A large photovoltaic solar farm to be located at Zagtouli on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso in sub-Saharan Africa is moving ahead. The European Investment Bank has agreed to provide EUR 23 million to support the project. When completed the 30 MW solar plant is expected to act as a reference for future solar investment across …
UK Firm Fires Up Straw-Fired Energy Plant
A renewable energy investment firm has opened a 38 megawatt straw-fired plant in the United Kingdom. Glennmont Partners announced the start of operations at the Sleaford biomass facility. The plant was built by a consortium of Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A/S and Burmeister and Wain Energy A/S. Glennmont purchased 100% of the equity in the project in December 2011, …
Researchers Get More Out of Trees for Bioenergy
Researchers in Spain have found a way to manipulate the genes of trees to get more biomass to make more bioenergy. In a joint venture between the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and the National Institute for Agricultural Research and Experimentation (INIA), the scientists figured out how to increase biomass production in a forest with altering the growth, composition or …
DNV GL Releases Offshore Wind Transmission Guide
DNV GL, together with the Swedish Transmission Research Institute (STRI) and 10 wind industry companies have developed a methodology for technology qualification of offshore High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technologies through a joint industry project. With the development of wind farms further offshore there is an increasing need for long-distance underwater power transmission. The use of HDVC transmission allows power …
Largest 100% Biomass Plant in North America Opens
North America’s largest power plant fueled 100 percent by biomass opens in Canada. Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) Atikokan Generating Station (GS) is now operating on biomass after undergoing a massive reconstruction after being a coal-fired plant, and according to Engineering and Technology Magazine, it will be capable of generating about 900 million kW/h of electricity per year – enough for …
Lotnisko Wind Farm Contruction Begins in Poland
September 10, 2014 marked the official beginning of construction of the 90 MW Lotnisko wind farm based in Kopaniewo, Poland. It is one of the largest projects in the Polish wind power industry. The ceremony was attended by Marek Woszczyk, PGE Odnawialna S.A1, President of the Board; Maciej Górski, PGE Energia Odnawialna S.A., President of the Board; Lesław Kuzaj, Alstom, …
Brazilian Football Players Create Energy
Brazilian football legend Pele is helping Shell shine a light on the world’s energy future with a first of-its-kind player-powered community football pitch in the heart of aRio de Janeiro favela. As a real-world example that ideas can come from anywhere, Shell has used the invention of a young entrepreneur to solve a challenge for the Morro da Mineira community. …
Taiwan Biodiesel Provider Offers Free Biocatalyst
Taiwan-based Sunho Biodiesel Corp. is offering a free lipase biocatalyst to clients that license and set up a biodiesel plant based on the Sunho’s ET Process®. When considering a process for industrial production of a commodity, two major criteria are process reliability and cost of consumables. This is where the ET Process® offers distinctive advantages. The design of the ET …
Taiwan School Uses Microwaves to Make Biodiesel
A university in Taiwan is turning waste cooking oils into biodiesel using microwaves and strontium oxide (SrO) as catalyst. National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in southern Taiwan is using the talents of Prof. (Emeritus) Aharon Gedanken from the Department of Chemistry at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, in the process. With the system designed by the team, a machine has been …
EIA: Nat Gas, Biofuel to be More of World Fuel by 2040
Natural gas and biofuels will make up the biggest share of the increase in what are known as “other liquid resources” in the world liquid fuel supply. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) International Energy Outlook for 2014 (IEO2014) says those fuels that include natural gas plant liquids (NGPL), biofuels, coal-to-liquids (CTL), gas-to-liquids (GTL), kerogen (oil shale), and refinery gain, …