Business View Civil and Municipal | April/May 2022

17 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 It is not just the communities where the biomass generators are located that benefit from this use of forest residue. Using the Resolute Forest Products biomass generator in Thunder Bay as an example, the communities of Ignace, Atikokan, Fort Frances, Barwick all benefit from the ability to see their fibre utilized in a biomass generator. So, too, do the smaller sawmills and many bush contractors who rely on the sale of their residual material to finance their ongoing logging operations. Common Voice Northwest’s Energy Task Force has calculated that the region could be short as much as 220 MW of power by 2027 even with the existing biomass generators having their contracts renewed and the East West Tie in operation. Key communities such as Red Lake- Ear Falls, Sioux Lookout and Greenstone are already at their maximum capacity and require new sources of electricity if they are to grow. There is an opportunity in those communities for new biomass generation facilities along with district heat options. Benefits for Communities as Well as Industry The generation of electricity is not the only benefit created by biomass, however. Biomass Generators are a part of an integrated energy and environmental system. Historically, wood left over from the sawmilling process was either burned or deposited in a variety of land fill sites, in both cases contributing to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere with no value to society. Using the biomass to generate electricity will not only divert usable fibre from landfills but will assist in moving natural gas consumers over to a district heating supply utilizing excess steam from the generator. Distributed generation biomass facilities are a logical solution to this increasing demand. Ideally, the facilities would be strategically located to reduce fibre transportation costs (both financial and environmental) as well as the proximity to transmission assets that will connect the generators to the grid. District Heating is a system that is used in most if not all Nordic countries, especially those with limited