News | October 2016

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Cote Nord Project Begins To Take Shape

Ensyn Corp. reports that construction has been initiated on a 10.5 million gallon (approximately 40 million liter) per year biocrude production facility located in Port-Cartier, Quebec (the “Cote Nord Project”). The Cote Nord Project, being developed by Ensyn, Arbec Forest Products Inc. and Groupe Rémabec, is located adjacent Ar­bec’s sawmill on the north shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Ensyn owns 50% of the equity of the project.

The Cote Nord Project has been funded and construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017. This is the first of several production plants being developed by Ensyn to expand the production of biocrude for energy applications. Arbec is a privately-held forest products company operating in Eastern Canada.

Arbec owns 12 wood processing plants in Quebec and New Brunswick, 10 of which are in partnership with Groupe Rémabec. Groupe Rémabec is a major forest products company operating in Quebec, with a focus on timber harvesting and wood processing. Groupe Rémabec harvests more than 3 million m3 yearly and operates 10 wood processing plants.

 Utilizing Ensyn’s RTP (Rapid Thermal Processing) technology, the Cote Nord Project will convert 65,000 dry metric tons per year of slash and other forest residues from local sources to biocrude. The biocrude will be sold to customers in the Northeastern U.S. and in Eastern Canada for heating purposes and as a renewable feedstock for petroleum refineries for the production of low carbon transportation fuels.

The RTP conversion unit is being engineered and supplied by Envergent Technologies LLC, a joint venture between Ensyn and Honeywell UOP.

The Cote Nord Project is being financed by partner equity, funding from the Government of Canada (Sustainable Development Technology Canada and the Dept. of Natural Resources Canada) and Investissement Quebec, a leading Quebec financing corporation.

The Cote Nord Project is the first RTP facility purpose built for the production of biocrude used for heating, cooling and refinery applications. Ensyn’s RTP technology has been in commercial use for more than 25 years, producing biocrude used for food ingredients, with byproduct liquids being used for industrial heating. In 2014, to support its expanding commercial sales to large institutional boilers, district heating systems and universities, Ensyn implemented capital improvements at its wholly owned 3 million gallon (approximately 12 million liter) per year RTP facility in Renfrew, Ontario that enabled the continuous production of biocrude for energy applications.

The Cote Nord Project is expected to generate significant environmental benefits. Whether used for heating and cooling purposes or as a refinery feedstock, Ensyn’s biocrude is a renewable product that reduces the use of conventional fossil fuels. The use of Ensyn’s biocrude for energy purposes leads to a reduction in net carbon emissions and a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) on a total lifecycle basis totaling between approximately 70% and 90%, depending on the application.

The governments of Canada and Quebec will provide $76.5 million in funding. The Port-Cartier plant will be the first commercial-scale facility of this kind in Quebec. In March 2016, the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks reserved 170,000 green tonnes of residues from government forests for the plant.

Spencer Will Build Facility For Lynemouth

Spencer Group reports it has won a contract to design and build wood pellet handling facilities at the Port of Tyne in the UK.

Lynemouth Power Ltd, which operates Lynemouth Power Station on the Northumberland coast, has awarded the contract to the engineering business for the design and construction of a facility for the handling, storage and rail-loading of wood pellets at the port. Up to 200 construction jobs will be created as a result of the contract awarded to Spencer and work on the project has begun.

The facilities being designed and built by Spencer are at Tyne Dock, South Shields, where the Port of Tyne recently invested 25 million pounds in extending Riverside Quay to support the project.

The new facilities will handle up to 1.8 million tonnes annually of wood pellets, offering the capability to meet the full requirements of Lynemouth Power Station.

The fully integrated and automated Spencer system will enable wood pellets to be conveyed mechanically to one of three newly built silos, each capable of storing 25,000 tonnes of material. The pellets will then be discharged from the silos via two conveying streams to a rail-loading facility to take the material to Lynemouth.

Industry-leading particle controls will be in place throughout the system, as well as sophisticated measures to monitor and manage the condition of the wood pellets.

Spencer’s in-house Slipform Engineering technology and equipment will be used for construction of the silos to deliver enhanced quality and safety performance during the build.

The Spencer project also includes construction of a control room, workshops, stores and welfare facilities, creating a standalone facility at the port. In addition, Spencer will carry out modifications to the existing rail infrastructure to provide dedicated rail lines to serve Lynemouth Power Station and connect the new facilities to the 11,000 volts mains supply.

Spencer Group is one of the UK’s leading privately owned multi-disciplinary engineering businesses and has substantial renewable energy activities. The company has carved out an industry-leading reputation for biomass facilities, including being the first UK contractor to have successfully constructed and commissioned renewable fuels handling facilities at both ports and power stations.

