Harvesting Profile Grinding out success Northern Biomass Consulting builds up operation in Western Canada By Andrew Snook Talby Mckay knows all about working the daily grind, literally. He has been working with biomass grinders for 18 years. Mckay got his introduction into grinders while working for his family’s business in northern Alberta. After securing his first biomass-grinding contract, he decided to purchase his first grinder and started managing a grinding operation in Prince George, B.C. In 2013, he started up his own company, Northern Biomass Consulting. Mckay quickly identified a need for training and man-agement services for grinding companies across Western Canada. “There was a real lack of trained professionals,” Mckay says. “When you just grab an [inexperienced] operator and toss them on a machine, that’s when your operating costs go way up.” Mckay spent a great deal of his time over the next few years training other companies’ employees on how to maintain and operate equipment for grinding operations. Eventually his com-pany grew and he was able to obtain bigger contracts to do bigger jobs for a variety of companies across the biomass industry. “I’ve been working with Enbridge and Trans-Mountain and just finished the first phase of Site C Dam,” he says. “I had six grinders on site grinding all at once.” One challenge Mckay has encountered on some of the larger proj-ects he works on is finding a home for the biomass he grinds up. “On [Site C Dam] there was no market for it, but we are working on projects to get rid of that biomass up [in Northern Alberta],” he says. “One markets is to grind it and sell as absor-bent in the oil patch. Working with biochar companies is an Northern Biomass Consulting has 24 sub-contractors it uses in its grinding operations and has employed upwards of 50 in its busiest seasons. 14 Canadian BIOMASS OCTOBER 2016
Canadian Biomass October 2016: Page 14
