Pacific Bioenergy and Belgian utility company Electrabel have formed a partnership to make Pacific Bioenergy's Prince George pellet plant the largest in Canada.
The $24 million expansion will increase production from 180,000 tonnes per year to 350,000 tonnes per year, making it the second-largest wood pellet plant in North America. Pacific Bioenergy vice president Brad Bennett said the agreement will give Electrabel, a subsidiary of French utility giant GDF Suez, minority control of the pellet company.
"The demand for pellets in Europe is going to quadruple in the next 10 years," Bennett said. "It's all about securing supply for (Electrabel). They invest in us,
ficken they secure that supply. (And) it puts us in a very secure position."
Electrabel has signed an agreement to purchase 250,000 tonnes of pellets per year for 10 years, he said. The deal is expected to reduce Belgian coal consumption by two million tonnes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by four million tonnes over by 2020.
In Prince George upgrades to the plant are expected to begin as soon as possible in the spring, Bennett said.
"We've like to have it up and going by the fall," he said.
The upgrade is anticipated to create 100 man-hours of work during construction, and 10 full-time jobs at the plant itself. An additional 25 full-time indirect jobs are expected, primarily in harvesting and trucking the raw materials.
"There isn't a supply of sawdust and shavings to do the expansion," Bennett said. "We're now using 70 per cent (logging residuals). A year ago we weren't using any."
Logging residuals, material left behind in the logging process, have traditionally been burned in large "slash piles."
Pacific Bioenergy holds a timber harvest license in the Quesnel area and has agreements with local sawmills to provide the raw materials needed to supply the expanded plant. In addition, the company is working with B.C. Timber Sales to purchase immature pine stands killed by the mountain pine beetle and other timber not viable to harvest for dimensional lumber.
"It allows (sawmills) to use a poorer-quality saw log because they've got a home for that other material," Bennett said. "You're really capturing that carbon and getting some electrical value for it."
The planned plant upgrade includes installing a third feed line; replacing two older rotary dryers with new, high-efficient dryers; and doubling the number of pellet machines from five to 10.
In addition, the upgrade will include installing emission-control technology to reduce fine particulate emissions into the local airshed, Bennett said.
"It should be a 30 per cent overall reduction in particulate. Those wet electrostatic precipitators are very efficient."
Global demand for wood pellets is expected to increase dramatically over the coming decades as nations look for ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
Camsex
"It's an easy, cost-effective conversion from coal — which is the worst-case scenario, to continue to burn coal," Bennett said. "We're very excited about the expansion. We're hoping this is a stepping stone to bigger things."
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