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 One day prior to the vote, members of the House defeated a proposed amendment by a vote of 75 to 340 that would have repealed the Farm Bill's Energy Title.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.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently announced that U.S. manufacturers of densified biomass fuel reported producing 620,000 tons and selling 600,000 tons of fuel products in January.
Sweetwater Energy and Estonia-based AS Graanul Invest will build a commercial-scale integrated biorefinery that will produce clean cellulosic sugars and highly pure lignin from 50,000 tons of local hardwood each year.
On May 2, Pinnacle Renewable Holdings Inc. released first quarter 2018 financial results, reporting it generated record first quarter revenue and announcing it has entered into new off-take contracts with customers in Japan.
The USDA is soliciting applications for up to $5 million in funding under its Repowering Assistance Program, which helps eligible biorefineries use biomass as a replacement for fossil fuels used to create heat or power.
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced four funding opportunities totaling up to $78 million to support early-stage bioenergy research and development under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office.
On May 3, Enviva Partners LP released first quarter 2018 financial results, providing an update of restoration work at the Chesapeake terminal following a recent fire and reporting year-over-year productivity improvements.
A new systems biology model that mimics the process of wood formation allows scientists to predict the effects of switching on and off 21 pathway genes involved in producing lignin, a primary component of wood.
Astec Industries Inc. recently released first quarter 2018 financial results. During an April 24 investor call, the company provided an update on pellet plant construction activities in Georgia and Arkansas and discussed future plans.
The European Investment Bank, the EU bank, announced the launch of a new financing initiative April 16 that aims to unlock close to EUR 1 billion of investment in the agriculture and bioeconomy sector.
Federal subsidies for renewable energy—including biofuels for transportation use and renewable generation of electricity—dropped to $6.7 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2016, a 56 percent decline from FY 2013.
Will Australia use bioenergy to its full potential, or primarily serve export markets?
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