Sault Ste. Marie could soon boast a cogeneration facility fuelled by bio oil. A group of private and public sector groups led by the Sault Ste. Marie Public Utilities Commission Services Inc., DynaMotive Energy Systems of Vancouver, B.C. and Megallan Aerospace of Mississauga currently has a feasibility study underway to potentially build a 2.5-megawatt plant fuelled by bio oil. The plant would serve the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in the Sault and the adjacent Ontario Forest Research Institute. If the feasibility study proves positive, the project could be commissioned sometime in 2005.
Officials with the public utility say the primary feedstock for the production of bio oil is expected to be unused wood biomass from the forest industries or harvesting operations such as slash currently burned at roadside.
The city is taking an inventory of potential feedstock sources for bio oil, including municipal sewage sludge.
