COVID relief bill will be a gamechanger for residential wood heat
The $900 million COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress on Dec. 21 includes provisions of the Biomass Thermal Utilization Act and will enact a three-year investment tax credit (ITC) for high-efficiency home heating equipment that fires wood pellets, chips or cordwood.
Language for the ITC is co ... Read more
EIA: Densified biomass fuel sales reach 780,000 tons in August
The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently released data showing U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 840,000 tons of densified biomass fuel in August, with sales reaching 780,000 tons.
The data was released as part of the November edition of EIA’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Re ... Read more
FPAC applauds government’s plan to plant two billion trees
Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Seamus O’Regan, has unveiled the federal government’s plan to launch its two billion tree initiative in 2021. Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) applauds this thoughtful and inclusive approach which will help Canada move to net- ... Read more
Dartmouth College abandons biomass conversion plans
Dartmouth College has stepped away from plans to replace its central heating plant with a new biomass plant.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, work on the Dartmouth Green Energy Project continued to improve energy resiliency, sustainability, and efficiency on campus by replacing the institution’s 100 ... Read more
UK white paper says BECCS, RNG will help meet net zero goal
The U.K. government on Dec. 14 published a white paper that describes how the country will clean up its energy system and reach net zero emissions by 2050. Bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and renewable natural gas (RNG) will play an integral role in reaching that goal.
According to the ... Read more
Power plant on Reunion Island to be converted to biomass
A 108-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant located on an island in the Indian Ocean located approximately 500 miles east of Madagascar will soon be converted to biomass, according to France-based power producer Albioma.
Albioma announced on Dec. 8 that its Bois-Rouge power plant located on Reunion ... Read more
Chiyoda, Toshiba ESS complete large-scale BECCS plant in Japan
Chiyoda Corporation has completed the EPC operations contracted with Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions (Toshiba ESS) for a large-scale carbon capture facility at a biomass plant in Japan.
The new bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) facility has been established at Mikawa Power P ... Read more
Japan’s Hibikinada biomass plant plans January restart
Japan’s 112MW Hibikinada biomass power plant in the southern Fukuoka prefecture plans to resume partial operations on 4 January following an unplanned closure since October.
The plant has been shut since 13 October after a fire hits its conveyor belt that transports fuels.
Operator Hibikinada ... Read more
Over for Moorburg – this is where the coal phase-out reveals its greatest weakness
For the first time, the federal government auctioned decommissioning premiums for coal-fired power plants. Vattenfalls Moorburg is one of the “winners”. After high construction costs, it was only on the grid for six years. Now there is a risk of a loss of billions. Another coal giant is better ... Read more
EIA seeks comments on extension of densified biomass fuel report
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is inviting public comments on a proposed three-year extension of its form to collect data for the Densified Biomass Fuel Report, which features data on the manufacture, shipment, export, energy characteristics and sales of densified biomass fuels, includ ... Read more