MPE Insider - Malaysia Biomass Newsletter (8/9/2014)

[곰이좋아]

MALAYSIA WOOD PELLET PRICE INDEX
Delivery Term	Weekly Index			Monthly Index
	Price (USD)	USD (+/-)		June	July	Aug	Sept
FOB Port Klang	149.21	(4.39)		152.00	154.00	153.00	150.00
FOB Penang Port	154.00	(3.00)		156.00	158.00	157.00	154.00
FOB Johor Port	153.00	(3.00)		155.00	157.00	156.00	153.00
MALAYSIA BIOMASS PRICE INDEX
Product	Delivery Term	Weekly Index
		Price (USD)	USD (+/-)
Palm Kernel Shell	FOB Port Klang	110.00	-
Empty Fruit Bunch Pellet	FOB Port Klang	133.00	-
Rice Husk Pellet	FOB Penang Port	115.40	-
MALAYSIA PALM OIL PRODUCT PRICE INDEX
Product	Delivery Term	Weekly Index
		Price (USD)	USD (+/-)
Crude Palm Oil	Local Delivered	621.47	(26.79)
RBD PK OLEIN	FOB Johor Port	820.00	(10.00)
RBD Palm Kernel Oil	FOB Johor Port	935.00	45.00
PALM KERNEL EXPELLER	FOB Johor Port	104.00	21.50

 

 

Carbon credits give $664 benefits per tonne, Imperial says

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Carbon-reduction projects generate benefits beyond climate protection of about $664 per metric tonne of emissions, according to an Imperial CollegeLondon University survey.

The study into 59 projects showed they bring ecosystem gains including soil protection, water regulation and biodiversity conservation, the university said. The survey’s estimate compares with an average price of $4.90 a metric tonne in the voluntary carbon market, where companies and individuals buy credits, Ecosystem Marketplace data show. The research was commissioned by the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance, an emissions industry group.

The study, the first to measure non-climate benefits for a wide grouping of projects, seeks to help attract demand in the voluntary market, which shrank 28 per cent last year to $379 million, according to researcher Ecosystem Marketplace. Prices are lower in the main United Nations market, where there are more than 12,000 projects, as lawmakers debate climate-protection rules that would generate credit use.

“Any aggregate study such as this, while being a helpful indicator, will only ever give you indicative numbers,” said Edward Hanrahan, director of Climate Care, a developer in Oxford, England. “It is critical that every project is assessed separately on its delivered social and development impacts, just as you would for carbon outcomes.”

The Imperial College analysis calculated $609 a tonne of ecosystem benefits. There was $52 a tonne in fuel savings, about $3 a tonne in economic benefits and 56 cents a tonne of skills and jobs improvements.

Project range

Projects covered by the research include forest protection, renewable energy and water purification, said Yiannis Kountouris, a lead researcher at Imperial. While the 59 projects from 25 project developers probably were higher quality than the average project in the industry, there was a wide selection, he said by phone. “We asked for representative projects,” he said.

Average prices in the voluntary market dropped 17 per cent last year, according to Ecosystem Marketplace’s research. They are still above prices in the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism, where benchmark credits settled yesterday at 16 euro cents ($0.21) a ton on ICE Futures Europe in London. Those contracts, which can be used for a portion of compliance needs in the European carbon market, were as high as 23.38 euros a ton in July 2008.

Source: www.eco-business.com

China's national carbon market to start in 2016 –official

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China plans to roll out its national market for carbon permit trading in 2016, an official said Sunday, adding that the government is close to finalizing rules for what will be the world’s biggest emissions trading scheme.

The world’s biggest-emitting nation, accounting for nearly 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, plans to use the market to slow its rapid growth in climate-changing emissions.

China has pledged to reduce the amount of carbon it emits per unit of GDP to 40-45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.

It has already launched seven regional pilot markets in a bid to gain experience ahead of a nationwide scheme.

“We will send over the national market regulations to the State Council for approval by the end of the year,” Sun Cuihua, a senior climate official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a conference in Beijing on Sunday.

The national market will start in 2016, although some provinces would be allowed to start later if they lacked the technical infrastructure to participate from the outset, she said.

The Chinese market, when fully functional, would dwarf the European emissions trading system, which is currently the world’s biggest.

It would be the main carbon trading hub in Asia and the Pacific, where Kazakhstan and New Zealand already operate similar markets. South Korea will launch a national scheme on Jan. 1, 2015, while Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are drawing up plans for markets of their own.

The Chinese market will cap carbon dioxide emissions from sources such as electricity generators and manufacturers. Those that emit above their cap must buy permits in the market.

Five pilot markets that opened in China last year saw a high degree of compliance by included emitters in their first year, although data secrecy and a tendency to hand out too many permits made them inefficient in cutting emissions.

The pilot schemes are keen to attract professional trading companies to boost liquidity, and Shenzhen - the smallest of the pilots - recently allowed trades to be settled in foreign currencies in a bid to make trading easier for foreign traders.

