BANFF – The Town of Banff will build a $1.8 million biomass district heating system to heat four operations buildings in the industrial compound.
Town officials say this project will reduce about 200 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year by replacing natural gas with a sustainable heat source and no longer having to truck several hundred tonnes of wood waste to the Francis Cooke dump each year.
“Approximately 200 to 250 tonnes of this material can be used as a heating fuel,” said Michael Hay, the Town’s manager of environment and sustainability.
“The project aims to convert this material into clean wood chips and use it to generate heat for buildings in the compound. It will displace natural gas.”
The biomass project – which includes $1.3 million in debt funding and a $430,000 federal grant to pay for it – will use a high-tech boiler to burn wood and wood chips.
Heated glycol-water then will be transported to each building’s heat exchanger to provide temperature control. The buildings include the waste transfer station, fleet shop, and maintenance building as well as the new transit storage facility being built this year.
Hay said the advanced combustion chambers in the project would produce extremely clean emissions.
“My calculations show that emissions from this boiler will be substantially less than a single campfire burning,” he said.
Overtime, the project also comes with economic benefits by reducing annual landfill hauling costs by $6,100 and eliminating $28,845 in net costs for buying natural gas and distribution fees.
In addition, without the need for natural gas connections, the cost of building the new bus storage garage will drop by about $180,000.
“As well as the environmental benefits, it’s really important to point out there are co-benefits to this project,” Hay said.
“It keeps energy dollars local, in the community, instead of going to some big multi-national energy firm.”
Mayor Karen Sorensen voiced strong support for the project, adding that borrowing $1.3 million to help fund it is well worth the benefits from the project.
“This comes down to a value versus cost, and the cost is going to be no more than what we’re currently paying,” she said. “The value is huge.”
Another unnamed organization in the industrial compound has expressed interest in becoming a customer of the biomass heating system, with the Town selling the heat.
“We’re using the Town’s wood supply to generate heat for four municipal buildings in the compound, and hopefully third-party buildings in the future,” Hay said.
