Bioheat Profile This is when BSB approached the church council with a proposal to swap out the oil-fired boiler system with a wood pellet boiler to reduce their annual ener-gy costs. With limited budget, the church decided to host a fundraising event to at-tempt to pay for the new system. “They did a ‘Chase the Ace’ fundrais-ing session there and they were really suc-cessful with it because the whole commu-nity participated. They knew it was for the heating system, so there was a tremendous turnout,” Levesque says. “They raised enough money to pay for 75 per cent of the total installation, while the NB Pow-er Energy Efficiency Program paid 25 per cent, because they were using oil.” With the combination of the fundraising event and assistance from the NB Power Energy Efficiency Program, the church was able to purchase and install a Herz Firematic 150kW biomass boiler supplied by BSB. The church now only needs to pay for wood pellets to fuel the boiler system, which to date has offered a 60-per-cent re-duction in fuel costs since being fired up on Dec. 31, 2024. The system is expected to burn 70 to 80 tonnes of wood pellets annu-ally. With the switch to wood pellets from oil, the projected return on investment for purchasing the wood pellet boiler system (at 75 per cent of total cost) is between four to five years, Levesque says. Edgar Béchard, president and board member for the church’s council, says the project saved the church from its financial crisis, which could have shut down all of the church’s operations permanently. Priest Felix Hatungimana and church board member Edgar Béchard pose next to the church’s new Herz Firematic 150kW biomass boiler supplied by BSB. Swapping out its primary oil heat system for a wood pellet boiler system allowed the church to significantly lower its energy costs.Photos courtesy of BSB. “We really appreciated the 25-per-cent incentive program. That was really a good help,” Béchard says, translated by Levesque from French to English. For the installation, BSB swapped out one of the three oil boilers with the Herz wood pellet boiler system, keeping the oth-er two oil boilers in place or in case they are needed for a higher peak load. The church had large enough access doors to its base-ment that the wood pellet boiler could be installed without any issues. A pellet silo was then added next to the church (BSB was able to repurpose a silo from a previous customer to lower the overall costs). All-in-all, it was a fairly standard installation with no significant hurdles to overcome. Since the system started up, the church has received positive feedback from the community for it having a lower operating cost, a more sustainable option over oil, and supporting a local business. All of the wood pellets supplied to the church come from Groupe Savoie’s wood pellet plant in Saint-Quentin, N.B., which is a 15-minute drive from the church. “The only negative thing is you have to empty the ash bin, that’s it,” Levesque says. • ELEVATE YOUR PRODUCTION LINE ELEVATE THE PRODUCTION LINE WITH AUTOMATED MOISTURE MEASUREMENT WITH ON-LINE Engineered to deliver unparalleled accuracy and reliability: MOISTURE continuous near-infrared moisture analysis enhances MEASUREMENT product quality and consistency, plant efficiency, lowers energy costs, and reduces waste. MoistTech’s Non-Contact Moisture Measurement Technology is Designed for Seamless Integration into Existing Production Lines 941-727-1800 www.moisttech.com 20 Canadian BIOMASS SUMMER 2025 2025-07-18 11:15 AM CB_Moisttech_Summer25_CSA.indd 1
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