Biomass Week - May 22, 2015

Senate hearing addresses RES legislation, biomass thermal On May 19, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on 26 pieces of legislation related to energy supply, including recently introduced legislation to establish a national renewable energy standard. READ MORE SHARE
Bills aim to raise, alter, remove state RPS programs While Hawaii has made recently headlines in the renewable policy world with plans to raise its renewable portfolio standard higher than any state has to date, several states have seen recent attempts to freeze, dismantle or alter their programs. READ MORE SHARE
	California bill calls for state to share biomass fuel costs Legislation pending in the California legislature aims to transfer funds within the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for the purpose of maintaining the current level of biomass generation. The bill, S.B. 590, was introduced in February. READ MORE SHARE
EPA: Nearly 8 million cellulosic RINs were generated in April The U.S. EPA has released renewable identification number (RIN) generation data for April, reporting that more than 1.44 billion RINs were generated during the month, including nearly 7.82 cellulosic RINs. READ MORE SHARE
Envia Energy joint venture breaks ground on GTL plant in Oklahoma Envia Energy, a joint venture between Waste Management Inc., Ventech Engineers International LLC, NRG Energy Inc. and Velocys plc, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant, located adjacent to WM's East Oak Landfill. READ MORE SHARE
Vermont company plans to pipe digester gas to college A Vermont company is waiting on permission from the Vermont Public Service Board to construct a project that will transport dairy digester-derived biogas to Middlebury College to displace around 640,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil annually. READ MORE SHARE
Biofuel trade groups comment on EPA’s proposed consent decree Biofuel trade organizations have submitted comments to the U.S. EPA regarding its recently announced proposed legal agreement that sets specific deadlines for establishing 2014, 2015 and 2016 volume requirements under the renewable fuel standard. READ MORE SHARE
IRENA publishes renewable energy jobs report The International Renewable Energy Agency has announced 7.7 million people worldwide were employed by the renewable energy industry in 2014, including, 822,000 jobs in biomass, 381,000 jobs in biogas, and 1.788 million in liquid biofuels. READ MORE SHARE
Manchin bill aims to add carbon utilization to DOE R&D priorities Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., recently introduced legislation that aims to prioritize research and development of carbon utilization technologies under the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy program. READ MORE SHARE
Leidos: Sale of Plainfield biomass plant to be complete soon Leidos Holdings Inc. has released first quarter financial results, announcing the sale of its 37.5 MW Plainfield Renewable Energy plant to Greenleaf Power is progressing as expected. The transaction is expected to close in the coming months. READ MORE SHARE
Cristal Union, Global Bioenergies to produce biobased isobutene Cristal Union and Global Bioenergies have announced the formation of IBN-One, a joint venture to build and operate a facility in France that converts renewable resources into isobutene. The plant is expected to have a 50,000 metric ton capacity. READ MORE SHARE
UN SE4ALL announces global bioenergy initiative UN FAO, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Carbon War Room, KLM, Novozymes and the UN Foundation partner to scale up the sustainable bioenergy solutions to meet the global need for sustainable energy. READ MORE SHARE
Cirque Energy announces agreement for DGU power plant Cirque Energy Inc. has announced that it has executed a joint development agreement with Cat Cay Yacht Club for the potential development and sale of renewable energy produced using Cirque's deployable gasification unit (DGU) technology. READ MORE SHARE
Pallmann, Standard Bio develop new biorefinery concept Pallmann Group is joining forces with Standard Bio, an expert in novel biomass conversion technologies, to develop a new biorefinery concept that will use low-value organic waste as a resource for clean energy, natural fertilizers and animal protein. READ MORE SHARE
VTT converts lingocellulosic biomass to industrial chemicals The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. has demonstrated that lignocellulosic biomass can be successfully converted into pure BTX chemicals, including benzene, toluene and xylene. READ MORE SHARE
Scotland receives first Windhager DuoWIN in the U.K. The first U.K. installation of Windhager's new hybrid technology DuoWIN boiler has been completed in Scotland. The wood pellet and log fired combined boiler has been installed at the headquarters of McInnes Plumbing & Heating and McInnes Renewables. READ MORE SHARE
Capstone to supply microturbine to Finnish waste treatment center Capstone Turbine Corp. recently announced that it received an order for a C1000 microturbine to upgrade an established solid waste treatment center in Tampere, Finland. Commissioning is scheduled for early 2016. READ MORE SHARE
BioEnergy Hawaii, Ulupono Initiative partner on bioenergy project BioEnergy Hawaii LLC, a designer, developer and operator of waste treatment and alternative energy systems, has partnered with Ulupono Initiative to finance a resource recovery facility planned for the west side of Hawaii Island. READ MORE SHARE
Alstom signs contract for Tilbury biomass power station in U.K. Alstom has signed its third contract this year with Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor, the Danish power plant specialist, for a geared reaction steam turbine (GRT) at the proposed Tilbury biomass project. READ MORE SHARE
Equinix to install Bloom Energy biogas fuel cells at data center Equinix Inc. and Bloom Energy have announced a 1 MW biogas fuel cell project at its SV5 International Business Exchange data center, located in Silicon Valley. The 1 MW fuel cell will provide an estimated 8.3 million kWh per year of clean energy. READ MORE SHARE
ASABE announces new ISO standard for solid biofuels The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers announces that the international community has approved a new International Organization for Standardization standard for determining the composition of solid biofuels. READ MORE SHARE
Blue Sphere acquires 4 producing biogas facilities in Italy Blue Sphere Corp., a clean energy company that develops, manages and owns waste-to-energy projects, announced it has acquired 4 fully operational biogas facilities in Italy. Each of these facilities produce 1 MW. READ MORE SHARE
Gulfstream, World Fuel sign renewable fuels agreement Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. and its fuel supplier, World Fuel Services Inc., recently finalized a three-year agreement that provides Gulfstream with a consistent supply of renewable fuels for its daily flight operations in Savannah, Georgia. READ MORE SHARE
GE launches waste-to-energy project with Aseagas in Philippines Aboitiz Power subsidiary's Aseagas Corp., which focuses on renewable energy solutions, has inked an agreement with GE's Distributed Power business to power its first waste-to-electricity project in Lian in the province of Batangas, Philippines. READ MORE SHARE
Global Bioenergies delivers renewable gasoline sample to Audi Global Bioenergies and Audi have announced that the first batch of renewable gasoline has been produced. It will be presented to Audi by Global Bioenergies during a press conference to be held in Pomacle, France, on May 21. READ MORE SHARE