News Archive
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RISI VIEWPOINT: India's rapidly growing market for forest products imports
SEATTLE, WA, May 17, 2013 (Viewpoint) - By Bob Flynn, Director, International Timber I've written many times about China's huge and rapidly growing market for timber and forest products (and am currently working on an update of our China Timber Supply Outlook , to be published end of June). ... read more
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Aspen Power faces foreclosure on troubled wood-fired power plant in Lufkin, TX [From the web]
LUFKIN, TX, May 17, 2013 (Local News) - A bank representing a group of investors which financed a Lufkin biomass power plant is now looking to foreclose on it. The U.S. Bank National Association, representing the Angelina Neches River Authority as a trustee, is seeking millions from Aspen. ... read more
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Power from biomass doubles in Texas from 2011 to 2012
AUSTIN TX, May 17, 2013 (Press Release) - Electric generation from renewable resources in Texas increased 7 percent in 2012, compared to 2011, with capacity up by about 16 percent. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) provided these updates to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) this week in the 2012 Annual Report on the Renewable Energy Credit Trading Program. ... read more
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Green Circle Bio Energy and St. Joe Co. working jointly to develop export wood pellet mill in Florida, seeking deep water
WATERSOUND, FL, May 16, 2013 (Press Release) - The St. Joe Company today announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Green Circle Bio Energy, Inc., a producer of biomass based renewable energy. The LOI encourages economic development opportunities for Florida's Northwest region, including the potential to make the Port of Port St. ... read more
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CA biomass power plant back up after being shut since November due to fuel supply and ash issues [From the web]
SCOTIA, CA, May 16, 2013 (Local News) - The biomass-powered cogeneration plant in Scotia is up and running again, after being closed for more than five months. The plant had closed in November of last year due to a number of issues including fuel supplies and ash disposal. ... read more
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RISI VIEWPOINT: Weather conditions are affecting structural panel markets…but this is a seasonal phenomenon
BEDFORD, MA, May 15, 2013 (Viewpoint) - By David Fortin, Senior Economist, Wood Products Recently, much has been made of inclement weather conditions affecting the balance of supply and demand and driving prices for structural panels, particularly OSB, lower. ... read more
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MVV Energie announces 23 MW wood power plant near London
LONDON, May 15, 2013 (Press Release) - The Mannheim-based energy company MVV Energie is building a new biomass power plant with a net electricity output of around 23 MW at Ridham Dock, an industrial port 30 kilometers south east of London. ... read more
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Dredging project approved for wood pellet export facility in Mississippi [From the web]
PASCAGOULA, MS, May 15, 2013 (Local News) - Port of Pascagoula commissioners this morning approved a $1.5 million dredging project to prepare a Bayou Casotte berth for a specialized wood pellet exporting facility. The board awarded the $1.47 million contract to C. ... read more
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Hazlehead, England, becomes home to Plevin's 150,000 tonne/year wood recycling facility
HAZLETON, ENGLAND, May 15, 2013 (Press Release) - Leading wood recycling firm Plevin has announced plans to open the UK's largest waste wood recycling centre. The family-run company plan to install a new £5 million facility on a 50 acre site in Hazlehead, South Yorkshire, which will create 20 jobs and process up to 150,000 tonnes of waste wood a year. ... read more
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Georgia Power integrating biomass electric capacity from Rollcast plant in Barnesville, GA
ATLANTA, GA, May 15, 2013 (PRNewswire) - Georgia Power announced today that it has added 53.5 megawatts (MW) of new biomass capacity to the company's generation portfolio. The addition of the biomass capacity is made possible through a 20-year purchase power agreement (PPA) with Rollcast Energy, Inc., ... read more
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RISI VIEWPOINT: RISI's global supply/demand balance tracks movements in global pulpwood prices index! What does this mean for the future?