Flagship Spencer schemes have included designing and building a biomass reception, handling and storage facility at Drax Power Station in 2010 and, in the same year, a wood pellet storage and rail-loading facility at the Port of Tyne, which was then the first of its kind in the world, again to serve Drax.

In 2013 Spencer constructed biomass handling, storage and discharge facilities at the Port of Hull, once more to support Drax’s biomass conversion.

Spencer founder and Executive Chairman Charlie Spencer comments, “This is the largest single contract Spencer Group has secured in the materials handling and storage sector and is great news for everyone within the business. It validates our long-term strategic focus on major infrastructure projects in the renewable energy field.”

Drax Biomass Earns SBP Certificates

The first Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) certificates issued by SCS Global Services (SCS), a third-party certifier, were presented to Drax Biomass Inc. for its Morehouse BioEnergy and Amite BioEnergy wood pellet manufacturing facilities. This certification follows the announcement that SBP had approved SCS as its newest certification body.

“SBP certification marks a major milestone in our quest to become a leading supplier of sustainably-sourced, high quality wood pellets,” says Pete Madden, President and CEO of Drax Biomass Inc. “With this achievement, we’re able to further demonstrate our commitment to both sustainable forestry and meaningful stakeholder engagement in the communities in which we operate.”

The Drax Biomass Amite and Morehouse facilities are each equipped to produce up to 450,000 metric tons of wood pellets each year. The wood is southern yellow pine sourced primarily from nearby privately-owned working forests that have supported the region’s forest-based economies for many decades. The assessment by SCS included a comprehensive evaluation of each stage of the sourcing and manufacturing process, as well as an audit of Drax Biomass’s Baton Rouge Transit storage and shipping facility.

Carsten Huljus, SBP Chief Executive Officer, comments, “SCS Global Services cleared a rigorous and robust approval process to become an SBP-approved Certification Body, offering worldwide certifications of biomass producer and biomass supply chain actors. SBP welcomes news of SCS’ first two certifications of Drax Biomass Inc.’s facilities.”

Colombo Wood Yard Supplied By BRUKS

Colombo Energy is making progress toward startup of its new $110 million, 460,000 tons per year wood pellet plant in Greenwood, SC. Colombo Energy is owned by the Portuguese company, Portucel Soporcel Group.

BRUKS was selected as the system supplier of the complete wood yard materials handling and processing system, including a drum chipper, back-on truck dumper, circular blending bed stacker reclaimer and green grind hammermills.

Using the BRUKS drum chipper, logs are received, debarked and produced into microchips. A BRUKS back-on truck dumper provides Colombo with design efficiency on the materials receiving side, including the ability to supplement chipper production with wood chips purchased from a variety of sources. After reception, the chips are stored using the BRUKS circular blending bed stacker reclaimer. This latest BRUKS machine design provides Colombo with first-in, first-out inventory control. A series of BRUKS hammermills enhance the design and ensure the drying system presents high quality product ideal for the pelletizing process.

The circular blending bed stacker reclaimer minimizes the amount of manpower required for daily operations. It utilizes full 360 degree slewing to stack and reclaim wood chips. It entails a traversing harrow that agitates the pile for even feed to the reclaim screw conveyor.

FPInnovations, BELT Look Into Biorefinery

FPInnovations and Bioénergie La Tuque (BELT) announced the signing of a collaborative agreement, the main purpose of which is to lead to the installation of a biorefinery facility in Quebec supplied with forest residues.

The agreement has an initial term of four years and consists of three phases. The first phase includes assessing the technical and economic feasibility of the biorefinery project and confirming the availability of biomass at a competitive cost, identifying technological bottlenecks in the most promising process lines, and determining an acceptable technical and economical level of risk. Phase 2 of the agreement includes a detailed evaluation of the technologies identified in Phase 1; this phase will be assigned specifically to FPInnovations’ research teams, in collaboration with BELT and the developing regional bioeconomy/bioenergy chair at UQTR. The construction of a demonstration plant in La Tuque, with a defined capacity based on results obtained during Phases 1 and 2, represents Phase 3 of the project.

The project aims at producing more than 200 million liters of biodiesel annually from the conversion of forest residues. This green energy should replace non-renewable fuels in transportation, therefore leading to a projected annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 575,000 tonnes. The project should also result in the creation of nearly 500 direct and indirect jobs in the region.

Ultimately, the project wants to attract major partners interested in investing in a commercial plant.

Funding Gained For Tees Facility

Macquarie Capital and Macquarie Commodities and Financial Markets are funding 900 million pounds for the Tees Renewable Energy Plant (Tees REP), a 299 MW biomass combined heat and power plant developed by MGT Power and located in North-East England. Tees REP is expected to be the world’s largest new-build biomass plant. Construction is due to start immediately and be completed by 2020.

Macquarie will own 50% of the equity in the project, with Macquarie Capital introducing Danish pension fund PKA as an equity co-investor and partner who will own the remaining 50%.

