to expand and grow rapidly.” CREATING CONVERSATIONS One BDO Zone community that has al-ready seen the benefits of these initiatives is Melville, Sask. Geographically, Melville is located in the east-central portion of Sas-katchewan and is about an hour-and-a-half drive northeast from the capital city of Re-gina. With a population of just over 4,500, Melville is known for its fields of wheat and abundance of wheat straw – the biomass re-maining in wheat fields after plowing. In November 2020, Melville became the first BDO Zone in North America. Prior to this designation, the city was often over-looked as an optimal area in North America for bio-based development due to its lack of credibility and ability to promote itself to developers and investors. However, the BDO Zone designation has changed that. “The BDO Zone has expanded our net-work and created conversation,” says Mc-Cullough. “One of the greatest benefits for right now that [The BDO Zone Initiative] has given us is the opportunity to have conversations that we haven’t had before. Whether it’s wheat or straw, it doesn’t mat-ter. It’s created a conversation.” Since its designation, Melville has seen over a 1000 per cent increase in deal flow and conversations relating to the BDO Zone. “The BDO Zone continues to drive new opportunities and conversations for the City of Melville,” states Chris Bruce, direc-tor of community services with the City of Melville. “Since obtaining the designation, we have seen sustained development inter-est in our community.” The Melville BDO Zone has generated a healthy number of related inquiries since January 2020. They are currently in serious discussions with three prospects that could net upwards of 200 new direct jobs plus ad-ditional indirect jobs. A TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT This is just one example of the transfor-mative impact the BDO Zone Initiative can have on a local community. There are hun-dreds of optimal areas throughout North America that are prime locations for BDO Zone designations due to their abundance and supply of feedstock, committed anchor suppliers, and strong reliable infrastructure to support an operating plant. The problem is that small communities don’t have the platform or credibility to promote them-selves as great areas for future bio-based de-velopment. BDO Zone designations change that by raising the flag on these communi-ties as some of the best areas in the country to build the next bio-based plant. On a micro level, a single new renewable chemical, sustainable aviation and ground transportation fuel, or other bio-based manufacturing plant can support, on aver-age, 321 direct, indirect and induced jobs, and drive more than $29 million into the local economy. With the goal of 100 BDO Zone designations across Canada in four years, the BDO Zone Initiative has the po-tential to create 16,000 new clean energy jobs and reduce the country’s GHG emis-sions by two per cent. • Jordan Solomon is Chairman of the BDO Zone Initiative and president and CEO of Ecostrat, [email protected]. TSI BUILDS MACHINERY FOR THE BIOMASS INDUSTRY This includes Rotary Drum Dryers coupled with Heat Energy systems; TSI also builds Wet Electrostatic Precipitators when required to meet Client’s emission goals. TSI also offers technology for Torrefaction. TSI machinery is custom designed and ranges from 50,000 tons/year to 450,000 tons/year. Zlatko (Zo) Savovic (425) 239-7490 • www.tsi-inc.net Canadian BIOMASS CB_TSI_HP_Dect21_CWM.indd 1 2021-12-16 3:13 PM 19
Canadian Biomass Spring 2022: Page 19
