Pellet Conference Tsi Del Del. “It can be quite transformational when they become the leader in a project,” Ko-zuki said. He shared an example of a wild-fire reduction project in which the com -munity’s priority was to thin a section of forest that would allow for reintroduction of native berry plants for berry picking. CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGES Nearly one million cubic metres of fibre have been recovered for biomass purposes since the company formed – di-verting what would have been burned in slash piles to products such as pellets or hog fuel for Atlantic Power. Theriault made the point that without favourable biomass policy in B.C., larger forest product companies may choose to invest in other areas of North America, but First Nations cannot. They need sup-port for their activities that enable the full use of their resources. Tsi Del Del partners frequently with the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. (FESBC) to move biomass projects for-ward. Executive director Steve Kozuki spoke next to explain how their organiza-tion’s early focus on social license meant that they’re an active advocate and story-teller for the biomass industry. Since being formed in 2016, FES-BC has funded 263 projects to the tune of $238 million. Many of these projects supported First Nations companies like The final three presenters of Day 1 ad -dressed climate change mitigation from biomass, beginning with FutureMetrics president William Strauss. Strauss focussed on carbon account-ing in the biomass power sector, noting that if sourced from harvest residuals of sustainably managed forests and mill re-siduals, wood pellets are carbon neutral in combustion, minus the carbon emitted during production/transportation, as with any fuel. A necessary condition of this is that the annual harvest rate across the managed forest landscape must be less than or equal to the annual growth rate. Ann Burton, Drax’s new build BEC-CS projects international lead, outlined an even more optimistic future for the pellet industry’s carbon footprint: bioen -ergy carbon capture and sequestration, or BECCS. The technology would see Drax capture and store underground the CO 2 produced from the generation of electric-ity from biomass. The result would be the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. Drax is pioneering the technology and aims to be commissioning their first plant in 2028, to create the world’s first carbon removal power station by 2030. The in-ternational potential of the technology could see the decarbonization of local energy grids. Continuing the look at decarboniza-tion, Fahimeh Yazdan Panah, WPAC’s director of research and technical devel-opment, updated the audience on devel-opments to marine biofuels and wind as-sist to reduce ocean shipping emissions. Yazdan Pannah noted there is no silver bullet to reduce emissions, but that liquid RecuDry® -Low-temperature belt dryer with heat recovery system RecuDry ® Maximum drying efficiency due to energy recovery system High energy saving of 35 -55% Low exhaust airflows and emissions www.stela.de 14 Canadian BIOMASS CB_Stela_Winter22_CSA.indd 1 FALL 2022 2022-01-24 1:04 PM
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