and the European Union to discuss reduc-ing regulatory barriers between Canadian provinces and the potential adoption of European boiler standards. Finally, we have completed two mar-ket studies, one on Canadian market op-portunities and a second, via social me-dia, on Canadian consumer perceptions of wood pellet heating. SUSTAINABLE BIOMASS PROGRAM UPDATE ry and vessel loading through the Fibreco and Westview terminals in B.C. This project has been in progress since 2018 and is nearing completion. SAFETY UPDATE WPAC’S GOVERNANCE WPAC is governed by a sev-en-member board of directors, which meets quarterly. The 2020 board includes: • President – Vaughan Bassett, Pinnacle Renewable Energy • Vice-president – Rene Landry, Shaw Resources Directors: • John Stirling, Pacific BioEnergy • Jonathan Levesque, Groupe Savoie • Todd Humber, Annex Business Media • Jose Pedrajas, Prodesa • Andre Bedard, Quebec Wood Export Bureau from Agriculture and Agrifoods Canada for nearly $1.8 million. This funding will enable us to keep our research team and laboratory facilities intact at UBC. We are in the middle of several im-portant research and development proj-ects, including additional testing on wood pellet off-gassing in support of IMO ship-ping regulations. This is a second phase of a project that was first completed in 2016. As part of ISO Technical Committee 238, we are working to develop chemical and mechanical wood pellet testing standards for laboratories. Finally, we are developing a plan to implement centralized nitrogen storage for rapid deployment to pellet plants to support silo fire fighting.• Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) certification is required by all Canadi-an exporters selling to European power utilities. Since 2018, WPAC has been working on a regional risk assessment (RRA) for B.C. to help streamline the SBP certification approval process for wood pellet producers. The B.C. RRA is on tar-get for completion by March 31, 2020. We have also begun work on RRA’s for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, both of which we plan to complete by March 31, 2021. When those are complete, we will start work on a RRA for Alberta. WPAC is continuing to advocate for Canadian interests by participating in SBP’s governance and participating in SBP’s re-cently announced standards review. We are represented on SBP’s board of directors, standards committee, stakeholder advisory committee and carbon working group. We are also working on a management information system to track the chain of custody and other characteristics of com-mingled wood pellet deliveries, invento-We are continuing to operate the WPAC Safety Committee, which includes mem-bers from across Canada. In January, we released our 2020 Work Plan, outlining our key focus areas for the year ahead. WPAC, in co-operation with Work-SafeBC and media partner Canadian Bio-mass , held a Process Safety Workshop on Bow Tie Analysis in November. Bow tie analysis is a method of predicting all the potential causes of catastrophic inci-dents and implementing critical controls to prevent such catastrophes from occur-ring. Our next step is to support individ-ual member companies with implement-ing bow ties. This year will see multiple safety events – in April, again in co-operation with WorkSafeBC and Canadian Bio-mass , we will present a workshop on Human-Machine Interface best practices, designed mainly for plant operators. In June, our team will present the annual Wood Products Safety Summit. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT WPAC is continuing to co-operate closely with the University of British Columbia’s Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group (BBRG). In 2019, BBRG, with help from WPAC, secured a four-year agreement • 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 forefront 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__Spring20_MLD.indd 1 9 2020-02-04 1:41 PM
Canadian Biomass Winter 2020: Page 9
