Canadian Biomass • Summer 2021 • Event coverage

WPAC Maritime Bioheat conference highlights potential for biomass heating in Canada

On June 2, the first-ever Maritime Bioheat Conference, Net Zero by 2030: Growing the Region’s Largest Source of Renewable Energy, sponsored by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) and Canadian Biomass magazine, put a spotlight on the immense potential for biomass heating in the Maritimes.

Rene Landry, WPAC vice-president and director of wood pellet operations with Shaw Resources in Nova Scotia, closed the virtual event by pointing to the opportunity to position pellets as the leading heating fuel for commercial and institutional applications in areas off the natural gas grid, like the Maritimes.

“By using local natural and renewable resources, provinces like Nova Scotia and New Brunswick could reduce CO2 emissions by 3.2 million tonnes per year, and save nearly $1 billion for household and commercial heating,” he said.

But it will take work, he added: “We need policies that recognize the benefits of biomass at all levels of government, with incentives for investments and a co-ordinated industry approach when we talk to regulators and other decision makers.”

More than 300 delegates registered for the three-hour conference, which was supported by gold sponsors Heizomat Canada and Triple Green Products, and silver sponsors Fink Machine Inc. and BCA Énergie.

Listening to leading bioheat experts from across Canada and Europe, participants heard how Canada, as the world’s second-largest producer of wood pellets, can provide global and domestic marketplaces with clean, renewable and responsible energy as both strive to meet ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) targets.

But, other countries are far ahead of Canada. Jamie Stephen, Ph.D., managing director of TorchLight Bioresources, said Canada has more demand for space and hot water heat than any other country in the world, yet only one per cent of its population is served by central energy plants fueled by biomass/wood, natural gas, municipal waste or waste heat (pumps). In the Nordic countries, the number is between 55 and 95 per cet.

He questioned why Canada is looking to electricity to reduce its GHG emissions when in some jurisdictions, including the Maritimes, electricity is often more carbon intensive than other energy sources.

In her presentation, “Goodbye oil, hello pellets,” Christiane Egger, vice-president of FEDARENE, deputy manager of OÖ Energiesparverband and manager of the manager of the Ökoenergie- Cluster, said pellets (residential) and wood chips (institutional) are the dominant heating source in Upper Austria. More than 35 per cent of all dwellings are heated by biomass – twice as many as those heating with oil. The 18 per cent using oil for heat account for 45 per cent of CO2 emissions.

“Oil heating is not modern any more, it is dying out,” she said. “Changing is simpler than you think, and the investment pays off with lower energy costs and environmental benefits.”

Théo Losier, development officer with New Brunswick’s Biomass Solutions Biomasse (BSB), spoke of bioheat success stories in the Maritimes, including North America’s first steam wood pellet boiler at the amalgamated Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (CCNB) and the Université de Moncton (UDM) Shippagan Campus.

“This was ground-breaking stuff,” Losier said. “Here, we have a carbon-friendly product coming from New Brunswick wood waste, and we are turning it into a clean source of energy that is supporting local businesses and jobs while reducing emissions and costs – it is the future of energy.”

He says other New Brunswick public buildings, including schools and hospitals, now are considering using pellets for energy.

Terrence Sauvé, who works with Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to increase resource efficiency and competitiveness of farming and agri-food operations, talked about the benefits of bioheat – from more efficient heat to a lower environmental impact.

“We just need to get out the word out there. We all talk about renewable electricity but we do not talk about renewable heat like the UK did with their renewable heat incentive.”

Gustav Melin, CEO of Svebio, the Swedish Bioenergy Association, said one reason Sweden’s forest industry is competitive is that 96 per cent of the energy it uses is bioenergy.

“We are able to use waste from forest industry to supply bioenergy. When we harvest a tree, about 50 per cent of the volume becomes energy,” he said.

The point was echoed by Jeremy Williams, Ph.D., president of ArborVitae Environmental Services Ltd. He pointed out that biomass is a way to diversify the forest sector, especially with the shift toward more solid wood in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

A key, he said, is to provide more incentives and publicize pilot projects, as well as overcoming misconceptions from the environmental community about the source of the fibre.