from a sawmill next door. However, that sawmill eventually shut down, and the biomass project could not find other suppliers in the woodshed that could supply material lower than 15 per cent MC. Prior to deciding on technology, each biomass heating project should clearly understand the type of wood fuel available in the market. FUEL STORAGE AND DISRUPTION PLANS catastrophic event. A robust fuel supply disruption plan is necessary for each project to prevent surprises down the line. New biomass heating projects often lack such plans, leading to preventable shut downs. For example, biomass heating projects often rely on just one fuel vendor. If that vendor defaults, and there are no planned back-up vendors, then the project runs short of fuel. Having a good fuel supply disruption plan can easily prevent such situations. PRE-CONSTRUCTION MISCOMMUNICATION To operate smoothly without fuel supply disruptions depends on a geographical region. Weather affects logging and trucking operations, so regions with heavy snowfall are prone to fuel supply disruptions, and therefore projects located in those regions require larger storage capacity. Again, discussing these issues with suppliers directly is the best way to understand how big fuel storage capacity should be to mitigate against fuel supply disruptions. Weather is just one potential cause of fuel supply disruption. Others include vendor default, equipment failure, and One of the common mistakes in the pre-construction phase of a biomass heating project is miscommunication between the construction project manager and plant operations manager. The project manager’s goal is to ensure that construction is completed on time and under budget, while the operations manager’s goal is to ensure that there is little to no downtime. Because these objectives are misaligned, miscommunication can be a problem down the line. In one case, for example, the project manager purchased a cheap storage facility to stay under budget, without asking the operations manager for an opinion. Storage problems have caused significant downtime since the project became operational. Therefore, it is important for a project manager and the plant operations manager to engage in open communication to ensure the project is not compromised, for example, by potential budgetary savings. There are many more potential mistakes that can happen when developing a biomass heating project. A comprehensive due diligence process is the only way to minimize the chance of potential failure. This is especially the case on the feedstock supply side of things. Fuel is an ongoing cost; therefore, making sure that all potential issues are weeded out prior to or during construction will save the variable costs associated with running a biomass heating project in the long-term. • Pat Liew is the business development manager for Ecostrat Inc. www.ecostrat.com Canadian BIOMASS 29
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