Source: www.eco-business.com

Myanmar’s solar ambitions kick started with $480 million ACO pact

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Myanmar will expand its sources of clean energy through an agreement withACO Investment Group, a US-based private-equity fund focusing on Asian emerging markets, to develop two solar-energy plants.

The project, consisting of two 150-megawatt solar facilities, is valued at $480 million, according to a release from the Office of the US Trade Representative. The plants are expected to account for 10 per cent to 12 per cent of Myanmar’s power generation when completed in 2016, the release said.

The undertaking comes as the country begins to put a policy structure in place to encourage renewable energy.

ACO co-founder Hari Achuthan, a former Credit Suisse Group AG banker, said last year that the fund is betting $700 million on Myanmar as the country offers investors the best growth opportunity in Southeast Asia. In July 2012, the US dropped economic sanctions against Myanmar after President Thein Sein began a democratic process that elected opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament after 15 years of house arrest.

ACO expects the solar project to create 400 construction jobs in Myingyan and Meiktila districts, where the two plants are expected to be located. An additional 100 permanent jobs will be created from the project, which will be managed by Convalt Energy LLC, a portfolio company owned by ACO.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman was scheduled to lead a signing ceremony today for the agreement, which is between ACO and the Burma Ministry of Electric Power.

Investment push

US President Barack Obama is deepening US trade and investment ties with Asia-Pacific nations and is encouraging the building of infrastructure necessary for the emerging countries to grow, according to a June 4 speech made by US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

“Efforts like these support the ambitious definition of development that is at the heart of President Obama’s trade agenda,” Froman said in the release.

The US Foreign Commercial Service has expanded its footprint in Asia by opening new offices in Wuhan in China, and Rangoon in Burma — also known as Yangon in Myanmar — to promote partnerships in the region, according to Pritzker’s speech.

Asia-Pacific will be an engine of global growth in the next decade, The region’s nations will import nearly $10 trillion of goods and services by 2022, nearly 2 1/2 times today’s level, Pritzker said.

Mandalay region

ACO’s project is the first-ever solar energy development in the Mandalay region. It will help Myanmar provide stable energy because the country depends heavily on hydropower, which decreases in output during the dry season, the release said.

In May, the Asian Development Bank announced a plan to bring power to 25 off-grid villages in the country through a $2 million grant project to expand clean energy use.

Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation that exited 50 years of military rule in 2011, signed a foreign investment bill in 2012 to woo overseas corporations into spending more in the former army-run nation. Companies scouting opportunities in Myanmar or signing development agreements include Best Western International Inc., the world’s second-largest closely held hotel chain; Coca-Cola Co, Unilever NV and Visa Inc.

Source: www.eco-business.com

Plan to make renewables cheaper than coal within 10 years

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Three weeks before the UN Secretary-General’s extraordinary meeting of world leaders in New York to tackle climate change, a leading British scientist unveils plans for a global low-carbon fund on a par with the Apollo Moon programmed.

There are prospects of significant progress in the response of world governments to climate change, according to a former UK Government chief scientist, Sir David King.

“There are signs that a leadership role is beginning to emerge”, he told a conference in London held by the Green Economy Coalition.

Sir David also announced that he and a colleague are working with governments to raise funds to help all countries, including developing countries,  to switch to renewable energy. Their scheme hopes to raise nearly as much as the cost of the Apollo programmed, NASA’s moon-landing project.

“President Obama is getting ready to commit the US to action, and last week the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Kichiang, announced that his country’s emissions had fallen by 5 per cent in a year”, he said.

“The US and China are positioning themselves for an agreement. And that’s not all. The first speech by the new leader of India, Narendra Modi, spoke of his determination ‘to solarise’ the economy.

We are encouraging governments to launch the Programmed at the UN during Ban Ki-moon’s Climate Summit on 23 September. The objective is that by 2020 renewable power should be cheaper than coal in all sunny parts of the world, and by 2025 in all parts of the world

Sir David King, former UK Government chief scientist

Ice in retreat

“Brazil’s emissions, including from deforestation, have fallen from 16.5 tonnes per person to 6.5 tonnes since 2005. Across the Andes in Peru, where the UN climate convention negotiations will take place in December, they know well enough about climate change.

“From Lima they can see the ice retreating up the mountains. At its lowest point it is now 1,000 metres above where it reached to 30 years ago..”

Sir David praised the UK’s commitment to cut greenhouse emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, compared with their 1990 levels. He said the target – matched by Mexico – was likely to be met. The biggest climate challenge confronting the UK, he said, was from rising sea levels.

Some critics say, despite this, that the UK Government is dragging its feet, especially on supporting renewable energy. With a colleague, the economist Professor Lord Richard Layard, Sir David is working on a scheme to raise money to address this.

“It’s called the Global Apollo Programmed”, he explained. “We are urging all governments to form a Commission to spend 0.02 per cent of their GDP, which should raise US$10-20 bn p a over 10 years,  to fund RD&D for low-carbon technology.

