objective for our members this year. Re-bates and incentives are readily available in Canadians in both the North as well as in New Brunswick and this fall Ottawa announced plans to expand its clean tech-nology and electricity tax credits to include forest biomass conversion technologies for heat and electricity generation. Our nation’s capital was the chosen location for WPAC’s annual conference in September. It was another success cel -ebrating the strides we’ve made as well as to look at the next steps we need to take to advance the bioeconomy with innovative solutions that will support the transition to a greener, more sustainable world. We are immensely proud to support the important work of the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C., which aims to enhance for -est resilience to wildfire and climate change for the lasting benefit of British Columbia’s environment, wildlife, forest health, and communities. Much of this work focusses on better utilization of forest residuals. Giv -en the catastrophic fires of 2023, this is an important effort we can all get behind. Domestic focus for 2024: • Maritimes expansion • Domestic marketing initiatives • Arctic Energy Alliance Biomass Week • WPAC annual conference in Victoria • Boiler standards • Regional Risk Assessments • Sustainable Biomass Program • R&D: agricultural biomass and forest residuals SAFETY AT THE FOREFRONT agement (PSM) is becoming central to worker safety and managing risk. PSM im -plementation protects personnel, equipment and production uptime, and is associated with lower maintenance cost, insurance and capital. The industry will implement PSM through a strategic long-term plan, using the CSA Z767 Process Safety Management standard as the framework. It is anticipat -ed the initiative will be a core focus of the WPAC Safety Committee Workplan for the next five-to-seven years. Our safety committee continues to pro-vide guidance and direction to our safety initiatives. We meet monthly virtually and in 2023 we held a number of workshops and meetings to explore the latest and to reinforce our commitment to the promises we make to our workforce, their families and the communities in which we operate. We held a safety workshop in Ottawa that provided greater clarity on those ini-tiatives, and in November 2023, more than 50 participants from across Canada met in Prince George, B.C., to discuss evolving trends and regulatory topics. Live polling was used to capture participants’ observa-tions, recommendations, and experienc-es. We also made safety a key part of our outreach in Japan this year. In partnership with FutureMetrics, we hosted a workshop to address the risks of silo fires. The work -shop was held in Tokyo and was sold out. Safety Initiatives for 2024: • Process safety management • Annual safety summit • Safety hero program PARTNERSHIPS ARE EVERYTHING Brunette BioSizer ® HIGH-SPEED GRINDER – Consistent, Uniform Product – Extreme-Duty Swing-Away Anvil – Fixed Strikers for Maximum Bite – Single Bolt Reversible Strikers – Processes a Variety of Materials Every day WPAC members and their em -ployees work tirelessly to ensure leading safety practices are implemented and em-braced. We know we will be measured by our collective efforts as an industry. Our reputation and the trust of regulators, the general public and the families of our employees depend on this. In 2023, we fo -cused on safety both at home and in Japan. Operator safety training for pellet manu-facturers has officially risen to the next level. Working together with the BC Forest Safety Council, we have launched an industry-wide initiative to deliver a free, comprehensive, digital e-learning safety training program for plant operators and supervisors. Around the world, process safety man-We’re a small team at WPAC so none of our initiatives and achievements would be pos-sible without the support of our members and government agencies that support us on the safety, R&D and marketing fronts. Despite what sometimes seems like a mountain of work ahead, we remain fo -cused on the two key areas: to grow a resil -ient pellet sector that creates green, renew-able products at the forefront of the global transition to a low-carbon economy, and to maximize the sector’s innovation in the bioeconomy. Let’s get to it! • Gordon Murray is the executive director of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada. VERSATILE GRINDING Green Hog Fuel Results Green Pulp Chip Results Performance • Reliability • Recovery 1-800-686-6679 [email protected] www.brunettemc.com Canadian BIOMASS 9 CB_Brunette_Winter24_CSA.indd 1 2024-01-31 3:26 PM
Canadian Biomass Winter 2024: Page 9
