various demand sizes. The countries that produce state-of-the-art central pellet heating appliances are all members of the European Union. Re-cently, Canada and the EU entered into a trade agreement known as the Canada Eu-rope Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), intended to make trade easier among parties to the agreement. The complexity of pellet heating appliance im-portation into Canada from Europe rep-resents a technical barrier to trade that should be eliminated. A SIMPLE SOLUTION? While this looks like a cumbersome, bu-reaucratic process on its face, rectification of the situation might actually be quite simple. The EU has had more than a de-cade to develop strong standards for the safety and performance testing of pellet boilers and furnaces. All standards related to pellet boilers are contained or embed-ded in EN 303-5. These standards have provided demonstrable safety for consum-ers and high efficiencies and clean emis-sions for the general good. Several years ago, forward-looking con-sumers in Prince Edward Island (PEI) im-ported biomass boiler systems from Europe for their quality and efficiency. Since the boilers didn’t meet the CSA B51 require-ment stated above, the boilers were installed as “open” systems – meaning they were installed non-pressurized. Although open systems are not generally recommended, such systems are exempt from the pressure vessel requirements of B51. Politicians in PEI asked their technical experts for a solu-tion to this apparently unnecessary conflict between regulations and citizen needs. The PEI government funded a number of trips to Europe for the chief boiler in-spector who worked with manufacturers and TÜV, a major global testing agency, to understand the provisions of EN 303-5. Based on the inspector’s findings and recommendations, the government adopt-ed a provision within the PEI Boilers and Pressure Vessels Act for non-ASME boil-er certification. This provision expressly allows for the provincial certification of boilers formally certified to meet the pro-visions of EN 303-5. Similar modification of CSA B51.1 to recognize the EN 303-5 standards in place in CETA member coun-tries would remove the technical barrier to pressure vessel certification that is inher-ent in the current regulatory situation. Similarly, Ontario has adopted air qual-ity standards regulations and guidelines for performance and emissions from small biomass combustors that expressly cite the methods and requirements in EN 303-5 (Guideline A-14). Again, recognizing EN 303-5 certification as compliant with Ca-nadian requirements in CSA performance and emissions standards could remove technical barriers to trade. To encourage the development of a robust pellet central heating industry in Canada, the technical barriers to certifying European appliances must be removed. It may be that the quickest solution is including exemptions for EN 303.5 cer-tified boilers in relevant Canadian stan-dards, such as CSA B51 and CSA B415. This would continue to protect the public while providing an easier route for import-ing the equipment that has been certified compliant with EN 303-5 by a recognized testing facility in Europe. The Wood Pellet Association of Cana-da (WPAC) is actively pursuing standard and regulatory change to facilitate the im-portation of state-of-the-art pellet central heating equipment up to 500 kW (1.7 MMBTU/hour) of useful thermal output. This is the equipment expressly covered by the EN 303-5 standards in Europe. WPAC is currently working with CSA Group, the Canadian Counsel of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), and several forward-looking regulators in an effort to engage all relevant stakeholders in a con-certed effort to remove existing technical barriers to trade for pellet central heating equipment. When this effort is successful, Cana-dians across the nation will enjoy access to a broad range of highly evolved pellet central heating products enabling them to heat with locally produced, renewable biomass energy.• Dr. Harry “Dutch” Dresser was the found-ing director of Maine Energy Systems, and is now a consultant in North America for the emerging biomass central heating industry. Gordon Murray is the executive director of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada. • Canada’s leading supplier of commercial biomass heating systems • ASME and CSA certified • 100 kW – 12 MW (0.3 MMBTU – 36 MMBTU) • Over 100 energy efficient systems installed Built on nineteen years of experience with wood Biomass boilers in North America, Fink Machine has the reputation of being in the fore front when it comes to design, supply, installation and most importantly ... Service! Fink District Heating System Box 308, 124 Old Vernon St. Enderby, B.C. V0E 1V0 Ph. 250.838.0077 Fax. 250.838.0068 www.FinkMachine.com Canadian BIOMASS CBM_FinkREVISED__Spring19_MLD.indd 1 27 2019-03-26 2:34 PM
Canadian Biomass Spring 2019: Page 27