“We are encouraging governments to launch the Programmed at the UN during Ban Ki-moon’s Climate Summit on 23 September. The objective is that by 2020 renewable power should be cheaper than coal in all sunny parts of the world, and by 2025 in all parts of the world.”

Sir David, who for seven years was the UK Government’s chief scientist, is now its Foreign Secretary’s special representative for climate change. Asked if he were hopeful about progress to tackle climate change, he replied: “I’m in this job because I’m an optimist.”

Global reach

His hopes were echoed by another speaker, Hunter Lovins, president of the Colorado-based Natural Capitalism Solutions.  She told the Climate News Network: “We can do it. But it’s going to be tough. So will we do it?

“I don’t agree with the exponents of the idea of near-term human extinction (NTHE), who say we face total collapse by around 2030 or 2035.

‘”What we need is to find incentives for business, to get big countries behind solar+, the idea David King is working on – combining renewables and efficiency, with back-up where it’s needed.”

Professor Lovins told the conference: “Business-as-usual is going to get really ugly. What’s the narrative we can produce to compete with neo-liberalism?”

Source: www.eco-business.com

Politicians ignore people’s power pleas

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Consumers worldwide increasingly want renewable energy sources to provide their electricity, yet many governments are ignoring them by continuing to exploit fossil fuels.

Public support for renewable energies across the world continues to grow, particularly in more advanced economies − with solar power being especially popular.

At the same time, the policies of the governments in most of these richer countries do not mirror public opinion as many continue to develop fossil fuels, which do not command such popular support.

An example is the UK, where the government wants to exploit gas reserves by the controversial method of fracking – fracturing rock to allow the gas to reach the ground surface. The Conservative government is also promising to cut down on subsidies for onshore wind farms and to build nuclear power stations.

According to the public attitudes report published this month by the British government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, 36 per cent of the population supports the plan to build new nuclear stations, and only 24 per cent support shale gas extraction by fracking.

Widespread support

In contrast, 79 per cent of the public is in favor of renewable energies to provide electricity. The UK has plentiful renewable energy and is exploiting several different types. Solar panels are the most popular form, with 82 per cent of the public supporting their widespread use on the roofs of private houses and, more recently, solar farms in fields in the countryside.

Other high scores for renewables were offshore wind (72 per cent in favor), onshore wind (67 per cent), wave and tidal (73 per cent), and biomass (60 per cent) − even though all need public subsidy to compete with fossil fuels.

Despite the government’s public support for nuclear, there has been no start on a new station because a subsidy offered by the government is being investigated as potentially illegal under European Union competition legislation. Fracking is still at the exploratory stage and requires years of investment before any power could be produced.

Massive growth

Meanwhile, renewables keep on growing. In the first three months of this year, they produced nearly one-fifth of the UK’s electricity. Renewable energy generation was 43 per cent higher than a year previously, showing the massive growth in the industry.

Both onshore and offshore wind farms are growing quickly, with the UK now having the largest offshore wind industry in the world.

The electricity output from renewables this year was boosted by high rainfall in Scotland, helping the country’s hydropower stations to produce more power, and windy conditions over the whole of the UK improving wind power output.

The British government’s response to these successes has been a policy to reduce the subsidies for both wind and solar power, as improving technology and mass production lower unit costs, while increasing Treasury support for nuclear power and fracking.

Germany has a similar public support for fossil-free energy – with 69 per cent of consumers agreeing that the subsidies are needed to switch electricity generation to renewables. Unlike in Britain, all nuclear stations in Germany are being closed because of public demand, and fracking is unlikely to be considered.

This is partly because 380,000 Germans already work in the renewable energy sector and its development is credited with helping Germany through the recent recession by creating manufacturing and maintenance jobs.

Attitudes in the US to climate change and renewables have also changed in recent years, despite a barrage of propaganda from the fossil fuel industry attempting to cast doubt on the scientists’ predictions of global warming. The public supports renewable energies, irrespective of their views on global warming.

Actively concerned

The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication reports that 18 per cent of Americans are alarmed by climate change and its effect on their country, and 33 per cent are actively concerned. This is in contrast to 11 per cent who are doubtful that climate change is man-made, and a very vocal 7 per cent who believe it is a hoax or conspiracy got up by scientists and journalists.

Dr Anthony Leiserowitz, the director of the Yale project, said “Whatever people’s view on whether climate change was man-made or not, all sectors agreed that there should be support for alternative energies. Subsidies for more fuel efficient and solar had wide public support. This cut across voters of all parties and no party.”

Even in Australia, where the government has repudiated all efforts to combat climate change, 70 per cent of the public support renewable energies.

In the developing world, public knowledge of renewable energies is less, and so is the support − although solar power is popular. In India, where power cuts are a major headache for businesses, a recent poll showed that 50 per cent of Indians want more renewable energy, and particularly solar power, believing it will help them get a more consistent electricity supply.

