The foundation has been laid for the Town of Hearst to attract clean technology companies and expand the community’s forest-reliant economic base.
For years, the northeastern Ontario town has been devising a strategy to fully develop a local wood biomass market and entice clean technology companies to come to the region.
The hub of much of that future activity will be in the Hearst Regional Green Technologies Centre, which is expected to be under construction this winter.
“It’s an opportunity for us to diversify our economy and lose our dependency on forestry, but also provide opportunities for forestry companies to use some of the green technology to save dollars and energy,” said Daniel Sigouin, Hearst’s economic development officer.
The centre will be a focus for research, demonstration and education on sustainable forestry practices. It will feature green energy technologies, including geothermal heating and photovoltaics.
The building will offer a lot of things to the viewing public and small business start-up companies.
There will be an entertainment and educational centre that will serve as a showcase for renewable clean energy with interactive exhibits and demonstrations.
Space will be set aside for multimedia exhibits and meetings as well as a fully equipped business incubator for renewable energy companies.
A bioscience lab will allow green technologies to be researched and tested.
The contract for the 4,300-square-foot centre was awarded to Strategik Builders of Hearst. The structure will be attached to the town’s Tourist Welcome Centre and will be completed in July with a ribbon-cutting slated for September.
Recently, the Ontario government announced an investment of $6,679 for the centre through its Northern Communities Investment Readiness program.
Through its various funds, the province has invested a combined $2.3 million for the centre.
Sigouin said they’re hoping to land an additional $300,000 to fully implement their plans outlined in their project synopsis.
The town has several other green initiatives on the go.
The municipality is studying a district heating plan to provide heat to Columbia Forest Products, nearby schools and municipal buildings.
A 10-megawatt co-generation plant would provide heat for 12 users.
It would be located on the former BioShell factory site, which produced wood pellets until the early 1990s. A local company, which has applied for a power contract under the provincial feed-in tariff, would use the plant’s infrastructure.
Sigouin said since Hearst staged a biomass conference in 2008, there have been a number of success stories.
Lac Wood Industries makes premium wood pellets for the local market, and two contractors offer solar photovoltaics and geothermal installation services.
The Town of Hearst is also experimenting with growing its own woody fuel. They’ve teamed up with Natural Resources Canada and Villeneuve Construction to do field trials on growing willow and poplar as a short-rotation crop.
The 15-acre site is owned by Villeneuve and is one of four Northern Ontario sites funded under the federal government’s Bioenergy Plantation Project.
www.hearst.ca
www.hearstontario.blogspot.com
