Biomass Week - June 27, 2014

Supreme Court issues its decision on EPA's GHG Tailoring Rule On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on the U.S. EPA's Tailoring Rule. It did not, however, address the uncertainty faced by those in the biomass industry with regard to the EPA's treatment of biogenic emissions. READ MORE SHARE
E.ON's Blackburn Meadows biomass plant generates electricity E.ON UK plc has announced that its Blackburn Meadows biomass facility in Sheffield, England, generated electricity and synchronized with the local distribution network for the first time on June 24. READ MORE SHARE
	GIB highlights achievements in annual report The U.K. Green Investment Bank recently released its 2013-'14 annual report and announced new funding to help small and medium enterprises make investments in energy efficiency, including biomass boilers. READ MORE SHARE
Dairy farm to produce pipeline-quality biogas George DeRuyter & Sons dairy has partnered with Promus Energy LLC to convert its current anaerobic digestion system into Promus's integrated digester-based system to produce pipeline-quality renewable natural gas and other coproducts. READ MORE SHARE
N.Y. bill would incentivize cellulosic fuels, biomass pellets On June 19, the New York Assembly voted to pass a bill that aims to amend the state's tax law to provide tax credits for the production of cellulosic ethanol, densified biofuel and renewable fuel oil. READ MORE SHARE
Impact Bioenergy announces portable food waste digester Seattle-based Impact Bioenergy has expanded the unique model AD185 digester design that enables facility operators to generate energy from their own food scraps and paper products. The new AD185-2 unit features five times the processing capacity. READ MORE SHARE
React Energy reports progress with bioenergy projects U.K.-based React Energy plc has issued an operational update and announced the issuance of a GBP 1.5 million ($2.55 million) secured loan note. The company is developing several biomass power projects and recently entered the biomass thermal space. READ MORE SHARE
DOE funds bioenergy projects at 4 universities The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded $100 million to Energy Frontier Research Centers with the goal of accelerating scientific breakthroughs needed to build the new energy economy. Several of EFRC awards will benefit bioenergy research. READ MORE SHARE
JBEI GT collection: A new resource for advanced biofuels research Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute have unveiled the first glycosyltransferase clone collection specifically targeted for the study of the biosynthesis of plant cell walls. READ MORE SHARE
USDA REAP sinks $3.4 billion into rural economies Though the USDA Rural Energy for America Program has been hugely successful since it was first implemented in the 2002 Farm Bill, numerous changes have been implemented over the years in order to maximize program value. READ MORE SHARE
$15 million available for Advanced Biofuels Payment Program The USDA recently issued a notice of contract proposals for its Advanced Biofuel Payment Program, which provides payments to producers to support and expand production of advanced biofuels. READ MORE SHARE
SCE launches solicitation for small-scale renewable projects Southern California Edison has launched another round of solicitations for small-scale renewable source projects, including solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, with the goal of procuring up to 290 MW from smaller-scale renewable projects. READ MORE SHARE
Cleanergy launches bioenergy system for old, closed landfills Cleanergy's GasBox has been developed to generate electricity and heat from landfill sites that are more than 10 years old. The system can take in biogas with methane concentrations as low as 18 percent. READ MORE SHARE
Celtic Renewables partners on pilot-scale biobutanol project Celtic Renewables, a U.K.-based biofuel company, has signed an agreement with Europe's foremost biotechnology pilot facility to undergo next stage testing of its process to turn whisky by-products into biofuel that can power current vehicles. READ MORE SHARE
Model may help growers mitigate costly droughts A University of Florida-created model may help growers plant at optimal times and avoid crop-destroying drought, which can cost millions of dollars in a given year, according to one of the tool's creators. READ MORE SHARE
Areva delivers biomass power plant to U-Thong Bio Power Areva successfully delivered a biomass power plant to its Thai customer U-Thong Bio Power Co. Ltd. Built jointly by Areva and its partner Ensys, this installation is located in the Suphanburi Province in Thailand. READ MORE SHARE
Vega Biofuels lands large bio-coal order from European company Vega Biofuels Inc. has entered into an agreement with Austrian-based ECEM Salzburg Energy and Environment Consulting GmbH to sell 50,000 tons of bio-coal each year for the next five years. The deal will generate approximately $57 million in revenue. READ MORE SHARE
Neste oil announces off-take agreement with U.S. algae producer Neste Oil and Renewable Algal Energy have signed a contingent commercial algae oil off-take agreement. Algae oil is one of the alternatives being researched by Neste Oil for use as a feedstock for producing NEXBTL renewable diesel. READ MORE SHARE
EIA: U.S. added 15.6 MW of bioenergy capacity in April The U.S. Energy Information Administration has published the June issue of its Electric Power Monthly report, indicating that the U.S. added 15.6 MW of bioenergy capacity in April. The additions include capacity from landfill gas and waste biomass. READ MORE SHARE
Cemtrex to acquire bioenergy technology company Cemtrex Inc. recently entered into a letter of intent to purchase all the assets of a foreign wastewater treatment and bioenergy plant technology company with approximately $14 million in annual sales for 2013. READ MORE SHARE
Stora Enso acquires U.S.-based biotechnology company Stora Enso has acquired 100 percent of the shares of Virdia, a developer of extraction and separation technologies for conversion of cellulosic biomass into refined sugars and lignin. The upfront debt-free transaction value is about $33 million. READ MORE SHARE
May RIN data shows increased biofuel production The U.S. EPA has published renewable identification number (RIN) data for May. While overall RIN generation reached nearly 1.48 billion for month, up from nearly 1.45 billion in April, no cellulosic RINs were generated in May. READ MORE SHARE
RusForest announces long-term contract for pellet sales RusForest AB, a Swedish forestry company with operations in Russia, has signed a long-term contract for pellet sales from its pellet mill in Arkhangelsk. The contract is for 60,000 tons of pellets, a majority of the company's annual production. READ MORE SHARE