District Energy Checking in on Fink Enderby’s privately owned district energy system By Maria Church Forging ahead A ccording to the International District Energy Association, there are at least six biomass-fuelled district energy systems operating across Canada as of May 2019. That number is likely higher with a handful of small First Nations communities in B.C., Yukon and the N.W.T. installing these systems over the past few years. All are owned and operated not for profit either by universities, municipal governments or residential developers to economically heat their own buildings – save one. Fink Enderby District Energy is successfully running as a private for-profit mini-utility for a handful of nearby customers in Enderby, B.C. Canadian Biomass first toured the Fink Enderby District Energy installation when it opened in 2012 as the first privately funded biomass district energy system in western Canada. The project was hailed as a benchmark for speed and affordability compared to the typical cumbersome process to approve, design and install a biomass-fuelled system. Operating as a private utility under 1 MW registered by the British Columbia Utilities Commission, Fink Enderby originally served eight commercial, municipal and residential customers. Seven years later, we wanted to check in with project owners and managers to see how the system has held up, and share their lessons learned about biomass district heating in Canada. Fink Enderby District Energy is owned by and sits on the property of Fink Machine, a bioenergy equipment supplier in Enderby, B.C. Owner Burkhard Fink says, regardless of the financial success of the district energy system to date, it’s the education that has had the most impact. “The biggest obstacle to bringing district energy to Canada is doubt about the reliability. Often the fear is that these systems are not reliable, therefore they price them out of this world with expensive manufacturers. It’s not necessary. We just needed them to learn from existing systems,” Fink says. Fink Enderby was built for that very reason. Walking to the Fink Enderby site, I’m struck by how inviting it Burkhard Fink stands in front of Fink Enderby District Energy’s facility in Enderby, B.C. – Canada’s only privately owned for-profit utility offering customers district heating fuelled by biomass. 16 Canadian BIOMASS SUMMER 2019
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