Come spring, Prince George will be the site of a new factory making an alternative energy product - charcoal pellets.
Alterna Biocarbon president Leonard Legault told The Citizen this week the spring thaw will allow the company to finish the construction phase and begin making the charcoal pellets.
"We are ready for concrete on the foundation," he said. "The piles are in, we have road access and we did site prep work."
The company secured land last summer in the Isle Pierre community west of Prince George, on the south side of the Nechako River. In August the company successfully applied to the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George for a building permit, which will begin as soon as weather permits.
The building is designed to be 100 feet by 200 feet, said Legault but will be built in two phases.
"We aren't going to produce and sell power at this time, but there may be a later possibility for that," Legault said.
"We are going to concentrate on the energy pellet production. The first phase is for samples for interested potential customers. A number of potential clients want to see the production underway and be able to test the product, so we have to be able to produce enough for large-scale commercial tests."
Alterna Biocarbon is also working with the University of Northern British Columbia on terra preta studies, which is the use of biochar to boost crop production. It acts like a fertilizer in some respects.
The company is also affiliated with All-Wood Fibre, a Prince George company involved in processing wood waste. Alterna Biocarbon will be using wood waste to produce the charcoal pellets, in much the same way common wood pellets are made.
The charcoal pellets have other properties, however, that Legault feels will be a lucrative value-added forest product for the region.
"The dialogue has been really strong for buyers for the energy pellet project, and the energy side [selling electricity generated by the pellet-making process] is still very key to this project," he said.
"The level of interest we've had from not only across North America but other parts of the world really speaks to its potential."
The production plant itself is expected to generate little noise and little in the way of pollution. It is situated in a spot already identified by the regional district as acceptable for this type of industrial activity, plus the Ministry of Environment is already involved in project oversite, said Legault.
Grants from the federal and provincial governments helped in the development of this project.
