The Senate ag committee has approved its version of the 2018 Farm Bill with bipartisan support. The legislation includes an amendment offered by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., that restores mandatory funding to Farm Bill Energy Title programs.
A new steam drying technique for wood developed through the EU-funded SteamBio project could significantly reduce transportation costs for biomass, according to the German-based Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., has introduced legislation would allow carbon utilization technologies and biogas production to access USDA loan guarantees, research programs and rural development loans.
On June 7, Valmet announced it will supply a biomass-fired 75 MWe CFB boiler and flue gas cleaning system to Air Water & Energia Power Onahama Corp.'s Onahama Plant in Japan. The plant will be primarily fueled by wood pellets and palm kernel shells.
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry released its version of the 2018 Farm Bill on June 8. The bill reauthorizes Energy Title programs, but provides insufficient funding to ensure their success, according to the AgEC.
A coalition that includes the Russian Direct Investment Fund and JBICIG Partners have agreed to consider potential investments in Russia's wood pellet industry. Construction on a 135,000-tom-per-year facility is expected to begin this year.
On June 7, the U.S. EPA issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, announcing the agency is soliciting public input on whether and how to change the way it considers costs and benefits in making regulatory decisions.
Drax Power Station June 6 took a step closer to achieving its coal-free ambitions by taking its fourth coal-fired power generating unit offline as part of a planned outage program as it prepares to convert it to run on sustainable biomass.
Illinois-based Walz Scale has developed new volumetric measurement systems for the biomass industry. The non-contact laser based measurement systems provide high accuracy volume measurement for trucks and conveyor belts.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently released data showing that U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 570,000 tons of densified biomass fuel in February, with sales reaching 640,000 tons during the month.
On June 4, a group of eight members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry sent a letter to committee chair Sen. Pat Roberts and ranking member Sen. Debbie Stabenow expressing support for the Farm Bill energy title programs.
Pinnacle Renewable Holdings Inc. has entered into a new long-term, take-or-pay off-take contract with Japan-based Hanwa Co. Ltd. Under the contract, Pinnacle will supply Hanwa with 75,000 metric tons of wood pellet annually, beginning in 2022.
A group of senior policymakers and government officials has visited Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, to learn more about the U.K.'s largest power station and its plans to pilot new carbon capture technology.
While the efforts of ISO TC 238 are ongoing, they are greatly accelerated each year during the annual plenary and working group meetings, which are being held in Espoo, Finland, May 28 to June 1.
The most obvious challenge the pellet industry will confront as we work to turn demand around is our lack of touchpoints with consumers when they are making home and space heating decisions.
Biomass' carbon neutrality and forest sustainability have been two topics of heated debate, especially over the past decade, as the global wood pellet industry has flourished.
Understanding the positions of those opposed to the wood pellet industry is critical to overcoming and reconciling differences.
There is no doubt that Asia's demand for biomass is growing rapidly, but a big unknown is how much of a role wood pellets will play in meeting the emerging demand, and where will those pellets come from.
The government of the Netherlands has filed a report with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service's Global Agricultural Information Network outlining current market opportunities for wood pellets, primarily those made of sawdust.
Drax has announced that it is to pilot the first bioenergy carbon capture storage (BECCS) project of its kind in Europe, which, if successful, could make the renewable electricity produced at its North Yorkshire power station carbon negative.
SIA Graanul Invest has concluded an agreement with the Central Finance and Contracting Agency of Latvia and the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia on the realization of the project to increase the efficiency of its pellet plants.
On May 16, USDA Forest Service Interim Chief Vicki Christiansen announced the award of almost $8 million in Wood Innovation Grants to expand and accelerate wood products and wood energy markets.
On May 18, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 198 to 213 to defeat the 2018 Farm Bill. One day prior to the vote, members of the House defeated a proposed amendment by a vote of 75 to 340 that would have repealed the Farm Bill's Energy Title.
The International Renewable Energy Agency has announced the renewables industry created more than 500,000 new jobs globally last year, a 5.3 percent increase from 2016. Approximately 10.3 million are now employed by the renewable energy industry.
The American Biogas Council in conjunction with the Agriculture Energy Coalition and the Biomass Power Association is urging Congress to oppose H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, also known as the Farm Bill.
On May 10, California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order that aims to protect communities from wildfire and climate impacts. The California Biomass Energy Alliance said it is encouraged that Brown recognizes the importance of biomass energy.
On May 14, the Agriculture Energy Coalition sent a letter to the House of Representatives opposing the elimination of a stand-alone energy title and exclusion of mandatory funding for energy programs in the 2018 Farm Bill.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released the May edition of its Short-Term Energy Outlook, predicting that nonhydropower renewables will provide more than 10 percent of electricity generation this year, up slightly from last year.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May recently helped celebrate the opening of a new bioenergy training center at the U.K.-based Berkshire College of Agriculture. The new energy center will provide training in in biofuel engineering and related skills.
Asia's demand for biomass is growing rapidly. Wood pellet imports into South Korea and Japan have grown exponentially in the past few years. In 2017 South Korea imported 2.4 million tons (Mt) of wood pellets, 20 times more than was imported in 2012.
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