Feds invest in biomass heating for First Nations recreation centre
October 18, 2018
By
CCE
This bioheat project in Hazelton, B.C. is the first to receive funding under the government's Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities Program.
Rendering of the new Upper Skeena Recreational Centre to be heated by biomass.
The Government of Canada has announced over $686,000 in funding for an Indigenous bioheat project in Hazelton, B.C., located in the northwestern region of the province, the first funding announced under the government’s Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities Program.
Under the lead of Gitxsan Energy Inc., an Indigenous-owned business of the Gitxsan Nation, the funding will support the adoption of forest-based biomass heating for the new $16 million all-wood Upper Skeena Recreational Centre.
Under the project, forest-based biomass will replace propane as the heating fuel, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 255 tonnes a year in the recreation complex.
The goal of the Clean Energy program is to reduce the reliance of rural and remote communities on fossil fuel for heat and power, with particular emphasis on Indigenous communities.
Projects like this will reduce the use of fossil fuels through the installation or retrofit of proven forest-based biomass heating options in communities or for industrial applications.
“This highly advanced technology reduces greenhouse gas emissions while cleaning up the forest floor and consuming the abundant woody biomass throughout Gitxsan territory, and this in turn cuts forest fire hazards,” said Rick Connors, president/CEO of Gitxsan Development Corp. in a media release. “This project has stimulated three more GHG-reducing initiatives, and we may see more to come.”
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