On September 19, the company “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA received the quality compliance certificate of the wood pellet production plant. In August, an inspection of the wood pellet production plant was carried out in accordance with the valid ENplus requirements, which are defined and approved in the 3rd version of the Manual (08/2015). Sample testing was performed in accordance with EN ISO 17225-2.
The Austrian BEA Institut für Bioenergie GmbH issued a certificate confirming the compliance of the production of wood pellets with the requirements of ENplus A2 (6 mm) standards.
On August 18, a PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) compliance audit was performed, which is an audit after the first certification year.
PEFC certification and audit was performed by Vides Kvalitāte SIA auditors, who have more than 30 years of strong expertise in the field of forestry and wood supply chains.
NewFuels SIA RSEZ is developing PEFC certification, promoting PEFC certified wood supply and forest certification in Latvia.
One of the main suppliers of PEFC certified wood is the company Latvijas Valsts Meži (Latvia’s State Forests), and this long-term cooperation ensures the supply of PEFC certified wood, which is an important component for our customers of the final product.
Rezekne Special Economic Zone (RSEZ) celebrated its 25th anniversary on 12.08.2022.. As part of this event, the traditional awarding of the winners of the “Prize of the Year 2021” competition took place.
“NewFuels” RSEZ SIA received the “Cooperation Partner of the Year” award in the following categories:
2nd place in the nomination “Product of the Year”
2nd place in the nomination “Socially Responsible Company”
3rd place in the nomination “Employer of the Year”.
Also “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA received a certificate of honor for the high 2nd place in the nomination “Enterprise of the Year” in the group of large / medium commercial enterprises.
“Energy Resources CHP” was awarded 3rd place in the nomination “Enterprise of the Year” in the group of small commercial enterprises and 2nd place in the nomination “Socially Responsible Company”.
In addition to the above, Roman Vdovychenko, the Chairman of the Board of both enterprises, was presented with a Gratitude from the Minister of Economy Ilze Indriksone “For active participation in the work of the Rezekne Special Economic Zone”.
Undoubtedly, it is worth noting that such high awards can only be obtained as a result of coordinated work of the team.
We thank all employees, cooperation partners, and, of course, the Rezekne City Council represented by Mr. A. Bartasevics and the Rezekne Regional Council represented by Mr. M. Svarcs.
But the warmest and most sincere wishes from our enterprises – the Rezekne Special Economic Zone and the Chief Executive Officer K. Freiberga.
We wish you prosperity, development and mutually positive cooperation for many more years!
During the exhibition-fair “Days of the Intrepreneurs in Latgale 2018” on 21 September, 2018, an award ceremony of the competition “Enterprise of the Year” was held in the Embassy of Latgale “GORS” and the most successful companies were rewarded by results of work of 2017.
We are proud to announce that “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA got an award “RSEZ Enterprise of the Year” and a Gratitude for investment in Rezekne economy.
We want to thank Rezekne City Council and the Chairman Aleksandrs Bartaševičs and all the partners of cooperation and local institutions, such high results could be reached only in collaboration with them!
We are glad to announce that on 21 May, 2018 “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA has done annual audit for maintaining ENplus certificate. The company has received a statement for compliance of the produced pellets with the standards ENplus A1 and ENplus A2.
It is always pleasant to win the recognition for the work done well and fairly. “Energy Resources CHP” RSEZ SIA has received a gratitude from the State Revenue Service for the successful cooperation and honest attitude towards Latvia, its inhabitants and their common prosperity. Our company has been admitted as one of the best tax payers that is very important for provision of national functions, development and growth. We are proud for the high recognition of our work and we will do our best in future to work as good and responsibly as before.
In February, 2018 “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA has successfully carried out the annual FSC® (licence code FSC-C131356) and SBP monitoring audit. The effectiveness of FSC® and SBE risk mitigation measures system was evaluated, which helps to control and mitigate the defined risks to avoid purchasing raw materials from natural forest habitats or habitats of European interest, to save cultural heritage and evaluate the compliance with the work safety in the forestry.
On November 17, 2017 “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA and “Energy Resources CHP” RSEZ SIA joined the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). LCCI represents the interests of entrepreneurs in state and regional institutions, as well as offers services so as to ensure Latvia has excellent companies in an excellent business environment. LCCI works in three areas – business environment, competitiveness of the companies and export.
LCCI is a fully-fledged member of the international network of commerce and industry chambers, which has several hundred years of experience in uniting millions of entrepreneurs from all around the world – the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry (EUROCHAMBERS) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
It was a great honour for the company “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA to meet the jury of the competition “Export and Innovation Award 2017” on 6th November, 2017.
Our company succeeded to be among 30 the best ones of 170 applicants and reached the 2nd round of the competition.
