Other News

With a string of investments under its belt since 2005, including SiC Processing, Ostara, Hydrodec and Solar Century, growth capital investor Frog Capital’s most recent investee comes in the form of the German company, agri.capital. Now one of Europe’s largest biogas producers, Munster-based agri.capital employs 130 people over 46 electricity production sites. The firm has a fitted…
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The Netherlands-based energy major Shell and Brazilian ethanol manufacturer and trader Cosan have formed a joint venture (JV) to produce 2 billion litres a year of ethanol. The $12 billion (€8.6 billion) JV will also generate power, and the supply, distribution and retail of transportation fuels. ‘We see joining with Cosan as a way to grow the role of low-carbon, sustainable biofuels in the…
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In Florida, the fate of Algenol’s future biofuel production facility is in the hands of Lee County officials. Close to receiving the three votes needed for the construction of a $10 million (€7.2 million) research lab, new corporate headquarters and a production utility in Lee County, not everyone appears to be on board. With the money being taken from the county’s $25 million economic…
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Two internationally renowned companies, Mitsubishi Corporation and Weyerhaeuser Company, have signed a Strategic Memorandum of Understanding and will now discuss the possibilities of joining forces and heading into the biomass-to-energy industry. Mitsubishi, Japan’s largest general trading company has over 200 bases in approximately 80 countries and could join forces with Weyerhaeuser, one of…
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New Delhi, India-based Mavens Biotech is planning to set up three biomass power plants with a total capacity of 30 MW. The Rs 700,000,000 (€10.8 million) investment on the proposed power project is likely to be met with internal accruals and debt, M D Kanther, chairman of the company, says. The company reported net sales of Rs 37.14 crore in the nine month ending 31 December 2009 compared to…
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UK utility provider British Gas will build five biomethane demonstration projects to inject purified biogas into the UK’s national gas grid for use by consumers. The projects are due to come online in mid-2010, with the first biomethane project seeing the construction of a plant to purify raw biogas from Thames Water’s Didcot sewage works. Thames Water and Scotia Gas Networks already…
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The UK is proving a popular site for biogas projects – Germany-based MT-Energie has now begun construction on two 1MW biogas plants in southern England. The plants, one north of Oxford and the other near Bognor Regis, are nearing completion and both should be operational by Q2. Support such as Feed-in Tariffs, two ROCs offered for anaerobic digestion and the possibilities offered by the…
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In Kansas, a combined cellulosic ethanol and power refinery comes one step closer to construction thanks to the largest European producer of ethanol. Based in Spain, Abengoa Bioenergy, also a large producer of ethanol in the US, has signed an agreement regarding a proposal between these two plants. Mid-Kansas Electric is a collection of five rural electric companies. It has agreed to purchase…
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The UK is getting greener with its launch of renewable energy tariffs starting from April. The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC)’s system will offer a comprehensive system of tariffs for biogas injected into natural gas pipelines, and renewable heat. Renewable heat technologies meet just 0.6% of UK heat demand, but by 2020 the government aims to meet 12% or more of the UK’s…
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In Arizona, the Glendale Energy Power Plant is now in full operation. Owned and managed by Glendale Energy, this 2.8MW biogas refinery is located in Glendale city, on a public landfill site. The customers of APS, Arizona’s largest and longest-serving electricity utility catering to around 1.1 million customers, will receive 100% of this energy. Consisting of mainly methane, the highly…
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The Port of Rotterdam figures for 2009 show there was a substantial decline in the handling of soyabean oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil. Biofuels (biodiesel, ethanol and ETBE) were also down. The moderate sugar harvest put pressure on Brazilian exports of ethanol. This was compensated for partly by imports of ethanol from Spain and France via Rotterdam. Imports of biodiesel fell due to…
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The Czech Republic’s largest crude oil processing facility Ceská Rafinérská and the country’s state owned key fuel storage operator and distributor Cepro have both confirmed their participation in the upcoming Biofuels International expo & conference in Prague on 5-6 May. Both are actively involved in the biofuels sector and will give delegates an insight into their own activities as…
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The construction of three new plants could soon be underway in Hungary. With a draft government decree issued last month making one of the refineries a priority project, the process of obtaining the necessary documentation will be decreased. The new plants are to be built in the Hungarian towns of Dunaföldvár, Kaba and Dunaalmas. Already a priority project, the facility in Dunaföldvár will…
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