Fighting Addiction

The Baldy Hughes site just outside Prince George, British Columbia, is the first certified therapeutic community and addiction treatment centre in Canada providing multi-phase residential addiction treatment and long-term recovery to British Columbians suffering from addiction disorders.  As such, it is a closed residential environment in which clients adhere to a highly structured, demanding regimen.

The government of British Columbia provided funding for the project.

With the global focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets and renewable clean energy generation technology, Deltech Manufacturing, also located in Prince George, was commissioned to undertake the design, manufacture, and installation of a wood-pellet based centralized heating system for the existing facilities.  The design incorporates advanced combustion technology in which biomass pellets are used as the energy source.  Each building was originally heated using propane as a stand-alone system.  The centralized heating project contributes to GHG reduction by replacing propane with renewable wood fuel.

The Baldy Hughes district heating system was designed with an environment renewable buffer approach. It incorporates the existing in-building infrastructure, allowing for comfort throughout the year and during extreme winter conditions.  Heat is supplied throughout the site by a flex insulated pipeline buried underground.  Each building controls its own heat demand independent of the complete system.

The system design incorporates a fuel storage silo allowing for a fully automated process based on heat demand.  An energy buffer allows for instant supply to each building zone, with a total system capacity of 2.5 million BTU/hour.

The $1.3-million community heating project includes buried flex pipe that supplies heat to each building.

Phase II is now being planned.  In this phase, a biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant will supply all the site’s energy needs.  This site demonstrates the viable commercialization of small-scale CHP for smaller rural communities while contributing to GHG emissions reductions and global warming control efforts.

This project was made possible by funding from the provincial government’s Innovative Clean Energy Fund and Northern Development Initiative Trust.  More details on the project can be found at www.deltech.ca .

Fred Spinola is the general manager at Deltech Manufacturing.