Biomass

Nova Scotia Power and Biomass

Nova Scotia makes great use of biomass. Large and medium-sized pulp and paper companies use wood chips to create electricity to run their mills. Some companies sell excess power to Nova Scotia Power where it contributes to the power we use everyday. There are 75 megawatts of electricity generated from biomass in the province.

Biomass is wood, woodwaste, peat and plants which contain energy and can be burned to create heat or electricity. Biomass is renewable as living plants can be replaced through new growth and is another source of energy which can be used to generate electricity. Biogas is a bi-product of biomass; an example of biogas is methane gas derived from solid waste landfills.

If you have a fireplace, the wood you burn is a biomass fuel. It is still used widely around the world in developing and developed countries alike. In fact, in countries like Finland, USA and Sweden the per capita biomass energy used is higher than it is in India, China or in Asia.

Biomass does not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as it absorbs the same amount of carbon in growing as it releases when consumed as a fuel.

Biomass - Thermal Conversion

Biomass refers to energy resources derived from organic matter, including wood, wood waste, agricultural waste, and other living-cell material that can be burned to produce heat. It also includes algae, sewage, and other organic substances that can be used to make energy through chemical processes.

Biomass use in Nova Scotia includes firewood in over 100,000 homes, a 22 MW biomass electrical co-generation facility in Brooklyn, Hants County, pulp and paper plants, two sawmills producing electricity, two pellet manufacturing plants, numerous greenhouse operations, sawmill lumber drying kilns and wood-related industries that power their facilities with production waste. Institutional users include the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, the South Shore Regional Hospital and the Annapolis Valley Regional Hospital.

The exact amount of wood used in the province for energy is difficult to estimate because so many individual users produce their own and there is also no data collection system in place to track consumption.

Biogas - Biological Conversion

When bacteria digest nutrients in an anaerobic environment, a burnable gas containing between 60 and 70 percent methane is produced.  Anaerobic digestion is becoming a key method for both waste reduction and recovery of a renewable fuel - biogas - and other valuable co-products.  Biogas can be used in factory boilers and engine generator sets to produce electricity and heat. In 2004, Nova Scotia Power contracted with Highland Energy Inc. to supply two megawatts of electricity to the provincial power grid from landfill gas produced at Halifax's former Sackville Regional Landfill site.

For more information about bioenergy, click here to visit the Natural Resources Canada - Discover the Production and Uses of Biogas webpage or click here to visit the CANBIO - Canadian Bioenergy Association website.

If you have additional information relevant to this page please send it to info@energyconsultant.ca noting that it will be reviewed for content prior to any posting.

We acknowledge the NS Department of Energy & Nova Scotia Power for contributing information to this page. Their websites are www.gov.ns.ca/energy/AbsPage.aspx and www.nspower.ca.