looks. An engineered timber structure custom-designed by Fink houses the entire Fink Enderby system. Support beams holding up the roof over the open-air infeed room are cross-laminated timber panels from Penticton, B.C.’s Structurlam. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows in the main boiler room allow sunlight to stream in, and those outside to easily see in. And the inside doesn’t disappoint. Much of the original infrastructure is still in place, including the Viessmann Vitoflex 300-RF (Pyrot) wood-fired boiler, walking floor, augur, backup gas boiler, and the piping. Today the utility serves 11 customers, the most recent of which is the new Splatsin community centre. “The timing worked out well because we were involved in the design stage so we could put the right things in there to prepare for it. These things are harder after the fact,” Fink says. Connecting a building to the district energy system involves installing three-inch insulated Urecon PEX pipes. Those pipes – buried four feet down to avoid heat loss – are connected to the district energy system’s main lines, bringing heated water to the buildings and cooled water back to the district energy building. A heat transfer station at each client’s building regulates the water inflow and outflow. The water system is closed loop, which means zero wasted water from the process. AUTOMATED PROCESS DISTRICT ENERGY LESSONS LEARNED Not all of Fink Enderby’s lessons learned have been rosy; some have been harder lessons, says David Dubois, Fink Machine’s manager of business development. “There’s an evolution going on right now. And like most businesses, we have to react to them,” Dubois says. Here’s his definitive list on what to bear in mind if considering a district energy system: Fibre availability “Going into this project, we knew what our fibre basket looked like in our area, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t changed suppliers and encountered challenges,” Dubois says. While it’s good to have long-term suppliers, it’s not always possible. Major sup-pliers aren’t typically looking for small 300 to 400-tonne per year contracts, so if they are able to supply feedstock, it may be temporary. “We just have to make sure we’re aware of the larger market so when things change we are able to react and identify new suppliers,” he says. “That industry awareness is a key piece of what we need to do.” Utility regulations “When we first started we really weren’t on the radar of utilities here in B.C. We still aren’t, but they have recognized small-scale energy systems do fall within their mandate. There is this ongoing process and evolution,” Dubois says. That evolution led to questions around registration, filings and ways to ensure they are staying within regulation parameters. Municipalities are exempt, but because Fink Enderby is privately owned they are under certain constraints. “It’s a bit of a moving goal post and there have been changes since we started that had the potential to impact us, so it was important we stayed on top of those,” Dubois says. The boiler is running continuously through the year, ramping up and down as required. Wood chips from two or three local sawmills fuel the system, delivered up to once a week depending on the time of year and required fuel load. Chips are stored in a bunker that can hold up to 60 tonnes. From the bunker, chips are automatically fed into the boiler using a walking floor and augurs, all of which were built in-house by Fink Machine. The boiler is a Viessmann Vitoflex 300-RF (formerly called the Pyrot) wood-fired boiler, rated at 540 kW. At maximum output, during the coldest days of the year, the boiler consumes 4.5 tonnes of chips a day. A triple-pass heat exchanger in the boiler converts the heated gases into hot water, which is then piped into • 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 CBM_FinkREVISED__Spring19_MLD.indd 1 Canadian BIOMASS 2019-03-26 2:34 PM 17
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