Contracts Awarded for Wood Heat Projects

The province is another step closer to using locally sourced wood chips to heat public buildings.

Four companies have been selected to convert fossil fuel heating systems at six sites to new, efficient wood chip heating systems. The contracts to design, build and operate new boilers include long-term agreements to source wood chips from private woodlots and sawmills.

The contracts were awarded to:

• Mira Forestry Development Limited, Albert Bridge, Cape Breton Regional Municipality, to convert Memorial High School in Sydney Mines and Riverview High School in Sydney
• Wood4heating Canada, Inc. in Charlottetown, to convert Perennia Park Atlantic Centre for Agri-Innovation in Bible Hill and Hants East Rural High School in Milford, Hants Co.
• Spec Resources Inc. in Church Point, Digby Co., to convert Nova Scotia Community College Centre of Geographic Sciences in Lawrencetown, Annapolis Co.
• ACFOR Energy Inc. of Cocagne, New Brunswick, to convert Bridgewater Provincial Court

The province is assessing additional sites to expand the program. A district heating network will be formed at Perennia Park and three buildings will be heated by the new boiler. Bridgewater provincial court will be converted to a two-building district heating network that includes the Nova Scotia Community College’s Lunenburg campus.

"These projects help us progress towards a greener economy and reduce the carbon footprint of government buildings by replacing fossil fuels with a renewable resource,” said Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin. “Using lower grade wood for heat will create new and stable markets for Nova Scotia's wood chips and opportunities for private woodlot owners and sawmills to sell lower grade wood locally.”

The wood heat systems should be in place during this heating season.

Quick Facts:

• supporting small-scale wood energy projects and converting some government buildings to wood heat energy was a recommendation from the Independent Review of Forest Practices and is supported by the Forestry Transition Team
• contracts were awarded through a competitive public tender process, which includes long-term agreements to supply and operate the facilities
• each wood heat system will be in an exterior structure built for future district heating expansions
• the expected annual quantity of wood fuel chips for the six sites is between 2,000-2,500 tonnes
• areas in Canada and the United States have been using wood heat in public buildings for decades

Additional Resources:

Project FAQ on government’s ecological forestry website: https://novascotia.ca/ecological-forestry/

Lands and Forestry on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NSLandsForestry