Among the members of the jury commission there were the representatives from the Chancery of the President of Latvia, Ministry of Economics, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Latvijas Banka, Employer’s Confederation of Latvia, The Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Luminor Bank, University of Latvia, Riga Technical University, Institute of Agricultural resources and Economics, ALTUM, newspaper Dienas Bizness, Latvian Technological Center, Latvian Institute, Latvian Designer’s Society and Accociation of Latvian Young Scientists.
The company “NewFuels”RSEZ SIA wants to thank the jury commission for the evaluation of the company and we do really hope to take a respectable place in the competition.
We are glad to announce that on 15th July, 2017, both companies were successfully audited and received the certificates for compliance with the following international standards in the scope of heat and electricity production as well as wood pellets production:
ISO 14001:2015 “Environment Management System”;
ISO 50001:2012 „Energy Management System.”;
OHSAS 18001:2007 “Occupational Health and Safety Management”.
All the certificates are valid till 13th July, 2020.
We are proud to announce that “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA has raised the quality of the pellets to a new level. The latest audit of ENplus has approved that the pellets we produce can meet the quality requirements both for ENPlus A1 & ENPlus A2.
We are proud to inform our Customers and Readers that we have received a renewed SBP certificate.
This certificate, in comparison with the previous one, is extended by the following pellet delivery ports: Riga, Liepaja, Ventspils, Klaipeda.
Scope of this Certificate has been also extended by Supply Base Evaluation (SBE). We are confident that this will give us the opportunity to increase the pellet production under SBP – Compliant declaration and reinforce our strong position on the pellets market.
We are very proud to inform that NF has been registered on BSL.
The Biomass Suppliers List (BSL) was introduced by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), formerly the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), in April 2014.
We begin with registration of ENPlus A2 but our aim is to register also ENPlus A1 in the nearest future.
Registration on BSL is a following step on Market Development Strategy.
We are glad to announce that on 15th June, 2017, both companies were successfully audited and received the certificates for compliance with ISO 9001:2015 international standards in the field of quality management. The certificates are valid till 14th June, 2020.
The standard ISO 9001 is one of the most known international standards that cover quality management of the company. It determines principles of the quality management, which allow developing the company systematically and continuously, improving management system of the management, adoption of decisions, project management systems, customers’ service and internal work environment. The standard is the basis for successful development of the company.
On Friday, August 12, 2016 at the ceremonial event of Rezekne Special Economic Zone the awards for the winners of the Year Award for RSEZ companies were presented already for the fifth year. Evaluating the figures of 2015, the award of the “Company of the Year” was granted to “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA. The company received the following gratifications: 1st place in the nominations “The Investment of the Year” and “The Most Rapidly Growing Enterprise”, 2nd place in the nominations “The Largest Tax Payer” and “The Largest Exporter”, 2nd place in the nomination “The Producer of the Year” within the group of large/medium sized commercial companies. In accordance with the initiative of the social partners the company is awarded with the Certificate of Recognition “For Promoting the Employment”. The company made more than 7.7 million EUR investments in 2015 and its total turnover was 15.4 million EUR.
“Atmosclear CHP” RSEZ SIA has got the Certificates of Recognition for “The Most Rapid Start” and “The Investment in the Development of Rezekne Special Economic Zone in 2015”. The company got 1st place in the nominations: “The Producer of the Year”, “The Investment of the Year” and “The Innovation of the Year”, 2nd place in the nomination “The Largest Tax Payer” within the group of small sized commercial companies.
The Board of NewFuels is delighted to announce the recent acquisition of the remaining 50.04% stake in the Company by the current owner of 49.96%, of the equity, Mr Andreas Tserni. Based in Cyprus and UAE, Mr Tserni is also the owner of the CHP electricity plant currently providing heat to one of NewFuels’ pellet lines at their site in Rezekne.
As original developer and previous owner of the pellet plant since 2011, a Director of Clear Energy Holdings SA, Mr Graham Bell, commented:
“We have been very pleased with our investment in a major wood pellet facility in Rezekne, Latvia, over the past 5 years. The company’s success could not have been achieved without the assistance and dedication of all the company’s staff, all of whom we wish to thank and wish well for the future. We are confident that Mr Tserni’s acquisition of NewFuels and his exciting plans for further investment will enable continued expansion and development of this significant business”.
Mr Tserni commented:
“I am delighted to have acquired 100% of NewFuels. Along with our CHP business, I have a long term investment plans and intend to continue their development and expansion to further improve quality, and efficiency. I am also pleased to be working with Nordea Bank in Latvia, who is supporting NewFuels and our CHP. I am looking forward to further economic development cooperation with them in the future”.
