Biomass demonstration plant to open in Alberta

Canadian company FireBox Energy is to build a demonstration biomass facility in Glenevis, Alberta to generate about 30MW of electricity.

The primary feedstock for the plant is to be wood waste from north western Alberta and central British Colombia.

‘In addition we are also sourcing Logepole Pine infected by the Mountain Pine Beetle that has cut a swath through a sizable region in British Colombia,’ CEO Jason Janus told Biofuels International.

‘We will be utilising around 244MT/day which is around a third of the fuel required under conventional biomass generation.’

The plant is scheduled to open in early 2012 and will use about 3% of the electricity for cogeneration, run by Alexis First Nation, and the rest will be sent to the grid.

The project is expected to cost around $60 million (€43.5 million) and the main investment bank involved in financing the project is Source Capital from Westport, Connecticut.

In the long-term, FireBox hopes to build a commercial-scale plant nearby that will produce 270MW, using the company’s AirBoiler technology to convert the fuel into electricity.

The boiler does not use water and is able to convert ‘virtually any type of combustible material as feedstock’.