Source: www.eco-business.com

China to let foreign investors trade in Shenzhen carbon market

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China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, said it will allow foreigners to trade carbon permits in Shenzhen, making it the nation’s first emissions exchange to welcome outside investors.

The Shenzhen exchange has yet to set the date or finalize other entry procedures for foreign investors. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has allowed foreign participation in principal, according to statement today on the website of the China Emissions Exchange.

The southern city of Shenzhen near Hong Kong started carbon trading last year as the first of seven pilot programs in China. The exchanges, constituting the world’s biggest emissions trading system after Europe, may be a precursor to a nationwide system.

“Foreign investors will be more active traders than Chinese companies with only a limited need to trade their allotments, adding to liquidity,” said Charlie Cao, a Beijing-based analyst from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Most foreign investors have carbon trading background,” bringing more experience to the market, he added.

Shenzhen is natural place to start because it’s home to the Qianhai financial district, a testing ground for trading the yuan more freely, Cao said. “At the pilot stage, the possibility that China will open other carbon markets to foreign investors is low.”

Improved liquidity from additional investors will help price discovery and encourage companies to invest in energy savings and carbon reduction, according to the statement.

Source: www.eco-business.com

RusForest provides update on Russian pellet mill in Q2 results

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Sweden-based RusForest AB has released financial results for the first half of the year, reporting the company produced 19,320 metric tons of pellets during the first six months of 2014, including 12,830 metric tons during the second quarter. The company sold 16,259 metric tons of pellets during the first half of the year, including 16,251 metric tons during the second quarter.

According to RusForest, pellet output in the second quarter was less than planned. During the three-month period, the company said its recently completed pellet mill in Russia performed equipment adjustments and was working on training the operators. By the end of the quarter, daily pellet production reached 200 metric tons.

The company reported revenue $17.8 million during the second quarter of the year, up from $15.2 million during the same period of last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $200,000, compared to -$3.5 million during the second quarter of 2013. RusForest reported a $3.8 million loss for the quarter, compared to an $11.8 million loss during the same quarter of the previous year.

For the first six months of the year, RusForest reported revenue of $34.7 million, up from $33.7 million the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.3 million, compared to -$5.8 million during the first half of last year. The company reported a loss of $7.1 million for the first six months of the year, compared to a $17 million profit during the same period of 2013.

Within its quarterly report, RusForest indicated it signed a contract for the sale of 60,000 metric tons of pellets on June 23. That volume represents the majority of the company’s annual production capacity. “The pellets are being sold through one of the leading trading houses focused on bioenergy and are expected to be used as fuel in various European coal-fired power plants,” wrote Matti Lehtipuu, CEO of RusForest, in a statement to shareholders. 

According to Lehtipuu, pellet sales during the second quarter were the key contributor to improved EBIDA in Arkhangelsk. This confirm‎s the rationale behind our investment decision to build the pellet mill in Arkhangelsk, Russia, last year, he continued.

On July 28, the company announced the sale of its subsidiary Ystad Pellets AB, which owns a non-core wood pellet mill in Ystad, Sweden, that has been idle for several years. RusForst reported that the net cash proceeds from the transaction amount to approximately $600,000.

Hard to Handle

If someone were to design an energy input with the sole aim of creating the most difficult material handling challenge imaginable, they would likely end up with something that looks very much like biomass. Often the byproduct of other industrial processes, biomass arrives at conversion facilities as whole logs, chips, grass clippings, unsorted municipal solid waste, packaged produce and liquid manure. Add to that the propensity biomass has for attracting moisture, producing dust, freezing, bridging and deteriorating, and if you don’t have the most challenging energy input to handle, then you’ve certainly got a front-runner.

Fortunately, the biomass conversion industry is supported by a comprehensive material handling sector dedicated to making the handling and eventual conversion of even the peskiest feedstock's practical. This issue of Biomass Magazine takes a comprehensive look at the array of screens, sifters, air knifes, Eddy current machines, shredders, reshredders, conveyors, hoppers, day bins, and storage domes that project engineers piece together to make a multitude of biomass streams viable as energy inputs.

The enormity of this ongoing challenge is well articulated in Katie Fletcher’s page 42-feature “Balancing Digester Diets.” In the story, Bryan Heiss, plant manager at Novi Energy’s Fremont Community Digester, reports that the facility is capable of receiving nearly 100 different types of feedstock including brewing waste, spoiled baby food, fast food waste and manure streams. This feedstock flexibility is central to the value the facility brings to the surrounding community, but this increase in value correlates with an increase in the complexity of the material handling solution.

Another challenge that emerges within this month’s stories is the variety of conditions in which biomass to energy facilities are deployed. Large biomass power facilities require vast quantities of biomass to operate, but typically have the luxury of adequate space to site the requisite wood yard and material handling infrastructure. But what about smaller facilities like hospitals, colleges and county courthouses that are increasingly turning to biomass to deliver facility heat loads? For a transition to biomass to be approved and funded, project engineers must figure out how to store, handle and move biomass without creating dust, while often working with less than a thousand square feet.

