He’s seeing that trend surface again as B.C.’s sawmills struggle to remain open with the combination of U.S. softwood lumber tariffs, less annual allowable cut, and high log costs. “There are a lot more pellet plants and more competition for the fibre. At this point they don’t have much of an option other than getting the fibre from logging debris,” Justin says. The logging debris is typically clean aside from some dirt and rock, he says. This is ideal for co-gen plants that can burn hog fuel with a high percentage of bark. Pellet mills require a cleaner fibre to produce the fines required for pelletizing. “They have to be really careful about their grinding. They can’t have a lot of needles or bark. So they’re really going after the dry wood like old forest fire burned wood or old beetle kill where a lot of the needles or bark are already falling off the wood. That makes a higher quality pellet for them,” Justin says. At the landfill, Huska separates and grinds white wood – what they call dimension lumber – to a 2-inch minus product that heads to Tolko Armstrong’s co-gen plant. Yard waste at the landfill, which is leafy, grassy material, is ground and stays on site to be composted. All told, Huska grinds around 470,000 cubic metres of fibre annually from its major clients. STEADY ON The biomass side of the wood grinding industry is undoubtedly tied to the forest products industry, but the connection thus far has been a zero-sum game. After the forest industry’s recovery from the 2008 recession, when sawmills were once again at capacity and producing sawdust and bark for the secondary industries, many logging residual grinders found themselves out of work. Huska Holdings was fortunate, Justin says, because they could turn to their landfill wood waste recycling contracts. Customer diversity was key. “There was a hard time for a lot of these contractors who invested a lot of time and money in wood grinding equipment – they’re not cheap,” he says. “You have to have a lot of work in order to keep your equipment busy.” With lumber producers in B.C. once again facing uncertainty, pellet and co-gen plants are turning again to forest residuals for a secure fibre supply. “They’re realizing that they have to put some sort of program together to keep their fibre supply consistent,” Justin says. As forest biomass ramps up, leading to new contracts for Huska, the company is looking to purchase a third grinder for its fleet. Justin is also in the middle of taking over sole ownership of the company from his now-retired parents. “It’s a scary but exciting time,” he says. “My plan is to continue on with what we have now and also grow the business in different ways. Right now we’re looking to diversify even more. There are some other areas we could get into to keep the business going.” What might those be? Justin’s not saying yet, but with the company’s track record for staying strong even in slow years, we’re expecting great things for Huska’s future. • 18 Untitled-4 1 Canadian BIOMASS 2019-04-18 11:48 AM SPRING 2019
Canadian Biomass Spring 2019: Page 18
