Are you familiar with our STEM initiatives Discover all the products and services we have for you and your business Talent Energy Program: Complete your internship with us Biomass from vineyards and forests for renewable energy generation Vine pruning and forest management are two of the agroforestry activities that offer the greatest potential for energy production Vine shoots and vines for electricity production The farmers gather this biomass waste on the roadside and the operators from this company are in charge of removing it at no cost The vines and vine shoots are taken to a collection point which is usually four or five kilometers away so that the operation “is more productive and we travel fewer kilometers for each load,” says Nieto which is the first challenge posed by the use of biomass Grúas Nilo has been collecting vine shoots and vines for three years for a power plant that generates electricity from biomass Grúas Nilo has been collecting biomass for this power plant for three years 80% of which are uprooted vines and 20% of which are vine shoots it has between 7 and 8 permanent employees and when the pruning is done and the collection process begins it is supplemented by machinists and truck drivers to double its workforce they travel to all the towns in the province of Ciudad Real a town located nearly 100 kilometers from Socuéllamos Biomass recovery also frees farmers of a burden: “right now in Villarrubia de los Ojos they are waiting for us as if we were the May rains, because the pruning waste must be removed and if we do not collect it, they have to obtain authorization to burn it, the vines burn poorly... We leave them a clean plot, and if this waste is used to generate electricity and reduce pollution.. but more can be done because there are not enough companies like ours to collect all the vine shoots and vines Forest biomass to produce steam for industrial purposes One of the sectors that can play a key role in the development of the biomass sector is forestry Every year in Spain thousands of hectares of forest are cleared and tracks are maintained to prevent fires and to facilitate rapid action The result is an enormous volume of trunks and leaves that can be used as biomass to generate renewable energy Enso offers thermo-intensive industries to replace natural gas with biomass and thus decarbonize the production of steam used in their processes “It is a biomass that we categorize as residual because if it were not used by the biomass sector it would have no use It represents a problem and a cost for the administration and the forestry industry can be used while also generating a stimulus for sustainable forest management,” says Aitor Rentería an energy services company that offers thermo-intensive industries a way to replace natural gas with biomass and thus decarbonize the production of the steam they use in their processes With nearly a dozen projects on the Iberian Peninsula Enso builds and operates its own plants alongside its customers' factories to provide this service At its plant for Don Simón in Villanueva de los Castillejos (Huelva) together with batches of eucalyptus and fruit trees such as the orange trees that the company grows nearby to produce its juices In order for the industrial use of biomass to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 80% as established by the EU's new Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) “our entire value chain is traceable and subject to a certification process,” continues Rentería This emissions control mainly limits the distance from where the biomass can be transported torrential rains...) may mean that there will be more abundance of one type or another” The recovery of the organic waste generated by agroforestry activities can be a driver for wealth in the Spanish countryside Mission Statement: to assist the integration of foreign residents living in Spain and this is never more accurate than when you establish yourself as a foreign resident in a new country Being able to quickly familiarise yourself with the culture and customs can help ease the transition during a challenging time This is why Euro Weekly News makes it our mission to provide you with a free news resource in English that covers both regional and national Spanish news – anything that we feel you will benefit from knowing as you integrate into your new community and live your best life in Spain you can forget about translating articles from Spanish into awkward English that probably don’t make much sense Let us be your convenient and essential guide to all things that will likely affect you as a foreign resident living in Spain The reintroduction of an iconic species into Spain hopes to turn back the clock on extinction In a remarkable conservation effort, eighteen European bison have recently found a new home on a hunting estate at the base of the Montes de Toledo led by the European Bison Conservation Centre (EBCC) and overseen by Spanish veterinarian Fernando Moran marking a significant milestone in the battle to preserve this famous species The EBCC plays a pivotal role in this narrative acting as a bridge between bison breeders across Europe The organisation’s efforts in Spain focus on reintroduction Moran commented: ‘Our goal with the species is to continue increasing its population so that it comes out of extinction.’ .collaborate with other countries to ensure that in the end we reach a global population that is not threatened,’ further underlining the collaborative nature of their mission The choice of Villarrubia de los Ojos for this project is not random The estate aims to both contribute to the conservation of the species and mitigate environmental degradation caused by overpopulation of deer through the bison’s natural habitat management behaviours ‘This animal is a clearing machine and, in those areas where it eats and breaks, it allows grass to grow that is beneficial for the rest of the animals,’ Moran explains, highlighting the bison’s role in ecosystem restoration The reintroduction of the European bison into Spain has been a story of gradual success From the first 23 or 24 individuals in 2009 the country now boasts 171 bison across 16 breeding centres With an estimated 9,500 bison across Europe the species represents a beacon of hope for conservationists with such a short time that this project has been underway,’ Moran cautiously optimises acknowledging the challenges ahead but also the progress made thus far Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain by delivering news with a social conscience we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home With around half a million print readers a week and over 1.5 million web views per month EWN has the biggest readership of any English language newspaper in Spain The paper prints over 150 news stories a week with many hundreds more on the web – no one else even comes close Our publication has won numerous awards over the last 25 years including Best Free Newspaper