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Vol. 90 Issue 17 • Wednesday, April 24, 2013 • www.arrowlakesnews.com • 250-265-3823 • $1.25 •
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Possibility of Nakusp biomass project discussed CLAIRE PARADIS Arrow Lakes News
Wood Waste 2 Rural Heat project coordinator David Dubois met in Nakusp with Peter Welkerling, from the Nakusp and Area Chamber of Commerce, Hugh Watt and Beth McLeod from True North and NACFOR’s Tom Zeleznik to talk about the possibility of turning wood waste into heat in the community. Wood Waste 2 Rural Heat (WWRH) is a project that aims to supply 15 per cent of B.C.’s commercial, institutional and residential energy via biomass thermal (waste woodgenerated heat). And according to the WWRH website, this would mean big benefits for both the economy and environment. David Dubois’ visit was an initial conversation about how to start a project in Nakusp, answering questions that the participants had. An important first step is to identify people who are interested in being clients, said Dubois, who gave examples like hospitals and schools who may be interested in a cheap heating source. For areas like Nakusp where natural gas – the biggest competitor to biomass heating in terms of pricing – isn’t used, there are many possibilities. Biomass is usually cheaper than other methods of heating. Where heating costs using natural gas are about $10-11 per Gigajoule and pellets comparable, said Dubois, propane (depending on delivery costs, etc) is approximately $20-30 per GJ, and electricity around $22-24 GJ, biomass prices out at around $3-6 per GJ. That’s a significant savings, but of course capital investment is also significant, said Dubois. Don’t expect to install biomass heating at your home just yet.
“If you’re spending four or five thousand dollars a year it makes sense to look at some sort of a [biomass] heating system,” said Dubois. “If you’re spending less than that, the economics are marginal because your capital costs are getting too high.” One of the limitations is proximity, said the WWRH project coordinator, as the wood waste plant is connected to heat-receiving clients via pipes. The cost to put the pipes in the ground is a deciding factor: the revenue from a client must be worth the investment in a length of pipe. Another factor is the cost of transporting fuel to the heat plant, but with an abundant local waste wood source, transportation can be kept local and costs low. The fuel itself makes a difference, with different boilers appropriate for different kinds of fuel (wet, dry, pellets, etc). The plant itself and associated equipment takes up space, another requirement to get a plant up and running. A 20-foot storage container can house a plant, for example, but the size is dependent on design which is in turn dependent on heating requirements and the kind of fuel being used. The tech involved in the plants is high, with computers involved in regulation of combustion to make it as efficient as possible, resulting in very little waste during burning. “The pellet boiler installed in Lillooet puts out in the order of half a cup to a cup of particulate matter an hour,” Dubois gave as an example. “It’s not nothing but it’s not significant.” WWRH can offer help in the form of identifying potential sites, developing a business case or plan, all the way through to helping write RFPs and final construction, depending on the business model. Examining fuel pro-
Left: Boiler house for the biomass fired district heating system owned by Fink Machinery in Enderby. The system supplies heat to over 10 different clients. Right: A small 30 kW wood chip boiler heating the 4,000-square foot Granisle BC Firehall. The boiler is located in the first 15 feet of a 40 feet container with chip storage in the remainder. Photos courtesy David Dubois duction, heat production and sales is all part of the planning, said Dubois. “But we need a community champion to drive the process,” he said. The WWRH project coordinator asked if there were any local mills interested in producing a fuel source might be using the heat produced. A Fruitvale business that produces soundboards for musical instruments uses waste wood heat for kilns and heating the building, said Dubois, which is a great showcase for the community to see what a project looks like. “It helps people understand what the opportunity is,” he explained, adding that getting community on board is very important. Although the technology is relatively new in North America, Dubois said there are literally hundreds of thousands of wood waste projects in Europe.
“We have more fuel that we can shake a stick at,” he said, apologizing for the pun. “It’s finding the deployment locations, getting them up and running, getting the knowledge to operate them.” The two main drivers of biomass are economic and environmental considerations, Dubois said. Citing European studies, he added that the amount of money that stays in the community with a biomass project that uses locally source fuel is approximately 70 per cent as compared to 10 per cent that stays with fossil fuel use. Although biomass can be used for creating electricity, Dubois said the lack of readily available technology is one issue, and cost is another. The cost of the electricity produced by burning wood waste is far greater than that available through BC Hydro at the moment.
Local Nakusp man takes RCMP on cross country chase around town CLAIRE PARADIS Arrow Lakes News
Nakusp RCMP were involved in a short car chase that turned into a longer foot pursuit on Thursday, April 18. Around 3:45 p.m. an officer tried to stop a pickup near Broadway and Nelson Avenue, but instead of stopping the truck sped away, into the marina parking lot. Hitting an empty parked car, the driver, a 40-year-old Nakusp resi-
dent, jumped out of the truck and ran up toward Broadway Ave. When the police officer, hot in pursuit, arrived on scene, he was given a tip that the man had run into a store. As soon as the officer was in the front door, the fleeing man ran out the back, and the chase was on again. Although the man from the pickup lost the RCMP at this point, backup was called in and a search was started. Eventually the 40-yearcommunity champs
old was seen near where the Kuskanax River and Highway 23 cross. But he wasn’t throwing in the towel just yet: the fugitive continued to run, wading through chest-high water to the other side of the river, running away from the bank and into the woods. The police were also determined, and continued their search until they found the suspect on a Canyon Road property. As soon as he saw the officers, the man was ready to flee, but
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a flying tackle from one officer put all thoughts of further escape to rest. After a brief struggle, the man was finally taken into custody. “It was the most action we’ve seen all year,” said Corporal Ryan Fehler, commenting on the length of the chase. Fehler was called in to assist with the mini manhunt on a day off. After a more than hour-long chase, the fellow was found to be driving without a license or insur-
ance, and in breach of probation out of Princeton. Charges being recommended by the police are flight from police, resisting arrest, and failing to remain on the scene of an accident. The pickup was impounded and a ticket for driving without insurance was issued. On behalf of the Nakusp RCMP Fehler thanked the public who helped in the pursuit: “Your help was truly appreciated.”
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