Biofuels News
- April 2023: Cepsa awarded a contract for the engineering, procurement, and construction management support of the second-generation (2G) biofuels plant in southern Europe to the Técnicas Reunidas. This new plant will use agricultural waste and used cooking oils as feedstock. it will have two pre-treatment units and a flexible production capacity of around 500,000 tons of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for use in air, sea, and land transport.
- January 2023: Zagros Petrochemical Company and China's Dalian Petrochemical Company entered into the deal to establish a methanol-to-synthetic ethanol conversion plant in Iran, which would be the first plant of ethanol for Iran. The plant is estimated to have a production capacity of 300,000 tons and would be commissioned within three years.
Related Power Industry News
- November 2023: The Ministry of Power in India announced a benchmark price of INR 2.27/1,000 kcal (USD 0.027/1,000 kcal) for non-torrefied biomass pellets, which is applicable to northern India, excluding the national capital region. The pellets should have a moisture content below 14 pc and a gross calorific value between 2,800 and 4,000 kcal/kg. The price excludes tax and transportation costs for goods and services.
- February 2023: Aranayak Fuel and Power, an Indian-based biomass company, broke the ground on its INR 50-crore (~USD 6 million), one tonne-per-day, biomass-based green hydrogen plant in the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. The company signed an MoU with the state government during the ‘global investors’ meet’ in Uttar Pradesh.
- June 2023: The Minister of Natural Resources of Canada announced USD 50 million in funding for the Bekevar Wind Power Project. The finance is delivered in partnership with the Cowessess First Nation and Innagreen Investments.
- February 2023: Nova Scotia's environment minister announced the approval of two proposed wind farms to build 28 turbines in West Hants and another 12 in Cumberland County. The Benjamins Mill Wind Project will contain up to 28 turbines located about 13 km southwest of Windsor, NS. The project aims to produce up to 150 MW of energy from turbines that are 200 meters tall from the ground to the tip of the blade.
- March 2024: Finnish renewables investor Korkia partnered with Romania-based Econous Green Energy to develop 600 MW of solar energy capacity in Romania. The initial projects under the partnership are set to receive licensing and be construction-ready by 2025. The projects will produce enough renewable energy to power 200,000 homes in Europe. The projects will offset CO₂ emissions by 300,000kg each year.
- June 2023: Development of the EUR 50 million agrivoltaic parks near Teiuş in the Romanian Alba was set to begin in October 2023. It is scheduled to be finished in 2024. The solar park will cover 80 hectares and contain 119,184 modules, with an annual electrical output of approximately 102 GWh, enough to power about 30,000 houses.
- March 2023: Mass Group Holding (MGH), an Iraqi energy business, expressed interest in investing more than USD 1.2 billion to convert the Mintia coal-fired thermal power plant near Deva in western Romania into a 1.5 GW gas and hydrogen power plant. The first part of the investment will last 24 months, and the project will be finished in 36 months.
- June 2023: AD Green, a Vietnamese solar panel producer, started production at its new Thai Binh factory. The project was launched with a capacity of 500 MW and was expected to expand to 3 GW within a year. The fully functioning facility distributes its 540 W monocrystalline solar panels to domestic and international customers.
- March 2023: SP Group bought 100 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar power farm assets in central Vietnam's Phu Yen province. Europlast Phu Yen and Thanh Long Phu Yen are 50 MWp facilities. The transactions represent SP's first investment in solar farm assets in Vietnam, and they are part of SP Group's green goals in Vietnam, which include investing in and developing 1.5 GW of utility-scale and rooftop solar projects in the next three years.
- February 2024: Atlas Renewable Energy, an international provider of renewable energy solutions for large consumers, acquired its first solar project in Colombia, the Shangri-La project, located in the Department of Tolima. The project will generate approximately 403.7 GWh per year and will supply renewable energy through a power purchase agreement.
- May 2023: Verano Energy, a renewable energy developer focused on Latin America, completed the acquisition of three solar projects in Colombia, with a combined capacity of approximately 296 MWp. The company, headquartered in Chile, anticipates that the construction of these projects will necessitate investments exceeding USD 300 million.
- December 2023: The Qingzhou offshore wind project has a capacity of 1 gigawatt. It is located in deep waters offshore Guangdong Province at a depth range of 37-44 meters. According to Guangdong Energy, it started producing green power from the first batch of wind turbines in China.
- November 2023: The world's most powerful offshore wind turbine, consisting of over 30,000 components, with an 18-megawatt capacity and 126-meter-long blades that can sweep an area of 53,000 square meters, rolled off the assembly line in Fuqing, southeast China's Fujian Province.
- May 2023: The Dutch province of North Brabant started constructing a 500-meter-long ground-mounted solar cycle path along the provincial N285 road near Wagenberg. The PV system will be integrated into the asphalt top layer and comprise 600 unspecified solar panels. As per the government, the project is mainly intended to gain experience deploying solar cells on bicycle paths. During five years, government experts will assess the resistance of the solar modules to the mechanical stress applied by the presence of pedestrians and bikers, the costs for their maintenance, and the PV system energy yield.
- June 2024: Colbun SA planned to use the Pacific Ocean to draw water into a pumped-storage hydropower plant (HPP). The project is likley to be in the northern part of Chile, which is expected to have a capacity of around 800 MW, with a cost of around USD 1.4 billion.
- September 2023: Argentine launched a USD 100 million tender to overhaul a 750MW pumped storage hydropower plant. The overhaul process is expected to recover the full production potential of the facility, Río Grande, which is running at around half of its nameplate capacity.
- February 2024: Iran commenced the construction of four additional nuclear power plants in the southern part of the country. These plants will have a combined capacity of 5,000 MW. The plants will be located in the port town of Sirik on Iran's East coast, about 1,150 km South of Tehran. The project is estimated to cost more than USD 20 billion. Each plant is projected to consume 35 tonnes of nuclear fuel per annum.
- February 2024: India announced plans to add 18 additional nuclear power reactors with a cumulative capacity to generate 13,800 MWe of electricity, taking the total share of nuclear power in the energy mix to 22,480 MWe by 2031-2032. The plans were announced by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).
- January 2024: The UK government announced plans for one of the country's most significant expansions of nuclear power in 70 years to strengthen its energy independence and meet carbon emission targets. The Civil Nuclear Roadmap includes exploring the construction of a significant new power station, with a total investment of about USD 382 million of investment to produce an advanced uranium fuel.
- In December 2023, the "GR-Eco Islands" initiative, which aims to develop 7 MW of solar power on Poros Island, was approved by Masdar and the Greek government. To encourage residents and tourists to adopt electric transportation, the project will include chargers for electric cars and boats.
- In May 2023, Greece Introduced a USD 261 Million Solar Rooftop Incentive. The 10.8 kW threshold is eligible for subsidy. The farmers can receive between 40% and 60% for the solar system, while the subsidies range from 45% to 75% for the other. Furthermore, the maximum subsidy for a solar panel system with a battery is EUR 16,000 (approximately USD 17,519) for households and EUR 10,000 for farmers.
- In November 2022, Iberdrola announced the commencement of the Askio III wind farm in Macedonia, Greece. With an installed energy capacity of 50 MW, the farm will be able to provide enough clean, cheap, and locally-made energy to meet the needs of more than 54,000 homes every year.