So far, at every turn and with every new feedstock challenge, this industry’s material handling experts have delivered cost-effective solutions that have kept biomass deployment moving steadily forward.

Good Things in Store for Pellets

When asked this winter about ongoing incentive funding for pellet boiler installations, Efficiency Maine CEO Mike Stoddard challenged, “If the program is a success, ongoing funding will be there.” When asked to define success, Stoddard replied, “If by the end of June you guys have done 50 installations, we’ll be disappointed. If you’ve done 100 installs with us, we’ll consider that a real success.”

Efficiency Maine recently announced that as of June 30, it had completed financing for 214 pellet boiler installations. Stoddard also announced that his agency’s budget for the program that finances these rebates will continue at the present level. While the more than $1 million spent to date on Maine’s pellet boiler incentives (at $5,000 per unit) pale in comparison with the $27 million for biomass thermal funding just announced by New York State, these incentives are clearly working.

Classic stimulus effects are becoming manifest. Iceland’s Eimskip shipping container firm, which moved from Virginia to Maine last year, has a new customer as Portland’s Interphase Energy LLC brings in Kedel pellet boilers from Denmark. The Heating the Northeast Conference in Portland this spring brought hundreds of visitors to the newly remodeled Westin Hotel. Maine’s pellet manufacturers are now running multiple shifts. Incentives work, along with the inherent logic of heating Maine homes with a Maine-grown fuel at half the price of oil.

The directors of the Finance Authority of Maine recently voted to certify Athens Energy LLC, a sister company of Maine Woods Pellet Co., to receive $12 million in state tax credits. These credits are encouragement for Athens to proceed with a $30 million investment to construct and equip a biomass electricity generator and to expand the pellet manufacturing facility, bringing 200 jobs here. The pellet industry is becoming a substantial Maine employer.

As this proceeds, consumers are finally recognizing the viability of pellet heat. “Especially in areas which are not going to get natural gas, our new customers are telling  us ‘we wish we had done this earlier,’” says an executive of one of the two pellet boiler firms located in Maine.

Major pellet retailers are also getting it. “Until last winter, the big box stores weren’t sure we were for real,” states one pellet manufacturing firm owner. “Now we’re getting orders we never had before.”

The Biomass Thermal Energy Council’s “Heating the Northeast” Conference and Expo, held for five years in Manchester, N.H., and then in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., has found a level of public interest in Maine not previously experienced. In Portland, a steady stream of consumers coming in off the street augmented the show’s traditional appeal to biomass industry audiences and vendors. This event will return to Portland in April 2015 and will add Friday evening and Saturday morning in order to accommodate the interested public.

Obstacles to full-blown expansion remain, of course. The Maine Fuel Board regulations for installing pellet boilers are mired in requirements written prior to the appearance of our “disruptive technology.” To the board’s great credit, it created a task force that has initiated reforms. A particularly uncooperative assistant attorney general recently sent this effort back to square one. But the installers will press forward, knowing that we are here to stay.

Source : Biomass Magazine

IEA releases mid-term forecast for biofuels, renewable energy

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The International Energy Agency has released its third annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report, which includes forecasts for global biofuel and renewable energy growth. Within the report, the authors predict that the expansion of renewable energy will slow over the next five years unless policy uncertainty is diminished.

In the power sector, the report indicates the use of renewables grew strongly last year, reaching almost 22 percent of global generation. Global renewable generation is expected to increase by 45 percent, making up nearly 26 percent of global electricity generation by 2020. However, biofuels for transport and renewable energy use for heating and cooling are expected to face slower growth and persistent policy challenges.

“Renewables are a necessary part of energy security. However, just when they are becoming a cost-competitive option in an increasing number of cases, policy and regulatory uncertainty is rising in some key markets. This stems from concerns about the costs of deploying renewables,” said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven.

“Governments must distinguish more clearly between the past, present and future, as costs are falling over time,” she added. “Many renewables no longer need high incentive levels. Rather, given their capital-intensive nature, renewables require a market context that assures a reasonable and predictable return for investors. This calls for a serious reflection on market design needed to achieve a more sustainable world energy mix.”

Overall, global renewable electricity generation is expected to reach 7,310 TWh in 2020, representing an annual growth rate of more than 5.4 percent. When compared to the MTRMR 2013 estimates, the IEA notes that the outlook for bioenergy and several other technologies is less optimistic. For that reason the renewable generation forecast for 2018 is 180 TWh lower than in last year’s outlook. In particular, an executive summary of the report points to a slower growth for bioenergy in China. Moving forward bioenergy capacity is expected to expand steadily in Brazil. It is also expected to increase in India and other parts of Asia.

Global bioenergy capacity is expected to increase from 88 GW in 2013 to 133 GW in 2020. By 2020, the report predicts there will be 2,555 GW of renewable energy capacity globally. In addition to the 88 GW of bioenergy capacity, this includes 1,360 GW of hydropower capacity, 630 GW of wind capacity, 403 GW of solar PV, 11 GW of solar thermal, 16 GW of geothermal and 1 GW of ocean.

