Pellet Mill Press - May 3, 2016

Winner announced in Pellet Stove Design Challenge A German-designed Wittus pellet stove has been named winner of the third Pellet Stove Design Challenge, an event coordinated by the Alliance for Green Heat and this year hosted by the U.S. DOE’s Brookhaven National Lab. READ MORE SHARE
Pellet producer Viridis Energy for sale Publically traded Canadian pellet production company Viridis Energy Inc. is up for sale. The company is is working with FutureMetrics LLC to solicit interest for the potential sale of Viridis Energy and all of its assets. READ MORE SHARE
	Senate passes Energy Bill with pro-biomass amendment On April 20, the U.S. Senate passed new energy legislation by a vote of 85 to 12. The bill, titled the Energy Policy Modernization Act, or S. 2012, contains an amendment that recognizes the carbon neutrality of biomass energy. READ MORE SHARE
DECC releases first quarter 2016 RHI program deployment data U.K. DECC published monthly statistics and summary of quarter one deployment data for RHI program. During the quarter, there was a large number of biogas applications for the nondomestic scheme and fewer biomass applications in the domestic scheme. READ MORE SHARE
Astec points to pellet division as bright spot Despite an off year overall for the global pellet market, Astec Industries reported that its pellet division continues to be a bright spot for the company. In its Q1 2016 financial earnings call, Astec reported net sales for Q1 as $278.7 million. READ MORE SHARE
BTEC applauds Senate passage of Energy Policy Modernization Act The Biomass Thermal Energy Council expressed its support for the recent Senate passage of Energy Policy Modernization Act. Two key BTEC-supported provisions that benefit biomass were included in this legislation. READ MORE SHARE
Vermont funds pellet infrastructure, wood heat projects The Vermont Department of Public Service has awarded $913,054 from the Clean Energy Development Fund to support local wood heat, including five grants to support bulk pellet infrastructure and 11 to support advanced wood heating system installation. READ MORE SHARE
Biomass Research and Development Board to hold webinar May 5 On May 5, Biomass Research and Development Board operations committee is expected to hold a listening session, titled “Building a Billion Ton Bioeconomy in the United States.” The two-hour webinar is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. EDT. READ MORE SHARE
DOE BETO hosts bioenergy event with 4-H youth leaders The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office hosted a roundtable discussion with a group of 4-H youth delegates from across the country on April 12. The roundtable was part of the larger National 4-H Conference. READ MORE SHARE
Valmet to supply a wood pellet heating plant to Finland facility Valmet will supply a wood pellet heating plant to Helen Oy's Salmisaari power plant. The wood pellet plant will enable Helen to increase the use of biofuels in district heat production in Helsinki, Finland. READ MORE SHARE
Vecoplan Midwest introduces containerized pellet plant Vecoplan Midwest has introduced its containerized pellet plant, which has the capacity to produce 1 to 2 tons of pellets per hour. The turnkey pellet production plant is housed in standard shipping containers. READ MORE SHARE
‘War of the plants’ being studied by AgriLife Research scientists Two Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are studying the virtual tug-of-war that takes place when a pathogen attacks a plant. Better understanding those changes could unlock new ways to improve plants by making them more disease-resistant. READ MORE SHARE