Canadian Biomass • Summer 2021 • WPAC

The world is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic with renewed energy to tackling climate change. Governments around the globe are moving beyond piecemeal policy and programs to put forward strengthened national climate plan strategies with more defined targets and milestones. Canada released its strengthened climate plan, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy, in December 2020 and followed up in February 2021 with Canada’s Net Zero Future.

While government action is crucial, the corporate sector is increasingly leading the way. Companies from small- and medium-sized enterprises to multi-national giants are taking a hard look at how they can contribute towards and track their own progress on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and addressing other sustainable development goals. Global markets and investors are taking a deeper look at what drives long-term value creation in a business, using environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics not typically found on a balance sheet to more precisely measure and communicate a company’s value and to signal the importance of building of business that can adapt to industry, regulatory, and market shifts.

Bioenergy currently contributes about one-tenth of the world’s energy sources. While the heating sector remains the largest source of bioenergy globally, bioenergy for electricity has been growing quickly. Increasingly, sustainably sourced woody biomass pellets are seen as an important solution to the growing shift to a low-carbon future. Under evolving policy, the industrial pellet sector is forecast to reach about 43 million metric tonnes per year in 2027 – more than double the demand in 2019.

While Canada’s wood pellets have received strong respect and recognition globally, now is the time to turn our attention to the more substantial contribution we could be making right here at home – environmentally, economically, and socially. For example, in British Columbia alone, the wood pellet sector is creating real value for the forest sector and forest bioeconomy. Not only do we utilize residuals left behind from forest harvesting and primary forest products manufacturing, more than 2,500 men and women are also employed, either directly or indirectly in the wood pellet industry. Most of these jobs are in rural communities, including growing opportunities for Indigenous peoples’ participation.

Canada is blessed with an abundance of hydropower; however, according to the National Energy Board, bioenergy continues to be the second highest renewable energy source – with the energy generated by solid biomass significantly greater than that generated by wind, solar, geothermal, and tidal energy technologies combined. Approximately two-thirds of solid biomass energy in Canada is consumed by industry for process heat and co-generated electricity and one-third is consumed in the residential sector for space heating. Despite having the greatest solid biomass fuel potential and the largest heat consumption per capita of any major economy, Canada significantly trails European countries in solid biomass contribution to energy supply. And despite the numerous international electric utilities that have successfully converted from coal to biomass, Canadian coal power generators are unwilling to convert from coal to solid biomass.

We are making some inroads. Canada has made a commitment to get off high-emission coal. But, most Canadian electric utilities have simply opted to switch to a different fossil fuel, such as natural gas, or to have the government pay them to shut down altogether. And then there is the bioheat opportunity. At the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC)’s recent Maritime Bioheat Conference on June 2, Jamie Stephen, managing director of TorchLight Bioresources, noted that we have 475 commercial/institutional bioheat projects in Canada (75-5,000 kW scale), with the industry growing at 15 per cent per year. Over 99 per cent are using wood chips or wood pellets, choices depending on wood biomass supply chains, and capex and logistics advantages.

In many regions of Canada, particularly those with existing high heating costs and fossil fuel-dependent heating environments, transitioning to biomass heating is a win for the environment and a win for households, businesses, and communities. By using local natural renewable resources, provinces such as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick could reduce CO2 emissions by 3.2 million tonnes per year. This represents 16 per cent of the Canadian Clean Fuel Standard’s 2030 target for liquid fuels. It could also result in a savings of nearly $1 billion for household and commercial heating across the two provinces.

Government policy makers are also turning their attention to the role wood pellets can play in low-carbon innovation. We have a world of possibilities, with most experts agreeing pellets, with their low moisture content and homogenous characteristics, are a critical starting point for biorefineries producing second-generation liquid biofuels and advanced renewable biomaterials. The United Nations and international climate leaders have identified bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS or Bio-CCS) as the preeminent critical ‘negative emissions’ technology. Canadian wood pellets are now being used at Drax Power’s UK BECCS project.

The future for our industry and its contribution to the fight against climate change is bright, both internationally and here at home. From our humble beginnings as a means of phasing out wastewood beehive burners to an internationally recognized source of clean, renewable and responsible energy, I’m proud of the contribution our industry is making every day here at home and around world. But, there’s more work to be done – we will continue to drive research and innovation in our sector, improve safety for our workers and enhance forest health through better utilization of residuals.