U.S.-based energy company Georgia Power has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Rollcast Energy to boost its biomass power capacity by 53.5MW. Under the agreement, Georgia will procure the biomass power from Rollcast’s Piedmont Green Power plant, located in Barnesville in the U.S. state of Georgia. The owner of the plant will [...]
Wood For Energy Use In Schools, Hospitals, and Other Facilities Growing
The State of Institutional Woody Biomass Facilities in the United States, a report just released by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, is available at www.usendowment.org. This report, based on research by Katie Premo, Endowment intern, and Kate MacFarland, USDA Forest Service (USFS) staff, fills the gap and points to the growth in use [...]
EcoGen To Construct Three Biomass Plants Totaling 180MW In Florida
U.S.-based energy company U.S. EcoGen is set to construct three biomass plants in the state of Florida with a total capacity of 180MW. The three biomass facilities are planned in Okeechobee, Clay, and Martin Counties. The company expects that the power produced from these plants will cater to the energy requirements of 30,000 to 50,000 [...]
New Portable Biomass Power Plant Draws Visitors To Virginia Tech Campus
Thirty visitors from as far away as New York and Guatemala recently journeyed to the Thomas M. Brooks Forest Products Center in February to see demonstrations of the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials’ new portable biomass power plant. About the size of a Mini Cooper turned upright, the biomass power system generates electricity by burning wood [...]
Sumitomo Osaka Cement Counts On Biomass For Fuel
Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., a Japanese producer of energy fueled by organic materials, plans to cut its dependence on coal by using more biomass such as wood chips, a senior executive said. “As an industry that consumes a lot of power, we need to take measures to promote energy conservation,” Senior Corporate Executive Officer Masafumi [...]
New Brunswick Has Untapped Biomass-To-Energy Potential, Says Study
A new Université de Moncton report details New Brunswick’s potential for turning forest biomass into energy. The Forest Biomass to Energy Atlas of New Brunswick (September 2012) report has found the annual potential harvest of forest biomass in the province to more than 15.5 million green metric tons (GMT). According to the report, the total annual [...]
Brothers Push Forest Biomass As Energy Good For Oregon
It could be the ultimate expression of a heated sibling rivalry. The younger brother makes something and the older one burns it up. But in this case, Chris and Francis Sharron are partners in a problematic revival of the oldest human heating method: setting fire to wood. Chris Sharron’s West Oregon Wood Products compresses mill [...]
Southeast Biomass Study: Is It Too Late?
A new study of southeastern forests in the U.S. finds that in the long run, burning wood instead of fossil fuels to make electricity can reduce heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but not soon enough to prevent worsening the conditions leading to global climate change. The study also shows that as the industry expands [...]
Low Natural Gas Prices Undercut Minnesota’s Biomass Projects
Natural gas prices have hit rock-bottom in Minnesota, undercutting the state’s taxpayer-supported efforts to promote statewide biomass energy projects. Minnesota has invested more than $11 million in taxpayer and utility funds to advance technologies that burn biomass for heat and electric generation or convert it to a synthetic gas, but it’s now getting difficult for [...]
Coal Emissions Tax Funding Biomass Grants In Canada
Revenue from a coal emissions tax is being used to fund grants encouraging biomass fuels in Manitoba. New Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn recently announced that the province will provide up to $400,000 in grants to get coal users to switch, boosting support for Manitoba’s biomass industry. “Biomass is a made-in-Manitoba fuel that can be produced [...]