Mark Dooley, Head of Infrastructure, Utilities and Renewables, Macquarie Capital Europe, comments, “We are delighted that our partnership with MGT Power will enable the delivery of this important project for the economy of North-East England. Macquarie Capital has invested more than €1.2 billion in European renewables projects valued at over €4.7 billion over the past three years demonstrating our ongoing commitment to the sector.”

Ben Elsworth, CEO of MGT Teesside, adds, “The Tees REP project had to overcome many hurdles and Macquarie’s involvement was critical to this successful outcome, as was the support of MGT’s committed shareholding group including majority shareholder Capeview Capital. This has been a huge team effort from many different parties over a long period, and we are proud to be delivering a project which is not only low carbon but which will meaningfully add to the UK’s energy security at an important time.”

Project details include: a turnkey contract for engineering, procurement and construction via a joint venture of Samsung C&T and Tecnicas Reunidas; an operations and maintenance agreement with Fortum; a fuel supply agreement with Enviva Wilmington Holdings; PD Ports will provide a dedicated berth for fuel deliveries as well as stevedoring services.

Norden, Enviva Sign Transport Contracts

Dampskibsselskabet Norden A/S, a global independent shipping company, has contracted with the Enviva family of companies to transport 11 million tons of wood pellets from the U.S. to Europe over a 15-year period, one of the largest shipping agreements in Norden’s 145-year history.

Norden recently concluded two separate contracts with the Enviva family of companies to ship wood pellets from Enviva’s production facilities in the Southeast U.S. to electric power generating facilities in Europe, which use the pellets as fuel. One contract is a nine-year agreement with Enviva, LP, an affiliate of Enviva Partners, that begins in 2018. The other is a 15-year agreement with Enviva Wilmington Holdings, LLC that begins in 2019.

Norden began offering transatlantic shipping services to the Enviva family of companies in 2012. The two recent contracts mark a significant expansion of this relationship.

“Enviva is the world’s largest producer of wood pellets and we are proud that they have trusted us to deliver even more of their products to customers across the Atlantic,” says Jan Rindbo, CEO of Norden.

Norden has eight offices around the world and operates a fleet of 255 dry cargo vessels and 40 tank­ers. The Enviva contracts are expected to be lifted on Supramax-class dry cargo ships, of which Norden operates about 90.

Kauai Biomass Power Plant Is Commissioned

American Electric Technologies, Inc., a provider of power delivery solutions for the global energy industry, reports that its M&I Electric business has completed delivery and commissioning of a biomass power generation control system project in Kauai, Hawaii.

M&I provided a highly customized control system for the biomass power generation project for the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, which has deployed a combination renewable energy strategy of solar, biomass and hydroelectricity to meet its power demand requirements and improve grid stability.

This 7 MW plant just outside Lihue provides 12% of Kauai’s power. One of the first plants of its kind in this country, the $90 million project burns wood chips from invasive species and from locally grown trees.

“We are pleased to be able to support this important renewable energy project for Kauai with our biomass power generation control systems,” says Charles Dauber, president and CEO of AETI. “This project exemplifies our mission of ‘Empowering Energy’ and shows progress in our growth strategy of working with traditional and renewable power generation projects around the world.”

Power generation control systems are part of the M&I Electric turnkey power delivery solutions portfolio which includes custom-designed medium and low voltage traditional switchgear, Arc-resistant switchgear, Power Distribution Centers (PDCs), power conversion equipment, automation and control solutions, construction and electrical services.

Pöyry Continues Work On Tees Project

PX Engineering Consultants Ltd., part of the PX Group, has awarded Pöyry with the technical services assignment for the Technical Owner’s Engineering contract with MGT Power Ltd. for the 299 MW biomass CHP plant to be constructed in Teesport, North-East UK.

During the early stages of project development, Pöyry provided MGT with front end engineering design and, during the final stages up to financial close, technical support for the tendering and negotiation of the EPC contract.

This new assignment for the implementation phase includes assistance in design review and construction supervision together with technical support during erection, commissioning, testing and hand-over, and support during the warranty period.

The Tees Renewable Energy Plant (Tees REP) will generate around 2.4 TWhrs of electricity each year.

“The Tees REP project has had to overcome many hurdles in development but we have now successfully reached the next stage despite the difficult financing environment. Support from the local region and a big team effort from Macquarie, PX Group, Pöyry, RPS and Mace were instrumental in getting there,” says Ben Elsworth, CEO of MGT Teesside. “We can’t wait to get work started on site and make this project a huge success.”

“The signing of financial agreements is a great success for the renewable energy industry and paves the way for the world’s largest new-build biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant to be constructed in the UK,” says Julian Scutter, UK Head of Renewables for Pöyry’s Energy Business Group.

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