,000 tons of biomass to UK from Brazilian jatropha
In the UK, Viridas announced that it plans to supply an unnamed UK energy generator with 240,000 tons per year of sustainable biomass for electricity generation from its jatropha plant in Brazil. The company will process the seeds into crushed ‘seed-cake’ in a facility in the UK and plans to start commercial production in 2013.
The [...]
Nova Scotia holds community hearings over wood biomass power project
In Canada, community hearings are being held in Halifax to discuss the proposal to build a biomass-fueled power generation station in Cape Breton. Nova Scotia Power Inc. and NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp. are requesting permission from the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to burn 650,000 tons of wood per year. This would produce nearly [...]
IUT Singapore researchers win ASEAN Award for food-waste to energy project
In Singapore, researchers at IUT Singapore won an ASEAN Energy Award for their waste-to-energy project. The researchers developed a technology to burn food waste to generate renewable energy while producing electricity to power both the plant itself and supply excess electricity to Singapore’s power grid.
The plant, located in Tuas, is able to recycle over half [...]
$20 billion for UK biomass power, as policy changes
In the UK, the government removed a major financing obstacle for biomass power plants and committed to supporting the industry via obligations on utilities to use clean energy over the next 20 years. The move should release approximately $20 billion in private sector investment for the industry.
According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, [...]
The Digest’s Advanced Biofuels Markets – November 9-10, 2010 in San Francisco.
Biofuels Digest’s Advanced Biofuels Markets conference & expo will be held November 9-10, 2010 in San Francisco.
Our goal in San Francisco: to address the near-term, immediate steps towards commercialization of bioenergy, including a special series of presentations and dialogue on renewable chemicals, plastics, organic acids and other bio-based materials.
We’ll also have strategic investors, Administration officials [...]
The Last Word: “Biomass is much more like hydro—it has a firm capacity—and as a utility, that is what we like.”
Senior Biosystems Engineer, Dennis St. George: “There are many attributes that make an energy source functional and one of them is capacity, or the ability to deliver energy when you need to. With our hydro system, if we need to generate more power, it’s nearly an instantaneous process. The problem with wind and solar is [...]
