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ENERGY: Province supports bioenergy, greener environment initiatives
        (AlbertaIndex, December 21, Friday) --- The Alberta government and local businesses recently launched initiatives to promote the production of clean energy and a greener environment in the province.
        In the Fort McMurray region, Northland Forest Products Ltd has begun construction of a $16 million plant, backed by $2 million in government funding, to produce energy from wood waste using Austrian technology.

The commercial scale plant will use a thermo-chemical process to generate both thermal and electrical power with an estimated 1.4 megawatts of capacity, enough to power 1,400 average Alberta households. Carbon emission mitigation is also a key component of this proposal.

“The Fort McMurray region is a centre for energy innovation,” said Guy Boutilier, MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, “Growing our bio-energy market not only improves and diversifies our energy portfolio, but creates new economic activity across the province.”

Near Vegreville, Biostreet Canada has begun a feasibility study with provincial funding for a proposed $65-million bio-energy plant. More than $263,000 in grant funding has been approved to examine the business potential of a canola crush and bio-diesel business development project.

The proposed 175-million-litre biodiesel plant will use up to 375,000 tonnes of canola, a major crop in the area, as feedstock. would be processed by the facility per year. The proposed plan includes building a canola crush facility on site to supply canola meal to the local livestock sector and oil to the plant.

The funding for both projects was allocated through the Biorefining Commercialization and Market Development Program and the Bio-energy Infrastructure Development Program. Both grant programs are part of the Alberta government’s $239-million Nine-Point Bio-energy Plan designed to encourage the growth of a clean, renewable fuel industry in Alberta.

The grants also support product development, market research and feasibility studies to assist bio-refiners in adopting new technologies and meeting market requirements.

“Investment in rural Alberta bio-energy projects prove that value-added opportunities exist everywhere in the province,” said Premier Ed Stelmach, the MLA for Vegreville-Fort Saskatchewan, “This government’s bio-energy strategy will create new investment, new jobs and new economic opportunities for Albertans.”

To date, the Alberta government has distributed more than $15 million to several projects through bio-energy grant programs. So far, more than $370 million in new bio-energy investment is planned throughout the province.

Alberta became the first jurisdiction in North America to legislate greenhouse gas reductions on large industrial facilities. As of July 1, Alberta facilities emitting more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year are required to reduce their emissions intensity by 12 per cent.

In another step to reduce emissions, Alberta removed the 900 megawatt threshold on wind power generation. With 500 megawatts of wind power online in 2007, Alberta leads the country in windpower development. More than four per cent of the total installed generation capacity comes from wind power – four times the national average.

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