Currently Chairman of the Board of the CHP plant, Mr Roman Vdovychenko has also been appointed to the Board of NewFuels with immediate effect, replacing Mr Matiss Paegle. Mr Vdovychenko commented:
“I am very pleased to have been appointed as Chairman of the Board of NewFuels. I know that NewFuels is already a high quality pellet manufacturer that holds all major international quality accreditations including SBP, GGL, EN + A2. We are currently seeking UK BSL and EN + A1 accreditation as my main goal is to ensure that NewFuels continues to produce the highest quality pellets for our customers. I am delighted to be working with Mr Dura, the Plant General Manager, who is an experienced professional in the pellets industry with over 10 years’ experience. His technical and operational management team will remain unchanged and quite possibly expanded. I’m also very pleased to say that we have persuaded Mr Graham Bell, a previous director of NewFuels who has been involved with the business since its first beginnings, to continue to support me in the area of international sales and customer relations. These are very exciting times”.
The Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) is an initiative led by seven major European utilities that use biomass – mainly wood pellets – in large thermal power plants. SBP aims to support a sustainable solid biomass supply chain that contributes to a low carbon economy. “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA has successfully participated in the certification and its Supply Base Report is available here: SBP_report_EN
Joint Municipal Institution „Rezekne Special Economic Zone Authority” (RSEZ) organizes the Year Award for RSEZ companies to honour the most successful enterprises that function actively in the territory of RSEZ and contribute to the development of the business environment. The aim of the Year Award is to recognize and honour the most successful RSEZ enterprises and their products. The awards were presented at the annual official ceremony organized by RSEZ Authority on July 24, 2015. “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA received Certificate of Recognition for the contribution of RSEZ development in 2014 and the 1st place in the nomination “The Most Rapidly Growing Enterprise”; 2nd place in the nomination “The Producer of the Year”; 3rd place in the nomination “The Investment of the Year” and “The Biggest Exporter”.
The timber purchase for production of experimental pellets within the ERAF project „Developing the methods of plantation cultivation of fast-growing forest crops and evaluating the suitability of their wood for pelletizing No. 2013/0049/2DP/2.1.1.10/13/APIA/VIAA/031” has been concluded resulting in contract conclusion with AS „Ludzas mežrūpniecības saimniecība” and SIA „Metsa Forest Latvia”.
“NewFuels” RSEZ SIA announces the timber purchase for production of experimental pellets within the ERAF project „Developing the methods of plantation cultivation of fast-growing forest crops and evaluating the suitability of their wood for pelletizing No. 2013/0049/2DP/2.1.1.10/13/APIA/VIAA/031”. Submission until 21.05.2015. For Information
On October 31st, 2014 within the frame of annual exhibition “Rezekne Entrepreneur” Rezekne City Council awarded “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA with recognition of “Socially most responsible enterprise of the year and export contributor”.
The General Manager of RSEZ, Mrs Sandra Ežmale says: “The Grant of The Year has become the annual tradition in order to reward the most successful companies of RSEZ and to make a summary of achievements of the previous reporting year.”
The pellet plant “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA has been granted several awards among the group of large/medium companies – 1st place within the nomination “The Largest Exporter”, 2nd place within the following nominations: “The Most Rapidly Growing Company”, “The Producer of The Year”, “The Largest Taxpayer”, “The Investment of The Year”.
In the competition for the Grant of The Year “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA received the acknowledgement for having the most socially responsible entrepreneurship.
The evaluation commission this year consisted of representatives from the RSEZ Supervisory Board, RSEZ Entrepreneurship Commission and RSEZ Authority. The nominees for the awards were nominated also by Rezekne City Council, Rezekne Municipality and Rezekne Business Association.
We are proud to announce that “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA has received Enplus certificate which is the European standard for solid biomass fuels since 2011. The quality seal that is issued together with certificate stands for low emissions and heating with high energy value.
Developing the methods of plantation cultivation of fast-growing forest crops and evaluating the suitability of their wood for pelletizing Project manager: Dagnija Lazdiņa Beginning date: 20.12.2013 Closing date: 31.7.2015
European Regional Development Fund’s Project No. 2013/0049/2DP/2.1.1.10/13/APIA/VIAA/031 Program “Entrepreneurship and innovations” priority 2.1. “Science and innovations” event 2.1.1. “Science, research and development” activity 2.1.1.1. “Support for science and research”
Blog address of project activities http://treesforpellets.blogspot.com/
„Cleantech Latvia” invites all interested people to the seminar “Growing the wood fuel for pellet production” on 11th December, 2013 which will take place in Rezekne, premises of “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA.
On October 11th, 2013 the “Rezekne Entrepreneur 2013” awards ceremony was held. These awards are given by Rezekne City Council to enterprises that have achieved outstanding performance during the past year. We are delighted that “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA received the acknowledgement for being the largest exporter and the most socially responsible enterprise in Rezekne during 2012/13.