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON, May 14, 2013 (Viewpoint) - By Peter Barynin, Lead Economist, North American Timber, RISI, and Waqas Ghouri, Economist, Resource Vision, Inc. Have the world's average pulpwood prices found a floor? Inflation-adjusted global pulpwood prices as measured by the Global Pulpwood Price Index were under pressure to move lower following the experience of the 1990s (Figure 1). ... read more
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Resolute holds opening ceremony for biomass power plant in Thunder Bay, ON
THUNDER BAY, ON, May 14, 2013 (CNW) - Resolute Forest Products Inc. today officially inaugurated a major power island producing green energy at its pulp and paper operation located in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The power island includes a refurbished and upgraded wood-waste boiler and a new 65-megawatt condensing turbine. ... read more
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Ethiopia upgrades biomass stoves one home at a time [From the web]
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA, May 14, 2013 (Local News) - More than 823,000 fuel-efficient biomass stoves have been distributed among the public in Ethiopia during the last nine months, says Water and Energy Ministry Public Relation and Communication Director Bizuneh Tolcha. ... read more
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NIB finances Vimmerby Energi's wood biomass CHP project in Sweden
VIMMERBY, SWEDEN, May 13, 2013 (Press Release) - NIB has signed a 20-year maturity loan of EUR 20 million with Swedish company Vimmerby Energi & Miljö AB to finance a new bio fuelled combined heat and power plant at Tallholmen in the city of Vimmerby, Sweden. ... read more
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Climate change researchers worry about future of Maine's forests and forest products industry [From the web]
PORTLAND, ME, May 13, 2013 (Local News) - Unless people dramatically cut the amount of carbon dioxide they're putting into the air and water through industry, farming, landfills and fossil fuel consumption, Maine's largest manufacturing industry will be damaged in ways scientists can only begin to predict. ... read more
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GA's Green Energy Partners attains air permit for 11.5 MW wood-fired power plant [From the web]
LITHONIA, GA, May 10, 2013 (Local News) - Georgia environmental regulators have signed off on an alternative energy project in DeKalb County. The state Environmental Protection Division has issued an air permit to South Carolina-based Green Energy Partners LLC to build and operate a plant that will convert biomass into electricity. ... read more
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EU emissions trading system defender addresses RISI conference in Austria
BRUSSELS, May 9, 2013 (RISI) - RISI's annual European Pulp and Paper Outlook Conference featured -- for the first time -- a Bio Strategy seminar track. The event took place in Vienna, Austria, April 22-24. One of the speakers at the seminar, James Atkins, chairman of the environmental commodities broker Vertis, took on the EU emissions trading system (ETS) and the recent vote by the European Parliament to reject the European Commission's (EC) proposal to withhold some 900 million carbon credits from the third phase of the ETS. ... read more
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Graanul Invest to build CHP plant adjacent to its wood pellet mill in Incukalns, Latvia
BRUSSELS, May 9, 2013 (RISI) - Graanul Invest, an Estonian energy and pellet producer, will build a 15 MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant next to its pellet mill in Incukalns, Latvia. The facility will be constructed by the Austrian company URBAS Maschinenfabrik. ... read more
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Legislation in Minnesota forces Xcel Energy to pay full costs of wood-fired power from Laurentian Energy [From the web]
DULUTH, MN, May 9, 2013 (Local News) - Legislation that forces Xcel Energy to pay the full cost of wood-fired electricity from Laurentian Energy generators in Virginia and Hibbing is on its way to Gov. Mark Dayton to be signed into law. ... read more
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Drax completes conversion of first unit of UK power plant from coal to wood fuel [From the web]
SELBY, ENGLAND, May 8, 2013 (Local News) - Drax has made "encouraging progress" with its transformation into an electricity generator fuelled predominantly by sustainable biomass, the energy business told the Stock Exchange this morning. At the beginning of April Drax's first converted unit was brought into service burning biomass in place of coal. ... read more
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SC Forestry Commission publishes wood biomass harvest BMPs [From the web]
COLUMBIA, SC, May 8, 2013 (Local News) - Foresters with the South Carolina Forestry Commission have developed guidelines which address the emerging practice of harvesting woody biomass for energy. Biomass generates energy. Forest products manufacturers have known this for generations and have produced their own electricity on-site using bark, sawdust, and other waste wood. ... read more
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Forests will be monitored from space
NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands, May 8, 2013 (Press Release) - ESA's Earth Observation Programme Board has selected ‘Biomass' to become the seventh Earth Explorer mission. The innovative satellite aims to map and monitor one of Earth's most precious resources. Following the review of three candidate concepts at the Board's meeting today, the Biomass mission concept is set to become the next in a series of satellites developed to further our understanding of Earth. ... read more
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China drives demand for raw material to produce Bleached Hardwood Kraft Pulp (BHKP)
BOSTON, MA, May 7, 2013 (Press Release) - Woodchip imports in Asia hit a new record volume in 2012 for the third straight year, with China driving the demand. About two-thirds of Chinese production of BHKP is based on imported woodchips. ... read more
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Fire at Michigan wood pellet mill quickly contained, confined [From the web]
HOLLAND, MI, May 6, 2013 (Local News) - Fire crews from several departments responded to a call at Michigan Wood Pellet Fuel around 4:30 Monday morning. Chris Tinney, a captain with the Holland Department of Public Safety, says the initial witness reported seeing heavy smoke and another witness reported heavy flames coming from the building on Industrial Avenue. ... read more
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Great Northern Paper blames cash flow issues on mud season wood cost spike [From the web]
EAST MILLINOCKET, ME, May 6, 2013 (Bangor Daily News) - Cash flow problems at an East Millinocket paper mill have left the business's owners months behind in some of their payments to vendors, officials said Wednesday. But a company official said that Cate Street Capital and its subsidiaries, Great Northern Paper Co. ... read more
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Drax signs lease with MS community to build pellet mill on industrial park land [From the web]
GLOSTER, MS, May 6, 2013 (Local News) - Three days after Gloster officials signed a lease with Amite BioEnergy for a planned wood pellet plant there, Amite County supervisors deeded four acres to the company on Thursday. In return, attorney Bridgforth Rutledge of Jackson handed board president Jackie Whittington a check for $20,000 to the county on behalf of plant owner Drax Biomass International, a British energy company Drax signs lease with MS community to build pellet mill on industrial park land RISI is not responsible for the reliability or availability of content on external websites. ... read more
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Indian biomass power producers seek production incentives [From the web]
CHENNAI, INDIA, May 6, 2013 (The Hindu Business Line) - Biomass power plant owners are seeking generation-based incentive along the lines of that extended to wind power projects. The Indian Biomass Power Association, a newly formed body to represent the cause of this category of renewable energy, has written to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to consider extending the incentive which is now available to wind energy sector. ... read more
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European Pellet Council issues certification guide
BRUSSELS, May 3, 2013 (Press Release) - The consumption of wood pellets in the heating sector is increasing rapidly in Europe - from less than 6 million tons in 2010 to more than 7 million tons in 2012. ... read more
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Rentech to purchase Fulghum Fibres and develop wood pellet mills in Ontario to supply UK's Drax as well as local power producer
LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2013 (Press Release) - Rentech, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Georgia-based Fulghum Fibres, Inc. (Fulghum Fibres) and the acquisition of two facilities for conversion to the production of wood pellets in Ontario, Canada, along with contracts for the sale and transport of more than four million metric tons of wood pellets over ten years. ... read more
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Dominion Virginia Power starts up 51 MW generating facility converted from coal to wood fuel [From the web]
ALTAVISTA, VA, May 2, 2013 (Local News) - Small chunks of wood streamed onto a mountain of wood chips nearly 100 feet high, towering over workers making final adjustments at Dominion's just-reopened Altavista Power Station last Friday as the plant fired up its boilers for the first time in about 2½ years. ... read more
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Resolute reopens Gatineau, QC, paper mill, restoring local pulpwood and biomass market [From the web]
MONTREAL, May 2, 2013 (Chronicleherald.ca) - Resolute Forest Products says it has completed the major realignment of its paper mill network with today's restart of its facility in Gatineau, QC. The mill is reopening as a lower-cost operation due to a new labor agreement, the use of a single-paper machine and a cogeneration power plant set to begin operation in June. ... read more
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NC State Ports Authority moving to bring wood pellet loading facilities to ports in Wilmington and Morehead City [From the web]
WILMINGTON, NC, May 2, 2013 (Local News) - The NC State Ports Authority last week quietly agreed in principle on the frameworks of deals with two private companies to bring wood-pellet storage and exporting facilities to the state-operated ports in Wilmington and Morehead City. ... read more
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WI health center moves to wood biomass power [From the web]
LA CROSSE, WI, May 2, 2013 (Local News) - Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center officially fired up a new boiler Wednesday that burns wood chips and is projected to save the health system $500,000 a year. The 800-horsepower boiler also represents nearly 40 percent of Gundersen's goal of 100 percent energy independence by next year, officials said at a ceremony unveiling the $6.5 ... read more
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Remote BC community looks to wood power [From the web]
KWADACHA, BC, May 2, 2013 (Prince George Citizen ) - Kwadacha chief Donny Van Somer can't wait for the day when the diesel generator that supplies power to his village is permanently silenced. Van Somer lives in the remote First Nations settlement formerly known as Fort Ware and looks forward to the day he can buy locally-produced produce grown in village greenhouses heated year-round by a renewable source of energy. ... read more
