Biomass Week - May 17, 2013

Senate Ag Committee approves Farm Bill The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry has voted to approve a bipartisan Farm Bill authored by Committee Chairwoman Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Ranking Member Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. READ MORE SHARE
House Ag Committee approves Farm Bill The House Committee on Agriculture has approved its version of the Farm Bill, H.R. 1947, by a vote of 36 to 10. The bill, titled the Federal Agricultural and Reform and Risk Management Act, includes nearly $40 billion in spending cuts. READ MORE SHARE
	Moniz confirmed as secretary of energy The Senate has unanimously confirmed Ernest Moniz as the Secretary of Energy by a vote of 96 to 0. Moniz was nominated by President Obama in March. He will replace former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who announced his resignation on Feb. 1. READ MORE SHARE
Georgia Power signs biomass PPA Southern Company's largest subsidiary, Georgia Power, has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Rollcast Energy Inc. for 53.5 MW generated at Piedmont Green Power Plant, which began commercial operations in late April. READ MORE SHARE
Biomass Power Association holds annual Washington fly-in The Biomass Power Association held its annual "fly-in" this week in Washington, DC. This event enables BPA members from across the country to meet with elected and appointed federal officials to discuss the issues important to the biomass industry. READ MORE SHARE
Bill aims to open RFS to natural gas-based ethanol Reps. Pete Olson, R-Texas, and Jim Costa, D-Calif., have introduced legislation that would allow ethanol produced from domestic natural gas to meet the volume requirements of the renewable fuel standard (RFS). READ MORE SHARE
Viridis completes private placement, prepares to startup plant Vancouver, British Columbia-based Viridis Energy Inc. has announced it closed the second, and final, tranche of its $5 million non-brokered private placement and is preparing to begin operations at its Scotia Atlantic Biomass Co. Ltd. plant. READ MORE SHARE
Evonik Industries, OPX Biotechnologies sign development agreement OPX Biotechnologies Inc. and Evonik Industries AG have announced an agreement to jointly develop certain biobased specialty chemicals. The agreement calls for OPXBIO to use its proprietary EDGE technology to develop the bioprocesses. READ MORE SHARE
Scientists develop 'green' pretreatment of miscanthus for biofuel Two University of Illinois scientists have developed an environmentally friendly and more economical way of pretreating miscanthus in the biofuel production process. The technique uses butadiene sulfone, which can be recovered. READ MORE SHARE
Canada funds algae project in the oil sands The Government of Canada has announced that an innovative new technology will reduce industrial GHG emissions. The three-year project will use algae to recycle industrial carbon dioxide emissions from an oil sands facility into commercial products. READ MORE SHARE
FCC Environment harvests first crop of biomass fuel FCC Environment harvested its first crop of miscanthus grass grown on its former landfill and quarry sites in Darrington, West Yorkshire and Calverton in the U.K. The grass is grown on a 30 hectare (74.1 acre) site two hours north of London. READ MORE SHARE
EU confirms unannounced inspections in oil and biofuels sectors The European Commission can confirm that on May 14, 2013, commission officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies active in and providing services to the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors. READ MORE SHARE
BASF announces agreements with Genomatica, Dyadic Chemical company BASF has announced new agreements with Dyadic International Inc. and Genomatica Inc. this month. The company also recently released financial results for the first quarter of 2013. READ MORE SHARE
USDA extends deadline for fiscal year 2013 REAP funding The USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service has extended the deadline to apply for fiscal year 2013 Rural Energy for America Program funding through May 31. The extension was made due to increased funding made available through recent legislation. READ MORE SHARE
Algenuity releases its newest photobioreactor technology U.K.-based Algenuity launched its newest lab-scale photobioreactor, Algem, in Europe and Middle East markets on May 15. The product allows researchers to run simultaneous and comparative algal growth studies in two 1-liter flasks. READ MORE SHARE
Enerkem starts drop-in renewable fuels R&D Enerkem Inc. announced the launch of a new research project with the government of Canada. The objective of the project is to develop new catalytic processes for the conversion of waste into drop-in biofuels. READ MORE SHARE
Weltec Biopower constructs 1.8 MW plant in Finland Weltec Biopower GmbH, a biogas plant construction company from Vechta, Germany, is building a biogas plant in Jeppo, Finland. The company from Lower Saxony is implementing this project jointly with its Finnish project partner Doranova. READ MORE SHARE
BIO, Ag Energy Coalition applaud Farm Bill draft The Biotechnology Industry Organization and Agriculture Energy Coalition have issued statements thanking members of the Senate Agriculture Committee for authoring legislation to reauthorize Farm Bill Energy Title Programs. READ MORE SHARE
KiOR announces Q1 results, progress at Columbus facility KiOR Inc. has released financial results for the first quarter of 2013, noting continued progress with operations at its facility in Columbus, Miss. The company announced the initial shipments of cellulosic diesel from the plant in mid-March. READ MORE SHARE