Mr Graham Bell, Chairman of “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA commented, „We are absolutely delighted to receive this award from Rezekne City Council. Our Company prides itself in being socially aware and places a high degree of emphasis on the welfare of our employees. We shall continue to strive for higher standards and performance during the next 12 months.”
We are very proud to announce that Rezekne Special Economic Zone (RSEZ) have awarded NewFuels first place in the competition for Company of The Year 2012. “NewFuels” RSEZ SIAwon in the category for medium sized enterprises.
Mrs Sandra Ežmale, General Manager of RSEZ commented:
“The aim of the competition for Company of The Year within RSEZ is to evaluate and honour the most successful entrepreneurs by evaluating RSEZ companies’ performance during the past year. This includes investments in improving production efficiency, production volumes, exports achieved, and taxes paid etc. The evaluation commission this year consisted of representatives from The RSEZ Board of Supervisors, The Latvian Employers’ Confederation and The Rezekne City & Regional Tripartite Advisory Council.
Several awards were granted to “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA: “The Producer of the Year”, “The Largest Taxpayer”, and “The Largest Exporter”. The company is the third largest wood pellet producer in Latvia; producing circa 120 thousand tons of product per year, and exporting to Sweden and EU countries. The sales revenues from production in 2012 amounted to 7,985 million LVL, with some 805 thousand LVL being paid in taxes. The company has 27 employees, with the average salary exceeding the overall average for the region. The company produces environmentally friendly pellets by strictly observing all sustainable criteria, and applying socially sound management principles. This is borne out by internationally recognised certificates held by the company.”
As you are aware “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA suffered an unfortunate accident in January of this year. We wish to provide a brief update on the current status of the plant and the actions going forward.
We are pleased to announce that we signed cooperation and support agreement with the German Company Büttner GmbH. Being one of the most reputable suppliers in the wood pellet drying industry, the company has assumed full responsibility over the technical operations of the plant, including the Vandenbroek International dryer.
During the past six months we have completely rebuilt the furnace and the dryer as well putting in place enhanced operational and safety procedures. Büttner GmbH have supervised all the repairs, improvements, and staff training as well as taking responsibility for future maintenance and support.
Currently being commissioned, we anticipate the plant will be back to producing pre-accident production volumes during the month of September. With the assistance of Büttner GmbH, we fully anticipate growing the annual production output to between 120K -130K MT in the near future.
We have also put in place new insurance policies for the plant, including business interruption with the reputable Norwegian insurance company, Gjensidige Baltic.
In addition recent GGL and FSC® C021123 audits have renewed our certifications.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers and suppliers for their support and understanding during this difficult period, and look forward to once again re-starting the production and delivery of high quality wood pellets in the near future.
There has been an explosion at “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA wood pellet production plant, Latvia. Detailed technical investigations are underway and it is too premature to speculate as to the causes. The explosion took place between the furnace and the dryer at 12.00 noon local time on Monday 21st January 2013.
The supplier of the drying equipment, Vandenbroek International B.V. were on site implementing various modifications in order to improve the systems’ performance as a precursor to the expansion of the plant planned by the “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA management. The explosion happened during the implementation of these modifications. The damage sustained is significant enough to have stopped the operation of the plant and the initial assessment is that the plant will be closed for the next few months.
The Chairman Graham Bell said, “In a fast growing industry such as the wood pellet business, difficult times such as these provide a good opportunity for good equipment manufacturers to show the support levels we can all anticipate in the future. We shall publish a weekly on-line diary of progress and support levels for our customers and suppliers for our clients and hope to be back in production in the near future. We are proud of our plant, staff and quality and will be happy to provide anyone who is interested with details of our experiences. We would like to thank our customers for the kind messages of support received in what is a difficult time for the company. We expect to bounce-back from these short term difficulties stronger than ever as this incident will not deter us from implementing our ambitious investment and expansion plans. We remain committed to having our world class pellet plant operational in the near future”.
“NewFuels” RSEZ SIA is a cooperation partner of society „Latvian Biotechnology Association” within the project „Cleantech cluster”, being implemented in the framework of contract No L-KAP-12-0009 dated on 12.09.2012, in cooperation with
On October 19th 2012, Rezekne Special Economic Zone congratulated the best business performers in 2012. “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA received the appreciations in nominations “The largest exporter” and “The largest investments” among the large / medium enterprises.
On 12th October 2012, Rezekne City Council felicitated the companies that have achieved good results in their business thus promoting the welfare of Rezekne as well. “NewFuels” RSEZ SIA got the note of thanks in the nomination “The Major Exporter”.
On 29th August 2012, the children from Rezekne Orphanage visited NewFuels site. They were very excited about the opportunity to imitate the operation of production process.
