In partnership with Canfor Corporation and the Moricetown First Nation, Houston Pellet Inc. collects sawdust from the sawmill, which is dried and added to shavings in storage silos. build the storage and the handling capability to handle the cheaper fuel is an easy decision. However, if a power generator has other, more capital intensive, restrictions in the power station, they might, he says, be pre-pared to put the dollars on the table if pellet producers could help fill the need with some-thing that has a little more energy density. “Then you look at what is the capital tradeoff between trying to modify that ca-pability of the boiler versus changing the fuel,” says Reitsma. “Today there is no one in the market who is jumping forward to pay more mon-ey for the delivery of a torrefied product.” Thus Pinnacle is going to proceed cau-tiously, but at the same time, keep in mind what the potential of torrefaction might be. “We might find a totally different way, where all of a sudden the economics make sense.” FIBRE SOURCE in those costs incurred by the producer to deliver the product. Generally, further ener-gy densification is regarded as a neat trick, but not something that adds value to the bottom line of electricity producers, which can’t otherwise be achieved through capital investment at the power station.” For example, he says, for one of Pinnacle’s customers that intends to consume eight million tonnes per year of wood pellets, the choice between an ongoing $10-per-tonne price increase versus a one-time investment to Making wood pellets from different sources was and continues to be a big part of Pin-nacle’s success and growth. “There’s a tying together of multiple 20 Canadian BIOMASS MarCh/april 2013
Canadian Biomass March/April 2013: Page 20
