Resource Inventory

Biomass Potential

Northern British Columbia has by far the largest availability of wood biomass in the country.

The Ministry of Forests and Range estimates there are approximately 3.1 million cubic metres of potential forest tenure available for use as biomass for energy.

British Columbia produces about 43 percent of the lumber in Canada, and accounts for 31 percent of all wood biomass residues produced. However, as a percentage of surplus residues, BC accounts for 66 percent of total surplus wood residue in Canada. Over half of that is located in the Prince George Forest Region.

Of the 2004 equivalent of 1.8 million BDt (bone dry tonnes) of surplus residue in the Prince George area, 1.2 million BDt is being consumed by 23 beehive burners (equivalent to 1900 GWh of power). The bioenergy opportunities in Northern BC are based on sustainable supplies of fibre and are not limited to surge in supply created by mountain pine beetle.

In addition to the healthy timber supply and the mountain pine beetle inventory, there are under-utilized fibre resources that may provide future supply potential. The Ministry of Forests does not quantify the amount of recoverable slash and roadside waste as it is assumed to be negligible within transportable range of most primary processing facilities and too costly to recover the greater the distance from the mill gate.

However, according to a report by BIOCAP Canada Foundation, estimates were made for the bioenergy potential for BC (see figure 2.2). The analysis carried out shows that the Province of British Columbia has very large biomass resources, which, if tapped, could provide over 50% of the current fossil energy demand in the province (920PJ/yr). The trees killed in the mountain pine beetle infestation in the province could provide 11 Mt (dry) biomass/yr for 20 years, or about 19% of the province’s fossil energy demand for this period.

Forest Products Processing Capacity

Prince George

According to a 2006 study on timber processing facilities in Prince George, a variety of major manufacturing operations reside in the city, with the following capacities:

12 Lumber mills with an estimated annual capacity of 2.14 billion board feet
1 Pellet mill with an estimated annual capacity of 135,000 tonnes
1 Pole and Post mill with an estimated annual capacity of 30,000 pieces
3 Pulp and Paper mills with an estimated annual capacity of 1.12 million tonnes

Quesnel

West Fraser Mills Ltd. owns 3 lumber mills, 2 pulp and paper plants, 1 plywood plant and 1 medium-density fibreboard plant in Quesnel.
Tolko Industries Ltd. purchased Quesnel's Ernst Forest Products in 1981. It produces kraft paper, lumber and wood products.
Canfor's mill in Quesnel produces dimension lumber, studs and specialty items.
C&C Wood Products Ltd. produces lodge pole pine plank paneling. 2006 production of 28 million board feet.

Vanderhoof

Forestry is the number one industry in Vanderhoof. There are several mills operating in the area:

Canfor Plateau: the Plateau sawmill consumes over 2.1 million m3 of logs annually.
Canfor Isle-Pierre: the Isle Pierre sawmill consumes over 950,000 m3 of logs annually.
L&M Lumber: the sawmill had a capacity of 240 million board feet of lumber in 2006.
Vanderhoof Specialty Wood Products: a fingerjoint lumber and specialty mill has been a major employer in the community of Vanderhoof since 1991. The fingerjoint plant primarily uses lumber trim ends from beetle-killed forests.

Williams Lake

West Fraser Mills Ltd. runs a lumber mill producing about 155 million board feet of lumber annually, and a plywood plant producing about 267 million square feet annually.
Tolko Industries Ltd. owns three lumber mills in the vicinity of Williams Lake, producing a combined 579 million board feet of lumber annually.
Chimney Creek Lumber produced 2.4 million board feet of lumber per year from its Williams Lake processing facility.
Linde Bros. Timber owns and operates a lumber mill, producing 7.2 million board feet per year.
Wild Wood Forest Products also produces 2.4 million board feet of lumber from its Williams Lake lumber mill.

Pulp Mill Cogeneration

Prince George is home to Canfor Pulp, the largest producer of bioenergy in North America. The 60 MW Canfor cogeneration project at Prince George Pulp effectively displaces 390 GWh of purchased electricity annually.

The benefits to Canfor and the environment as a result of this project are significant. Natural gas usage was expected to drop by 500,000 GJ for a cost saving of $5 million per year. The displaced natural gas is being replaced with 200,000 BDt of hog fuel generated by Canfor sawmills within a 200 km radius of Prince George. Previously, all of this hog fuel was being incinerated as waste in beehive incinerators at several sawmill locations.

Wood residue usage has increased to over 90% in 2008, from 53% of total residue generated in 2004. Increased usage in 2008 over 2007 was in part due to permanent shutdown of Canfor’s one remaining Tier 1 beehive burner at Fort St. John in April 2008 and wood residue being sold to third parties including the oil and gas industry, a local pulp mill and the Grande Prairie cogeneration facility. Reduced operational levels also reduced wood residue supply and increased external demand for that reduced supply.

Wood Pellet Production

The wood pellet industry is powered out of Northern British Columbia and is a key driver of Europe's green energy market. With just under one million tonnes of pellets being produced in nine plants, Northern BC produces 10 percent of the 10 million tonne global market for wood pellets and 67 percent of Canada’s 1.5 million tonne market.