For the first time, the report includes a renewable power investment outlook. Through 2020, the report predicts investment in renewable power capacity will average more than $230 billion annually. This is slightly below the $250 billion invested last year.

An executive summary of the report notes that global biofuels production increased by almost 7 percent last year, reaching more than 115 billion liters (30.38 billion gallons). This is 3 billion liters higher than predicted in the IEA’s MTRMR 2013. When adjusted for energy content, biofuel output accounted for 3.5 percent of global oil demand for road transport in 2013, up from 3.4 percent in 2012 and 2 percent in 2007. Production is expected to reach 139 billion liters in 2020. According to the report, the forecast has been revised down since last year’s outlook, with 2018 production forecast to be 2 billion liters lower than in MTRMR 2013. Ethanol production is expected to reach 104 billion liters in 2020. The forecast for biodiesel has actually been increased slightly, with 2020 production expected at 33 billion liters. Advanced biofuel capacity is expected to reach 4 billion liters by 2020, with developments expected to limited primarily to the U.S. and EU.

The summary also indicates that the policy support for increased biofuel production is waning in the key markets of the U.S., EU and Brazil. It is, however, expanding in newer non-OECD markets, such as Southeast Asia.

“In the United States, the design shortcomings of previous biofuel mandates have become manifest, leading to policy reviews that have introduced uncertainty in the market,” said the authors in the executive summary. “In Brazil, the ethanol industry’s economic situation is worsening, partly due to inflation-targeted gasoline price regulations that undermine ethanol economics. In the European Union, ongoing controversy about the sustainability of biofuels has led to a proposed cap on conventional biofuel use that is leaving the industry in limbo until a final decision on the proposal is taken. At the same time, policy support is burgeoning in non-OECD countries, notably oil-importing economies in Southeast Asia and Africa that subsidise fuel consumption, where rising domestic biofuel production promises a valuable option to lowering fuel import bills.”

Regarding energy use for heat, the summary notes that global final energy use of renewable sources for heat, excluding traditional biomass, increase by more than 2 percent last year, reaching 14.5 exajoules (EJ), and accounting for 8 percent of world energy use for heat. According to the report, world final energy use for heat accounts for more than half of final energy consumption, and three-fourths for that is met with fossil fuels.

Source : Biomass Magazine

UK nondomestic RHI reaches 1 GW wood heat, $1.26 billion invested

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The U.K. Renewable Energy Association and Wood Heat Association are reporting a milestone has been reached under the country’s nondomestic Renewable Heating Incentive.

The RHI is a U.K. government environmental program that provides financial incentives to increase the production and use of renewable heat, and includes separate programs for the domestic and nondomestic sectors. For the nondomestic sector, it provides a subsidy, payable for 20 years, to eligible, nondomestic renewable heat generators and producers of biomethane for injection based in the country.

According to the associations, as of Aug. 15, 1 gigawatt of renewable heat is being generated in the commercial, industrial and public sectors, with 4,926 accredited wood heating installations at locations including farms, factories, care homes, hotels and churches.

DECC defines an accredited installation as a system that has submitted an application and has gone through full checks by program administrator Ofgem’s E-serve to make sure that it complies with the relevant conditions.

The RHI has had a significant impact on investments in renewable heat—particularly bioenergy—and those investments are forecasted to significantly increase over the next several years. DECC statistics indicate that between 2010 and 2012, ￡760 million ($1.26 billion) was invested in heat from bioenergy, or 56 percent of the total investment in renewable heat over the period. That share is expected to increase to 85 percent from 2013 to 2020.

Julian Morgan-Jones, interim chairman of the newly launched Wood Heat Association, said 1 GY of wood heating under the RHI is “a major breakthrough. Our industry is growing fast, from boiler manufacturers and installers to fuel producers and distributors. We want that growth to be both successful and sustainable.”

Morgan-Jones added that a s well as stability in the RHI, more work needs to be done on up skilling system installers and developing widely accepted installation standards for all boiler sizes.

Source : Biomass Magazine

Can the EPA Do Its Job?

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As the wood and pellet stove and boiler industry gets closer to facing new EPA regulations, there is a striking disconnect between industry expectations and the EPA’s mandate. For industry, the concept of “technology-forcing” regulations is anathema, a clear example of a government agency running amok.  For many air quality agencies, technology-forcing regulations are the only way to move forward.

This won’t be a technology-forcing rule, even though most stoves will likely be forced to change by 2020. For it to be technology-forcing, the technology needed to achieve the mandated emission standard would not yet exist on a commercial scale.  However, some catalytic stoves on the market show that it’s already possible to meet the strictest standard proposed by the EPA.

The wood stove industry has issued hundreds of pages of detailed analysis showing more than 90 percent of stove models would not survive the regulations. However, forcing 90 percent of stoves to change is precisely the goal, not an unintended side effect. They want our country to move to a new generation of cleaner stoves.

The Alliance for Green Heat agrees that 90 percent of stoves need redesigning. But unlike many air quality agencies and environmental groups, we are a pro-wood heating organization.  We believe that the biomass stove and boiler industry can do this and still be profitable, while ensuring its own long-term survival and growth.

Many stoves may only need minor redesigns. There are plenty of R&D consultants who can help manufacturers if they don’t have the internal capacity.  Some models may have to be scrapped and redesigned entirely, a pretty expensive process for what are mostly small businesses that don’t deal in large quantities. This is why the EPA proposed staggering the implementation of the new rules—so that companies have time to get cleaner models ready. Some manufacturers may go out of business, especially ones that only make traditional outdoor wood boilers and do not have the capacity to make cleaner units. Other manufacturers will benefit and profit from the rules.

We agree with the industry that it’s too soon to require all stoves to be certified with cordwood, and that such a change could probably not happen for three to five years.  We also agree that regulations forcing industry to put catalysts on all stoves are not the answer. This worked for automobiles, but the technology is not yet ready for stoves.

There is one fundamental question both industry and air quality agencies share: “Is the EPA up to the task of regulating wood and pellet heaters?”

Northeastern air agencies have said that the compliance and enforcement office of the EPA is “ineffective,” and questioned the agency’s ability to manage existing stove regulations, much less any new ones.  They also cite the private, EPA-certified test labs as having a “lack of capacity to independently conduct and certify results” of emission tests, the linchpin of ascertaining whether a stove meets EPA requirements. The industry questions the fundamental capacity of the EPA to sufficiently understand and address a broad array of very technical issues.

We share concerns of both air agencies and industry, but are aware that government agencies are often in this bind. In this case, they appear to be working toward a compromise of stakeholder interests. Their proposal is extremely lenient with cleaner appliances like pellet stoves, and pretty tough for unregulated wood stove and outdoor wood boiler manufacturers.  We expect all major players will criticize the regulations for going too far, or not far enough. It’s too early to tell if they will strike the right balance.

The best context to understand this rulemaking comes from the 1990 regulations when EPA first regulated wood heaters. Yes, prices rose modestly. Yes, some manufacturers went out of business and the number of companies shrunk.  Yes, millions of old, polluting stoves were grandfathered and are still there. But we ended up with a vibrant industry that makes some of the best and cleanest wood stoves in the world and helps millions of Americans affordably heat their homes using a renewable resource. Those regulations were a lifeline to an industry that was making many very polluting appliances and would have otherwise faced a more complex regulatory landscape at the state level.

The 1990 regulations may have required a more drastic overhaul of stove designs than this one. Back then, the solution was secondary combustion technology.  This time, there will likely be a variety of ways to meet stricter emissions standards, and some automation of air control may be one of the solutions.  Ultimately, to get a new fleet of cleaner stoves deployed, we need an EPA that can put in the resources to adequately oversee the process.

Source : Biomass Magazine

Mindoro’s paradise island of mangroves

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Early in the morning, Alma Bool would plod through muddy waters and plant mangrove propagules off an island in the City of Calapan. She did not realize that she had already planted more than 3,000 of them until somebody asked.

The 42-hectare Silonay Mangrove Conservation and Eco Park on Silonay Island in Mindoro Oriental province has now become her “little paradise.”

For her daily sojourn to the sea, Bool, 37, was recognized, along with five other women, by the World Coral Reef Conference for her work on marine conservation in this part of the Verde Island corridor, also known globally for its high number of endemic underwater species.

The conference was held on May 13 in Manado, Indonesia, and initiated by Coral Triangle Initiative, which comprises six member-states—Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.

“The island-village of Silonay is one of the areas highly vulnerable to storm surges,” said Jocel Pangilinan, project manager of Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change of Conservation International Philippines (CI).

She cited the finding of the International Climate Initiative, which made a vulnerability assessment of the Verde Island Passage, which occupies over 1.14 million hectares and is shared by Oriental Mindoro, Batangas, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque and Romblon.

Silonay, situated in the eastern portion of Calapan, has been losing its mangrove forest due to rampant cutting of trees by residents to sell for firewood. The island has a population of 1,464 and a land area of 87 hectares.

With its natural protective barrier diminished, more than 100 houses were wiped out during a past typhoon, said Bobby Vergara, barangay (village) chair and president of the Sama-samang Nagkakaisang Pamayanan ng Silonay (SNPS).

Reforestation efforts led by SNPS have reversed the situation in Silonay.

New species

Surveys made by CI showed that the island’s mangroves species have increased in number from eight in 2009 to 14 in 2014. The conservation agency attributed the development to the “planting intervention” at the eco park.

Five years ago, it documented eight species—“pipisik puti” (Avicennia marinae), “pipisik pula” (Avicennia officinalis), “pagatpat” (Sonneratia alba), “bakawan lalaki” (Rhizophora apiculate), “baka-wan babae” (Rhizophora mucronata), “giting-giting” (Acanthus ilicifolius), “buta-buta” or “lipata” (Excoecaria agallocha) and “nipa” or “sasa” (Nypa fruticans).

