April 5, 2010
Press Release
Atikokan Renewable Fuels expects to have its operation here up and running by late fall, Ed Fukushima said last week.
“We have been deeply involved in engineering the plant and developing construction drawings with Cook/Genivar Engineering,” he said. Some major design changes have been necessary, due to new environmental regulations regarding biomass dryers, the control of airborne particles and general site noise control. These have added costs to the project, which continues to move ahead.
“Our wood yard has been prepared for receipt of fibre by RLTC contracting of Fort Frances, who have also used local help. We have recently negotiated a contract for total wood handling and processing with RLTC, which is a company owned by the First Nations, including the Fort Frances area Rainy Lake Tribal Council.”
As well, the old equipment at the plant has been removed, safely and efficiently. Larry Levchak, who oversaw that part of the project, said the equipment buyers called it the smoothest such project they had ever been involved in, and that the workers’ skill and cooperation was outstanding. Brad Sampson led the Atikokan crew.
Fukushima called the recent announcement of a request for indicative pricing for wood pellets for the Atikokan Generating Station a great opportunity for Atikokan Renewable Fuels, but noted AGS will not require any product until 2012. “In the meantime we are searching for national and export pellet customers, with the help of Atikokan’s Connie Terlesky,” he said.
“The OPG timeline and the MNDMF forest allocation process (which closed on the 31st of March) are the biggest factors in our construction schedule. We need a firm forest allocation to know which species and quantity of trees we will be processing. These trees are inventory in the eyes of our financial institution, and the guaranteed supply needs to be in place to keep progress in the right direction.”
If Atikokan Renewable Fuels gets the forest allocation it is aiming for, it is planning to include a biomass-fired co-generation with its operation, in partnership with the Fort Frances and Rainy River First Nations. The proposed co-gen would use limbs, bark and trimmings from harvested trees, and would require the hiring of eight additional workers per shift.
Levchak, a partner in Atikokan Renewable Fuels, is also involved in a proposed pellet plant for the Whitesand First Nation at Armstrong. Levchak’s company, Automation Now, will design and build a plant there that will use the same equipment as the Atikokan Renewable Fuels plant. Levchak aims to have that plant running by late 2011.
(This proposal actually came out of work by Confederation College through the Atikokan BioEnergy Reseach Centre. Among its many benefits are the opportunity to replace diesel fuel, the primary power source there, with renewable energy.)
Finally, Fukushima said he was excited Atikokan Renewable Fuels is now working with Lakehead University on a research project to develop higher grade biomass pellets. “Dr Mathew Leitch will be leading this project to help the development of the wood pellet and make Northwestern Ontario the leader in biomass fuels.”
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