New Brunswick allocates Crown biomass

June 14, 2010, Fredericton – Eight allocations for
Crown forest biomass have been awarded to New Brunswick companies. The biomass
material will be used to produce renewable energy or be incorporated into
value-added products. The allocations total 1,276,000 cubic metres (cu. m) of
biomass, enough to displace about 200 million litres of oil.

"Most of the biomass will be used in
co-generation facilities to produce energy for use by these companies in their
own facilities and potentially surplus electricity for sale to the provincial
power grid," says New Brunswick Natural Resources Minister Wally Stiles.

The allocations are:

• 308,000 cu. m. to Twin Rivers Paper Co. Inc. for
  energy production at its Edmundston mill;
• 272,000 cu. m to AV Cell Inc. for energy production at
  its mill in Atholville;
• 221,000 cu. m to AV Nackawic Inc. for a planned
  cogeneration facility for its mill in Nackawic;
• 139,000 cu. m to Lake Utopia Paper to help fuel a planned
  cogeneration facility at its mill in St. George;
• 138,000 cu. m to Irving Pulp and Paper Ltd. for
  cogeneration at its Saint John plant;
• 76,000 cu. m to Irving Paper Ltd. of Saint John for
  cogeneration;
• 62,000 cu. m to Groupe Savoie Inc. to integrate into
  value-added products at its plant in St. Quentin; and
• 60,000 cu. m for the J.D. Irving Ltd. mill in Chipman
  for cogeneration.

Sixteen proposals were received by the Department of
Natural Resources in response to a request for proposals from parties interested
in the biomass material. Individuals, corporations, or other provincial bodies
with existing or proposed New Brunswick-based processing facilities were
eligible to apply. Staff from the Department of Natural Resources, the
Department of Energy, and Business New Brunswick evaluated the proposals.

"The response to the RFP was so overwhelming that
the requested allocations far exceeded the level of biomass material that can
be harvested on a sustainable basis," says Stiles. He notes that the
Department of Natural Resources has developed a Crown Land Forest Biomass
Harvesting Policy and related assessment tools to ensure that biomass material
is harvested in a sustainable manner. The volume of this material available in
any given year will depend on the amount of wood harvested in the same year.