CI found six new ones in its survey this year—“lapis-lapis” (Ceriops decandra), “tangal” (Ceriops tagal), “saging-saging” (Aegiceras corniculatum) and “pototan” (Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Bruguiera sexangula and Bruguiera cylindrica).

Silonay is also a habitat for birds and bats. In 2009, CI listed 29 bird species, the most common of which were the yellow-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus goaivier), black-naped oriole (Oriolus chinensis) and the white-throated kingfisher (Halcyon chloris), and two bat species—the nectar bat (Macroglossus minimus) and fruit bat (Ptenochirus jagori).

There are also new species of geckos of the Gekko gecko and Occidozyga laevis species, which can be heard from the footbridge of the park.

Crash course

The eco park was launched on Nov. 13, 2013, in time for Oriental Mindoro’s founding anniversary. Near the entrance is a mural of Silonay species done by environmental artist AG Sano and local students.

Residents would welcome visitors and help point out areas of interest. When they stop at a store, they can hear bird calls amid a vast expanse of greenery and mangroves.

A 350-meter bamboo boardwalk leads to three cottages that can accommodate 10 people. Native baskets are for trash and tarpaulins bear reminders on how to care for the environment as part of a crash course on the ecosystem.

Atop a 6-meter high tower, which can carry 10 people, one can have a panoramic view of the island and the Silonay River, which exits to the sea.

A P50 entrance fee is charged (P20 for students). Visitors are, however, encouraged to plant mangrove seedlings in certain wetlands.

Some students, teachers, civic-minded people, government employees, beauty queens and foreign journalists have posted their encounters with nature at their Facebook account known as Silonay Mangrove Conservation Area and Ecotourism.

Locals also have their own  stories to share, including that of Bool, SNPS treasurer and who once worked abroad as a domestic helper.

Rotone Faderanga, 30, used to cut mangrove trees and gather crabs to feed his two children, now aged 7 and 9. He is now one of the eco park guides and earns P2 per seedling planted.

One Saturday alone, Faderanga earned P2,000 when a group planted 1,000 seedlings, according to Bool. “He preferred to use his bare hands, without boots, to row seedlings” Bool said.

Other guides get P250-P300 a day, she said.

The provincial tourism office and Kapamilya Foundation have been training 15 to 20 guides, aged 17 to 35. Bool said the volunteers help protect the mangroves from loggers and maintain cleanliness.

Some villagers draw extra cash from selling souvenir items, snacks and hand painted T-shirts.

Indeed, Silonay is proud of its people’s green resolve.

Source: www.eco-business.com

Solar makers set for record 2014 sales on strong demand

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Solar manufacturers are set to ship a record number of panels this year, with the largest makers expected to deliver 52 per cent more panel between them than 2013.

Hanwha SolarOne Co saw “robust” volumes in the first half while maintaining its aim to sell as many as 1.6 gigawatts of panels this year, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Qidong, China-based company Nam Seong-Woo said yesterday on a call with analysts. To keep up with demand, it expects to complete its plant expansion by the end of the year.

Trina Solar Ltd, First Solar Inc, JinkoSolar Holding Co, Canadian Solar Inc, and JA Solar Holdings Co all reported profits in the quarter. Only Hanwha and larger rival Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. cut its shipment forecasts for this year and reported losses. Solar companies are expanding as a supply glut that hurt margins is mopped up.

“Robust levels of global demand should continue to drive notable revenue growth” in the second half into 2015, Jeffrey Osborne, an analyst at Cowen & Co in New York, said in a research note on Trina Solar.

Global installations are expected to reach a record 52 gigawatts this year up from 40.3 gigawatts in 2013 on falling equipment and financing costs combined with stable incentives, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The top seven makers expect to account for about 20 gigawatts of that.

Demand

Markets including China, Japan and the US will drive more than half of the growth this year, accounting for as much as 14 gigawatts, 11.9 gigawatts and 5.6 gigawatts respectively.

Even the parts of the industry that suffered most are recovering. Solarworld AG, Germany’s biggest solar-panel maker, shipped record modules in July and sees similar levels for this month, Chief Executive Officer Frank Asbeck said today. The company was the one major producer in Germany to survive a shakeout triggered by the inventory glut, which bankrupted dozens of German makers.

“Demand from both the China and overseas markets has picked up dramatically,” including the US, Trina Solar’s Chairman and CEO Gao Jifan said on a call with analysts following its earnings release.

Solar is largely driven by incentives in the US, Jim VanderPas, director of solar product and program development at ConEdison Solutions Inc, a developer of solar projects mainly in the country’s northeast and southeast, said yesterday in an interview.

Those incentives are fairly stable, he said. In the state of New Jersey, for example, “you’re going to see more growth than we’ve ever seen in the past next year.”

Source: www.eco-business.com

 

 

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