Biodiesel is the buzzword around Englehart, with a local entrepreneur on the verge of kicking off construction on Northern Ontario’s newest biodiesel plant.
Boyd Woods, owner of the Woods Group of Companies, is just weeks away from getting shovels in the ground on the $8 million plant, which is expected to produce 20 million litres of biodiesel per year.
A property adjacent to the Ontario Northland Railway line has already been purchased, and the permitting and environmental assessments have been completed.
Currently, Sudbury’s Golder Associates is working on the necessary approvals from the Ministry of the Environment for the associated equipment. The thumbs-up from the Ministry is expected to be delivered in October, allowing Woods to import and install the machinery, which is already awaiting shipment in the United States. Production could begin as early as January 2009, creating as many as 30 jobs.
Englehart Mayor Nina Wallace lauds the move as a great solution to help move the town beyond its reliance on the forestry industry, particularly because of its origins through a local resident.
“This is a pretty big deal,” she says. “We’re a one-industry town, so it’s nice to diversify a little.”
With increasing pressure from governments to consider renewable sources of energy and its skyrocketing costs, the biodiesel business has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, Woods says.
He adds that this is particularly true in the U.S., where as many as 50 biodiesel plants are currently under construction, with new proposals popping up regularly.
In recent months, Woods has fielded calls from government officials in Barbados and Jamaica seeking to have biodiesel facilities built in their country.
“There’s so much demand for biodiesel and plants in the world now,” says Woods, a former environmental engineer.
“Biodiesel is it. That’s our future, and that’s where we’re heading.”
Although the plant has yet to be built, plans are already in place for future expansions. In the plant’s second year, it’s expected that an additional $6 million will be spent to bring the plant’s total annual capacity to 40 million litres of biodiesel, increasing the job total to 50.
Within three years, a third and final phase of expansion will involve the creation of a 10-megawatt power generation site at a cost of $15 million in order to make use of the waste energy.
Ninety per cent of project financing has been set up with Toronto-based lending institutions.
The remaining funds are still being sought through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC), with which Woods is extremely frustrated. He feels the volume of red tape he’s dealt with in the past year in an attempt to access a $1 million loan is unfair given the job creation potential of the project.
He compares it to a portable biodiesel plant he’s already shipped off to the Dominican Republic, where government officials have bent over backwards to promise him approvals and up to 1,000 acres of land for his endeavour.
Various private investors have already been lined up should the NOHFC fail to come through, though Woods says he’d rather avoid giving away partial ownership of the project.
He’s also quick to point out that biodiesel is unlike ethanol, which has stirred global controversy for its tendency to cut into the international food supply through its use of corn.
In fact, non-food grade materials and waste food oils will be used to create the biodiesel. While plans are in place to eventually develop their own feedstock, the initial source of material is set to be the Guelph facility of the Montreal-based Sanimax. This company collects an annual total of 500 million litres of “yellow grease,” or waste grease, from restaurants -- far more than the 40 million needed for the Englehart plant. Woods has also secured a signed contract with another southern Ontario company as a client for 100 per cent of the plant’s biodiesel, though he’s not at liberty to release the name.
He also hopes that some of the 100-plus Ontario municipalities which have signed letters of intent in support of the plant will eventually become clients as well.
“I live in Englehart, I love Englehart, and I’m happy to build the business here,” Woods says.