of the Year (Premios AEEPP) Company of the Year (Costa del Sol Business Awards) and Collaboration with Foreigners honours (Mijas Town Hall) All of this comes at ZERO cost to our readers All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE Download our media pack in either English or Spanish We have received the very sad news that Trevor Dadson Emeritus Professor of Hispanic Studies and former Vice Principal for Humanities and Social Sciences Trevor joined Queen Mary in 2004 as Vice Principal before continuing his research in the Department of Modern Languages He was an incredibly distinguished scholar whose work encompassed cultural He dedicated his career to the study of the Spanish Golden Age becoming one of the world’s foremost experts on the era chapters and research papers throughout his career and was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 2008 the Spanish town of Villarrubia de los Ojos named a new street after him and in 2015 he was awarded the title of Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Católica by King Felipe VI of Spain for his services to Spanish culture he was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Real Academia Española and the Real Academia de la Historia His monographs include a major study in Spanish of the Moriscos of the Campo de Calatrava in Spain (2007) a history of the printing of the 'Rimas' by Lupercio and Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola (2010) and an edition in Spanish of the travel diaries of Elizabeth Lady Holland and the novelist George Eliot who both visited Spain in the nineteenth century (2012) In 2014 he published a book in English on the Moriscos of the Campo de Calatrava: Tolerance and Coexistence in Early Modern Spain (Tamesis Books); a revised edition of this work in Spanish was published by Cátedra in 2017 His latest projects included an edition of the more than 500 letters the Count of Salinas sent as Viceroy from Lisbon between 1617 and 1622 as well as editing a volume of studies on Islamic Culture in Spain to 1614 by L Harvey (former Professor of Spanish at Queen Mary) Trevor also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Hispanic Research Journal published by the Department of Modern Languages his books also included the letters memorials of the Count of Salinas (Marcial Pons-CEEH an edition of the Count's unedited poetry based on the autograph originals (Real Academia Española and a revised and updated second edition of his book on the Moriscos of Villarrubia de los Ojos (Iberoamericana-Vervuert Trevor will be remembered as an exceptional scholar and a valued colleague Our thoughts are with his family at this time Despite the abundant rainfall in March in Malaga province the nighttime water restrictions remain in place in Vélez-Málaga on the eastern stretch of the Costa del Sol along with other towns and villages in the Axarquía Farmers still do not have access to water from La Viñuela reservoir for irrigation which has been the case since 1 January 2022 In this context of drought and with no rain forecast for the foreseeable future Vélez-Málaga town hall has received a new setback from Spain’s central government in their request for European Next Generation funds to improve water supply networks This is the second blow to the town hall within a week as a few days ago the local authority learned that it had lost out on a further three million euros to carry out work on its 10th century fortress having missed a deadline to submit all the documents Now the town hall has lost its request for 9.2 million for water infrastructure which was also presented in the last months of the last legislature by the previous bipartite team of the socialist PSOE party and the independent Torre del Mar GIPMTM party According to the resolution of the central ministry for ecological transition the reason for this rejection is because Vélez-Málaga town hall "did not present the documentation required” The official document which is signed by the secretary of state for the environment did not include a number of documents required to go with the application SUR has tried without success to get an answer from the current bipartite team made up of the centre-right Partido Popular (PP) and GIPMTM on this matter and to know the reasons why this documentation was not presented in time presented jointly with 22 Valencian municipalities envisaged allocating 2,431,858.24 euros for the renovation and implementation of new underground water catchments in the Almayate area 6,352,558.24 euros for the renovation of the water transport and circulation infrastructure and 449,977.14 euros for the digitalisation of the sewage networks The previous town hall team proposed improvements to 15 kilometres of the supply networks The project had a total budget for the 23 municipalities of 11,173,616.28 euros of which 90 per cent would have been provided by the European Next Generation funds and the remaining 10 per cent (2,862,837.94 euros) would have to come from the municipal coffers The application was submitted jointly with the Valencian water management company Ciclagua S.A. in order to be eligible for a larger amount of the subsidy If Vélez had applied alone it would have only been eligible for 60 per cent of the total budget according to the documentation to which SUR has had access the plan was to replace three kilometres of asbestos cement network on the western edge of the town in the section from the El Toro reservoir to Bajamar another 7.25 kilometres from the latter area to the border with Rincón de la Victoria another two kilometres from the Molino de las Monjas catchments to the town centre of Vélez-Málaga 1.25 kilometres of asbestos cement pipes in the Almayate network and 1.5 kilometres from the Vega Mena catchments to Torre del Mar The project also proposed the digitalisation of the municipal sewerage network for the integral control of the pipes leading to a more efficient water supply system which would reduce water losses and increase its reliability and robustness the town hall estimated losses of 24% in the supply network The catchments to be renovated are in a "highly degraded state" The former PSOE mayor of Vélez-Málaga Antonio Moreno Ferrer has shown his "disappointment with the manifest incapacity of a government team that only knows how to repaint kerbs without a clear vision of the municipality and the future" The Ministry for Ecological Transition has also rejected a project jointly requested by the Malaga municipalities of Alameda The reasons are that they did not present "the corrected documentation required " And an application from Sayalonga town hall in the Axarquía for the installation of smart water meters was also rejected again apparently for not supplying the correct documentation The only town in Malaga to benefit from the funding was Villanueva de Algaidas The project has received 351,866.95 euros of the total budget of 439,003.92 euros Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados