BIOMASS update ENERKEM, PARTNERS TO CONSTRUCT $875M BIOFUEL PLANT IN QUEBEC Enerkem, with a group of strategic partners that include Shell, Suncor and Proman, and Hydro-Quebec, who will be supplying green hydrogen and oxygen, and with the support of the Quebec and Canadian governments, has announced plans to construct a biofuel plant in Varennes, Que. Varennes Carbon Recycling (VCR) will produce biofuels and renewable chemicals made from non-recyclable residual materials as well as wood waste. The plant will leverage green hydrogen and oxygen produced through electrol-ysis, transforming Quebec’s excess hy-droelectricity capacity into value-added biofuels and renewable chemicals. VCR will be a major creator of local direct and indirect jobs during its construction and operation. This plant will produce one of the lowest carbon-intensive fuels by di-verting non-recyclable waste as well as wood waste materials from landfills and through access to green electricity and green hydrogen and oxygen. Enerkem’s technology enables the recycling of the carbon and hydrogen contained in non-recyclable waste and wood waste currently landfilled and burned. Enerkem’s proprietary thermo-chemical process enables the conversion of this carbon into biofuels and renew-able chemicals, made from methanol, which is the project’s intermediary product. These products enable society to reduce consumption of traditional hy-drocarbons used for transportation and in everyday products (paint, windshield washer fluid, plastics and chemicals of all kinds). ENVIVA MARKS FIRST SHIPMENT OF WOOD PELLETS TO JAPAN Enviva Partners, LP, announced on Dec. 2, 2020 that its first shipment of sustain-able wood pellets was on its way from Port Panama City in Florida to Japan’ s Iwakuni Port. “Worldwide demand for renewable solutions that can help mitigate climate change right now continues to grow immensely,” said John Keppler, Enviva chair-man and chief executive officer. “We are very proud of our operations in the southeast and our export terminals that enable us to safely, stably and reliably deliver a product that displaces coal and helps countries like Japan meet their climate change goals in the most cost-efficient way while ensuring reliable and dispatchable energy generation.” Enviva’ s first shipment carried approximately 28,000 metric tonnes of wood pellets made from low-value wood sourced in the U.S. southeast. By using sus-tainable wood pellets instead of coal, heat and power producers in Japan will be able to reduce carbon emissions by more than 85 per cent on a lifecycle basis, providing a significant reduction in emissions for the world’ s fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter while also providing grid stability. Japan’ s feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for renewable energy, along with the government’ s commitment to shut down or decarbonize 100 coal plants, have enabled more than three million tonnes of long-term demand for wood pellets to be contracted by Enviva. Most of such agreements with the company’ s Japanese customers ex-tend to 2040 and beyond. PINNACLE SIGNS EXTENDED OFF-TAKE CONTRACT IN JAPAN Pinnacle Renewable Energy has announced that it has entered into an extension of a long-term, take-or-pay off-take con-tract with Mitsubishi Corporation Ltd., a large, diversified trading company in Japan. Under the terms of the extension, Pinnacle will supply 80,000 to 90,000 metric tonnes per annum of industrial wood pellets to Mitsubishi beginning in Q1 2023. The industrial wood pellets will be used by a biomass power generation plant in Japan. “We are excited to grow our business with our Asian customers,” said Dun-can Davies, chief executive officer of Pinnacle. “We have developed a special relationship with Japan and we share their strong commitment to decarboniza-tion and their replacement of fossil fuels with sustainable wood pellets.” WINTER 2021 6 Canadian BIOMASS
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