<b>Power & pellets proposals</b> Two separate items by Dan Schell in the Bancroft newspaper Bancroft this Week indicate that this central Ontario town may soon be showcasing two new biomass projects. A local school is preparing to install a wood pellet boiler to provide heating as one of four schools taking part in the Green Schools Pilot Initiative through the Ontario Ministry of Education. A deadline of September 2010 has been set for the installation. In addition, two investors from County Power Corporation have proposed a state-of-the art biomass power plant, with waste heat to be used in an associated pellet plant. The electricity generated would be provided to the province through the feed-in tariff program, but would require an exception to the rules, allowing the plant to supply 15 MW, rather than 10 MW, of power. <b>Gasigirt wind award</b> Nexterra Systems Corp. has won the Best Application of Technology Award from the British Columbia Technology Industry Association (BCTIA). The award recognizes Nexterra’s biomass gasification system at Kruger Products LP’s New Westminster tissue mill. The system converts wood residue into syngas that is being fired directly in a boiler to generate 40,000 pounds/hour of process steam, replacing about 400,000 gigajoules/year of natural gas consumption. This application of Nexterra’s gasification technology demonstrates the company’s ability to retrofit existing natural gas-, fuel oil-, or coal-fired boilers to run on syngas. Repurposing of existing equipment will cut the capital cost of implementing biomass energy systems at industrial and institutional customer sites.