• • • industry is declining due to fall-ing demand for writing paper and newsprint, further reducing de-mand for feedstock. The wood pellet industry’s fibre paying capacity is substantially lower than that of either the pulp and paper industry or the board industry. Wherever a board pulp mill or a board mill exists, pellet plants are economically unable to compete for feedstock. Bill Mauro, Minister of Natural Re-sources and Forests for Ontario, has invited investors to develop a wood pellet industry in his province. On-tario has some 11 million cubic metres (equivalent to approximately five m ODT of wood pellets) of sur-plus feedstock available. The Commission relied on 2011 and 2012 wood pellet production and consumption data for its evaluation. Yet from 2012 to 2013, wood pellet imports to the EU grew by a further three million tonnes and from 2013 to 2014, by another • • 540,000 tonnes. Total North American pellet exports grew from 3.2 million tonnes in 2012 to 4.5 million tonnes in 2013, and 5.6 million tonnes in 2014. In Canada, one million tonnes of new pellet production capacity is presently under construction and will be operational in 2015: Rent-ech – 550,000 tonnes; Pinnacle – 250,000 tonnes; Groupe Savoie – 30,000 tonnes; and Pacific Bio-Energy and Canfor Joint Venture – 175,000 tonnes. In the United States, four million tonnes of new production capac-ity is presently under construc-tion and will be operational in 2015: Zilkha – 275,000 tonnes; Solvay Biomass Energy – 240,000 tonnes; Drax – 900,000 tonnes; Fram – 150,000 tonnes; German Pellets – 578,000 tonnes; Low Country – 70,000 tonnes; E-Pel-lets – 450,000 tonnes; Enviva – 1,000,000 tonnes; and Enerpellets USA – 250,000 tonnes. About 90 per cent of international wood pellet trade is confirmed by long-term bilateral contracts. LPS will not interrupt existing long-term contracts. There is more than enough new North American ca-pacity coming online in 2015 to feed more than three power plants the size of Lynemouth. The wood pellet industry cannot afford to lose a project that will consume 1.5 million tonnes of wood pellets annually. WPAC is convinced that the Commission’s assessment of the UK government’s sup-port of LPS view is in error. We can only hope that the Commission takes our com-ments and those from other supporters se-riously and that the Commission amends its findings in favour of the UK govern-ment and LPS. • Gordon Murray is executive director of the Wood Pellet As-sociation of Canada. He encourages all those who want to support and benefit from the growth of the Canadian wood pellet industry to join. Gordon welcomes all comments and can be contacted by telephone at 250-837-8821 or by email at [email protected]. • Canadian BIOMASS 9
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