<b>TORREFIED PELLETS GO COMMERCIAL</b> The first commercial-scale plant to produce torrefied wood pellets is being built in Duiven in the province of Gelderland, The Netherlands. The £15-million plant is a project of Topell Nederland, a joint venture between Dutch company Topell Energy and German company RWE Innogy. The plant is expected to begin producing torrefied biomass in early 2011, with a production capacity of 60,000 tonnes/year. The process developed by Topell enables the continuous production of torrefied pellets on an industrial scale. The manufacturing process is highly feedstock flexible. Torrefied pellets have a high energy density and, when co-fired with conventional coal, do not require additional infrastructure such as separate storage or pulverization equipment. RWE Innogy’s Dutch subsidiary Essent will be the first company to use the torrefied pellets over a period of five years for combustion in the Amer coal-fired power plants in Geertruidenberg. <b>$1 MILLION FOR QUEBEC BIOMASS</b> Three financial contributions totalling $1,090,358 are being granted to businesses in La Matapédia regional county municipality in Quebec. The funding, from Canada Economic Development, is to support the forest biomass sector. Service de recherche et d'expertise en transformation des produits forestiers (SEREX), a college-level technology transfer centre that supports the secondary and tertiary wood processing sectors, is receiving a non-repayable contribution of $705,000. The funding will allow SEREX to design and create a wood biomass boiler prototype and to share its expertise with businesses operating in the biomass industry. The Coopérative forestière de La Matapédia is receiving a repayable contribution of $360,000, which will allow it to purchase wood processing equipment for producing biomass to fuel furnaces in commercial, institutional, and multi-residential buildings. Productions Gaëtan Roy, which specializes in manufacturing custom metal products for various markets, is receiving a repayable contribution of $25,358 to purchase and modify the equipment required to produce metal components for manufacturing biomass boilers. <b>CANADA TO REGULATE COAL POWER</b> The government of Canada is moving forward with regulations on coal-fired electricity generation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the electricity sector. About 13% of Canada's total GHG emissions come from coal-fired electricity generating units. The proposed regulations will apply a stringent performance standard to new coal-fired electricity generation units, as well as coal-fired units that have reached the end of their economic life. Canada's fleet of coal-burning electricity plants comprises 51 units, with 33 coming to the end of their economic life by 2025. The gradual phase-out of traditional coal-fired electricity generation is expected to reduce emissions significantly. This policy is expected to reduce emissions by about 15 megatonnes, equivalent to eliminating 3.2 million motor vehicles. Draft regulations to reduce GHGs from the electricity sector are expected to be published in the Canada Gazette early in 2011, with final regulations published later that year. This will allow time for consultations and outreach with industry and other stakeholders. Regulations are scheduled to come into effect on July 1, 2015.