Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

A Canadian company that has received a US$40-million grant from Bill Gates’ climate solutions venture firm says its Alberta test site will be removing carbon directly from the atmosphere as early as this spring. Montreal-based startup Deep Sky announced Wednesday it was awarded funding from the Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to help finance what it calls its Deep Sky Alpha project. Construction work at the project site, located north of Calgary in the town of Innisfail, is already under way… It is the first Canadian company to receive an investment from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, which funds commercial projects for emerging climate technologies in an effort to accelerate their adoption and reduce their costs.

Atlantic Power’s Williams Lake biomass energy plant is still in limbo, while B.C. imported record amounts of electricity last year. The plant’s future remains uncertain, after having given a one year termination of contract notice to BC Hydro at the beginning of 2024. The wood biomass plant is the city’s largest single taxpayer. Atlantic Power said the Williams Lake plant would cease operations due to the lack of affordable fibre to maintain financial viability, but the original October deadline to revoke this notice has been relaxed due to the impact of the provincial election. …But fibre for the plant has become harder to get, as its supply is further away and there is competition from users like Drax. …Ministers of Energy and Climate Solutions, Environment and Parks, Forests and Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation are now the focus of efforts by the city.

The Northwest Territories (N.W.T.) has a lot of trees – so why are wood pellets used for heating all hauled up from northern Alberta? That question was central to a discussion that unfolded Thursday at the territory’s Legislative Assembly. Robert Sexton, the territory’s energy director, told the standing committee on economic development and environment that roughly 14,500 cords of wood used to heat homes in the territory every year all come from within the N.W.T. But the 20,000 tonnes of wood pellets used annually are coming from the south. …That means there’s a risk the supply chain could be interrupted and it’s already becoming “somewhat more difficult” because pellets are being exported to Europe. The territory often boasts of being a leader in biomass heating… Several MLAs who make up the standing committee asked about developing a local supply of wood pellets or chips. 

The University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Forestry’s Alex Fraser Research Forest (AFRF), in partnership with FPInnovations, is launching the Community Bioenergy Systems Training Program, a new training program designed to help remote and Indigenous communities transition from diesel-based energy to sustainable, wood-based biomass power.  AFRF and FPInnovations built a biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant in Williams Lake, BC, and will start offering training using their system in the new year with support from Natural Resources Canada and the Province of British Columbia. The new program trains participants to operate this type of power plant, manage woody debris supply chains for power and heat generation and develop other wood-based bioenergy systems, enabling them to return to their communities and play an active role in transforming local energy infrastructure.