Resource World Magazine

F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 7 www.resourceworld.com 83 GREEN TECHNOLOGIES project will produce expertise for enter- prises in various fields, and it will result in a multidisciplinary industrial integration that no one company can achieve on its own. Collaboration will strengthen the expertise of Finnish industry in this sector," states VTT's Principal Scientist Pekka Simell. Developers expect the research to facilitate implementation of industrial-scale solutions and to create new business opportunities for Finnish industry. CANADIAN WOOD PELLET INDUSTRY SEES SUBSTANTIAL GROWTH Wood pellets are a biofuel, made from compact organic matter, usually wood waste, often derived from commercial log- ging slash. These pellets can be used on a small scale to fuel a stove or to heat a house or on much larger scales, to fuel power plants and district heating systems. According to the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC), a nation - wide collective of pellet producers, the industry has seen substantial growth over the last decade, as more and more countries try to limit carbon emissions by cutting back on coal and by moving towards renewable energy. "Canada has benefited from the boom in Europe," said Gordon Murray, the WPAC president. "About 85% of our exports are going to Europe, and 15% to Asia." He says that in less than 20 years, production has sky - rocketed. "In 2000, there was just a couple of rickety little plants in British Columbia and one in Québec," said Murray. "They were producing 100,000 tons per year." In contrast, Canada produced more than 3 million tons of wood pellets in 2016 – a 15% increase from the year before. British Columbia is the nation's leader in wood pellet production and export, producing an estimated 70% of Canada's pellets, many pellets from forests deci - mated by the mountain pine beetle, according to the WPAC. Murray says the over 40 plants across Canada include three new mills in British Columbia, with exports directed towards Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. But, while British Columbia's forest sector and major ports make it an ideal centre for Canada's pellet industry, producers are starting to set their sights on the domestic market. Last year, federal Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna, announced a plan to phase out coal by 2030, putting pres - sure on the four provinces that still burn the resource to make the switch to renew- able energy: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Many mem- bers of the wood pellet industry, including Murray, have lobbied the provincial and federal governments to take advantage of wood pellets to replace coal in these prov- inces – specifically in Alberta. "We've approached both the industry and the gov- ernment about using wood pellets, but so far, they've been quite reluctant to consider it," said Murray. "They want to use natural gas, and they want to use wind and solar – we think wind and solar are good, but they're intermittent... you need to wait for the sun to shine or the wind to blow." Murray says the infrastructure for coal- powered electricity can be converted to run on pellets. In Europe, similar projects have been undertaken – the Rodenhuize Power Station in Belgium, for example, was a coal plant that was converted to run on wood pellets (almost entirely Canadian pellets), and it continues to power over 300,000 homes. GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES COULD POWER CANADIAN CITY Canoe Reach Energy, a privately-held British Columbia-based company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Borealis GeoPower Inc, is developing a geother- mal energy project, located in British Columbia, south of the town of Valemount in the Robson Valley. The Canoe Reach Project is a three-phase development proj- ect, with the end goal of generating power locally through the region's geothermal resources. Each phase represents different levels of resource development. Phase 1, Griffin GeoHeat Park, is a small-scale local greenhouse and hot pools sustained naturally by the earth's heat. Geothermal energy will provide CO 2 cred- its instead of companies paying a carbon tax. Borealis estimates that Phase 1 will generate 1,250 tonnes per year of carbon credits and will be accomplished with sup- port from the University of Alberta Phase 2, Cedarside GeoPark will pro- vide 100 kW of power through the BC Hydro Net Metering Program, 1MW of power through the BC Hydro Community First Nations Standing Offer Program, and heat supplied to GeoPark business custom - ers. Borealis estimates that Phase 2 will generate 19,000 tonnes per year of carbon credits. Phase 2 of the project is expected to be 15 times larger than Phase 1 and is expected to be located closer to the Village of Valemount. Phase 3, Canoe Reach GeoPower, will sell 15 MW of power production through the BC Hydro Standing Offer program as well as provide ancillary services to BC Hydro for Transmission Grid Support. Director, Alison Thompson states, "We are raising capital for drilling and initial development of the reservoir. Accredited investors can participate in an alternate energy investment that is PIMBY (please in my backyard). This is possibly the first energy project, and almost certainly the only current energy project in the province that does not have any public discontent associated with it." n

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