The recent announcement by Nova Scotia Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton concerning an increase in electricity generation by using biomass is being received as good news by members of Forest Nova Scotia and as a terrible decision by Ecology Action Centre personnel.
Bob Bancroft, President, Nature Nova Scotia, writes that biomass is currently being used to produce electricity in two locations in Nova Scotia. Other biomass plants are also being planned or built.
The laws of thermodynamics make the conversion of wood to electricity very inefficient – in the Point Tupper case, Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) projected a 21.5% electrical efficiency with relatively dry wood. In fact, their wood is kept outside, uncovered and wet, so efficiencies may be lower.
The Point Tupper biomass plant is too large. It is being fed by 50–60 tractor trailer loads of wood daily, for a total of about 650,000 tonnes annually, or roughly 100 “wet tonnes” per hour.
Operating the Point Tupper biomass plant is costing NSPI ratepayers an extra $6–8 million a year.1 This is due in part to “must run” stipulations that force NSPI to supply heat for operating the pulp mill next door. This amounts to another Port Hawkesbury Paper subsidy and a violation of the US-Canada trade agreement. NSPI is forced to operate the biomass plant when cheaper energy sources, like natural gas or Quebec hydro, are available and savings could be passed along to customers. (Bancroft, n.d.)
Michael Gorman of CBC News reports that Nova Scotia Power will use more biomass to generate electricity for the next three years, under regulatory changes by the province that are angering environmentalists and being lauded by the forestry industry.
Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton said biomass is a resource that can be used at a time when fossil fuel prices remain volatile, until more wind and solar projects are ready to come online.
Rushton said sawmills around the province have lots of wood chips and other byproducts from forestry operations that can be used to meet the new requirements. It also provides a destination for waste wood still in forests following post-tropical storm Fiona, said Rushton.
The regulations prohibit cutting whole trees to generate electricity and only allow products left over from sustainable timber harvest and primary processing to be used.
"What I see is a renewable resource that we have sitting in our province right now, with biomass that can certainly assist Nova Scotia Power with meeting their renewable targets," Rushton said in an interview. (Gorman, 2022)
Jennifer Henderson, reporting for the Halifax Examiner, on a decision by the Houston government in Nova Scotia, to establish a new regulation that requires Nova Scotia Power to generate at least 153,000 megawatt hours of electricity a year from biomass for the next three years.
Renewable Energy Minister Tory Rushton defended the move to burn more biomass.
“For us, this is about putting more renewable energy on the system for a short period of time until we can establish more hydro and wind for the long-term,” said Rushton. “ I’m also the minister responsible for Natural Resources so I know there’s no longer a market for pulpwood since Northern Pulp closed. And the residual wood left on the ground after hurricane Fiona creates an opportunity to have money paid for that wood to stay in the province.”
Ray Plourde, senior wilderness coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, comments that “This is a really terrible announcement for the environment, a disaster for the atmosphere and for biodiversity,”
The government pretends that burning forest biomass is magically non-carbon emitting based on a fantasy theory that in 100 years, the carbon will be re-absorbed by future trees that may or may not grow, so they don’t need to count biomass emissions at all.
But we don’t have 100 years to wait for that to happen and there is no guarantee that it will.
Biomass is not a climate solution, but it’s being embraced by our government in policy and practice because it’s easy to do (burn trees instead of coal) and it helps the forestry sector with a glut of so called ‘waste wood.’ Its significant negative impacts on the climate and biodiversity are conveniently ignored. It’s a farce, a sick joke at a time when we need real climate solutions. (Henderson, 2022)
The demands of power, politics, and the planet are in tension again when biomass is used as a fuel to generate electricity.
References
Bancroft, B. (n.d.). Nova Scotia Biomass Power Generation. Nature Nova Scotia. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://naturens.ca/projects/biomass-energy/
Gorman, M. (2022, December 19). Province orders Nova Scotia Power to use biomass to generate electricity. CBC. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/biomass-forestry-electricity-nova-scotia-power-tory-rushton-1.6691389
Henderson, J. (2022, December 20). 'A farce, a sick joke': Nova Scotia amps up burning of biomass for electricity. Halifax Examiner. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/economy/natural-resources/forestry/a-farce-a-sick-joke-nova-scotia-amps-up-burning-of-biomass-for-electricity/
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