Boiler Project Greenhouse sees benefits switching to a wood chip boiler for heating By Guillaume Roy, Translated by Peter Diekmeyer Going green I n April 2020, when Frédéric Tremblay installed a Hargassner wood chip boiler at Jardins d’Elisabeth, the vegetable farm and greenhouse he co-owns in Saint-Elzéar, Que., his primary focus was on efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity. Tremblay also has his own forestry operations, “So, it makes sense to put leftover wood to good use,” he says. Getting the wood ready to burn takes a lot of work. But, Tremblay regards the investment in the Hargassner boiler as more than worth it, as it costs next him next to nothing in raw material costs to heat his greenhouses all year round. Tremblay started by using a standard grinder. But, the system was inadequate and got jammed from time to time. “The key is using the right material with the right boiler,” he says. That problem was solved after he bought a German-made Heizohack wood chipper from Heizomat to Frédéric Tremblay installed a Hargassner wood chip boiler at his vegetable farm and greenhouse, Jardins d’Elisabeth, in Saint-Elzéar, Que. Photos courtesy Jardins d’Elisabeth. transform his logs into wood chips optimized for use in the boiler. Since then, the boiler has worked like a charm. “Effective processing and drying of the wood are also important,” Tremblay says. “You have to let lumber and logs dry for at least a year, if not two,” he continues. “It’s also important to make sure that air can pass through the wood piles.” Tremblay’s nearly $130,000 investment to acquire the boiler and the chipper will be financed in part by a grant from the Transition Énergie Québec (TEQ) program. The size of the grant will vary depending on operational performance. According to an initial TAQ assessment, Tremblay will be eligible to receive the lower amount of either 75 per cent of his eligible costs, $125 per ton to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions the boiler and chipper will enable him to cut, or an amount that will enable him to payback his initial investment over three years. 22 Canadian BIOMASS SUMMER 2021
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