Europe can help Canada with a bioenergy opportunity

Canadians don't like wasting leftovers, especially when it comes to forests. Speaking at an Ottawa workshop in late June, President of the Canadian Bioenergy Association (CANBIO), Douglas Bradley, said:  "Canada has in excess of 16 million tonnes of old bark sitting in piles, the bioenergy equivalent of Alberta's tar sands, and each year more than 11 million tonnes of leftover harvest waste is either burned or left to rot in the bush."

The problem? Harvesting leftover wood is still expensive and is not integrated into Canada's harvesting practices as it is in Scandinavia where energy from wood is a boom industry. "More than ever, we need a bioenergy strategy to optimise energy creation from a mix of biomass sources," Mr Bradley said.  

That's one of the reasons why CANBIO is organiding "Realising the Bioenergy Opportunity," a three-day international conference to be held in Toronto during 12–14 September.  The event is intended to boost Canada's bioenergy industry by bringing together European experts and investors, Canadian municipalities and the forestry sector, to network and share business opportunities.

"There's never been a better time for European bioenergy investors and companies to partner with Canada," Mr Bradley said. "There is huge potential to develop on-site heat and power, or to develop 'transportable' woody biomass products – such as condensed wood pellets or higher end fuels like bio-oil from fast pyrolysis – either for domestic use or for sale into the lucrative European market."

Bio-oil plant

The Canadian company, Dynamotive, is reportedly a global leader in fast pyrolysis technology, and the Conference will offer delegates a rare chance to see the new 200 tonne per day biooil plant being commissioned in Guelph, Ontario – believed to be the largest bio-oil plant in the world.

The event will feature speakers from the European Union, the Canadian bioenergy industry, the forest sector, and governments. Delegates will learn more about how to capitalise on European incentive systems and domestic initiatives, such as the Standard Offer Programme (SOP) introduced in Ontario last November. 

Similar to feed-in tariffs in many E.U. Member States, the SOP offers all renewable energy generators a base rate of 11 cents (CDN) per kWh for electricity delivered, and projects delivering electricity during on-peak hours receive an additional 3.52 cents.

In the eight months since the SOP was launched, contracts for wind energy have reached nearly 300 MW, solar has jumped from zero to almost 60 MW, and bioenergy to almost 28 MW.

An environmental consultant and CANBIO Director, Melissa Felder, said: "The SOP has great potential to support bioenergy growth in Ontario. European expertise and technologies can help proponents and projects get off the ground faster – and that's what the Toronto conference is all about."

The Conference programme and registration form are available on the CANBIO website at www.canbio.ca