New NREL director appointed
The Alliance for Sustainable Energy recently announced the appointment of Martin Keller as director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and president of the Alliance, which manages the laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. Keller officially joined NREL on Nov. 30. He was previously employed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he served as the associate laboratory director for energy and environmental sciences, which includes ORNL’s programs in biosciences, environmental sciences, buildings technologies, transportation, climate change, manufacturing, and electrical and electronics systems. In 2006, Keller was recruited to ORNL from an industrial enzyme discovery and development company to lead the Office of Science-supported BioEnergy Science Center, in which NREL is a partner.


AMPH secures funding
AMP plc recently confirmed that it has secured a second round of funding for its biomass boiler portfolio through Aggregated Micro Power Infrastructure Ltd., which has completed a capital raise of £ 5.7million ($8.12 million), bringing the total invested by established institutions to £ 12.4million.

RusForest starts up pellet mill in Magistralny, Russia
In December, RusForest AB announced the first sales from its new pellet mill in Magistralny, Russia. The 30,000-ton-per-year facility began test runs in November.


Rentech adds CFO
Rentech Inc. has appointed Jeffrey R. Spain as chief financial officer of Rentech and general partner of Rentech Nitrogen Partners L.P. Spain will be responsible for overseeing the finance and accounting functions for both companies. He previously served as vice president of finance, accounting and administration for Rentech’s wood fiber group. Before joining Rentech, he was employed by Credit Suisse First Boston, LeadPoint Inc., eNutrition Inc. and Kimberly-Clark Corp.


BTEC elects board of directors
The Biomass Thermal Energy Council recently announced the reelection of four members of the board. At the Nov. 17 Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C., all four directors up for election were reelected, including Dan Wilson of Wilson Engineering Services; Christine Donovan, senior advisor for the Biomass Energy Resource Center and director of Business Strategy and Innovation at Vermont Energy Investment Corp.; Andrew Haden, founder and president of Wisewood Inc., and John Ackerly, president of the Alliance for Green Heat.


Global green bank network formed
A group of six green banks and two nonprofit groups recently announced plans to establish a Green Bank Network to help increase and accelerate investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency around the world. Green banks are public entities created to partner with the private sector to increase investment in clean energy and bring clean energy financing into the mainstream. The founding partners of the Green Bank Network include the U.K. Green Investment Bank; the Connecticut Green Bank; N.Y. Green Bank; the Japan-based Green Fund; Malaysian Green Energy Corp., and Australia-based Clean Energy Finance Corp. The National Resources Defense Council and Coalition for Green Capital have been appointed to spearhead creation of the network. ClimateWorks Foundation has agreed to provide seed funding. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development will use its convening power to facilitate the sharing of experience between green banks and countries interested in creating them, building on the OECD-Bloomberg Philanthropies green banks policy guide released in December.


ACORE appoints president and CEO
The American Council on Renewable Energy has selected Gregory Wetstone as president and CEO. Wetstone most recently oversaw government affairs as vice president for Terra-Gen Power LLC. He also previously served as senior director for government and public affairs at the American Wind Energy Association, as director of programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and as counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Wetstone played an important role in crafting the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.


Stora Enso opens Innovation Center, invests in pellet produciton
Stora Enso recently inaugurated its Innovation Center for biomaterials in Stockholm, Sweden. The center will host research, application, business development and strategic marketing. By creating renewable solutions and products from second-generation biomass, such as wood, in order to replace fossil-based products, the center is addressing societal problems such as climate change, increased urbanization, as well as water and land use issues. By the end of 2017, the center is expected to employ approximately 100 people. It covers 4,900 square meters, with an 1,600-square-meter, state-of-the-art laboratory. The company also recently announced it will invest €16 million ($17.61 million) to start pellet production and renew the boiler at its Ala Sawmill in Sweden.


Hamer, Fischbein Americas merge operations
Hamer and Fischbein Americas have announced plans to merge operations. The Hamer-Fischbein union combines almost 200 years of industrial bag closing and automated packaging experience. The company will continue to focus on its core businesses, including bag filling, bag closing, automated bagging and robotic palletizing. 


AEBIOM elects new leadership, board members
The European Biomass Association (AEBIOM) has announced Gustav Melin will serve as president for an additional term, while Didzis Palejs will serve as vice-president. Petar Curic of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, Vanja Curin of BABH, Martin Lindell of Sveaskog,  Annalisa Paniz of AIEL, Ilias Papageorgiadis  of ARBIO, Pablo Rodero of AEBIOM,  Hannes Tuohiniitty of Bioenergia, and Matthew Willey of Drax have been elected to the board of AEBIOM. In addition, the association has welcomed Fortum and Wild & Partner as new members.


Senate confirms director of DOE Office of Science
Cherry Murray was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December as director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Murray will oversee research in the areas of advanced scientific computing, basic energy sciences, biological and environmental sciences, fusion energy sciences, high energy physics, and nuclear physics. She will have responsibility not only for supporting scientific research, but also for the development, construction and operation of unique, open-access scientific user facilities. The Office of Science manages 10 of the department’s 17 national laboratories. Murray previously served as the Benjamin Peirce professor of technology and public policy and professor of physics at Harvard University.


NDC Technologies delivers equipment to Zilkha
NDC Technologies has delivered an in-process Near-Infrared (NIR) moisture monitoring system to Zilkha Biomass Energy. The system solution includes the installation of multiple NDC CM710e NIR moisture gauges with HMIs and operator workstations to better control the quality of the company’s Zilkha Black Pellet product and to improve process performance.


SBP appoints CEO
The Sustainable Biomass Partnership has appointed Carsten Huljus as CEO. Huljus is experienced in forest management and chain of custody certification schemes. As CEO, he will be responsible for the leadership and management of SBP, including engagement with its many stakeholders, such as biomass supply chain actors, policy makers and environmental NGOs. The current executive director, Peter Wilson, will take up the new post of standards director with Simon Armstrong continuing as technical director.