Tidewater Renewables, B.C. government mark construction milestone for renewable diesel refinery

The B.C. government and Tidewater Renewables marked the completion of construction for Canada’s first stand-alone renewable diesel refinery in Prince George, B.C., on Friday.

The $380-million Tidewater facility will produce renewable diesel from canola, tallow and tall oil, and is expected to produce more than 3,000 barrels of low-carbon fuel a day, or approximately 170 million litres a year. The facility will also produce hydrogen to be used in the renewable diesel production process.

“A low-carbon future means high-quality jobs and clean industry for British Columbians, as this investment by Tidewater in clean diesel refining shows,” Premier David Eby said in a news release.

“On behalf of the entire team at Tidewater Renewables, I would like to thank the B.C. government for its leadership in climate action, as well as the timely and unwavering support for our project,” said Krasen Chervenkov, executive vice-president of business development and strategy for Tidewater. “The journey to build Canada’s first renewable diesel and renewable hydrogen complex began in early 2020, and once operational will deliver 170 million litres per year of arctic-spec renewable diesel at 80 per cent to 90 per cent reduction in CO2 as compared to fossil diesel.”

Tidewaters currently operates an existing co-processing diesel plant, the Prince George refinery. The two plants combined could produce more than 180-million litres of low-carbon fuel per year.

The province’s CleanBC target is to produce 1.3 billion litres of renewable fuel by 2030.