Gordon Hoekstra
Prince George Citizen
January 10, 2001

A Prince George wood pellet manufacturer hopes to capture new energy users in North America who are looking for alternatives in the face of escalating natural gas prices.

Right now, P.G. Pellet Flame exports 80% of its wood pellets to Sweden, where commercial consumers — including a city of 180,000 — take advantage of carbon tax credits for using pellets, which do not increase greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

The wood pellets — compressed under high pressure from sawdust and shavings — can be used in space heaters like wood pellet stoves, as well as in specially-made furnaces and boilers.

“The inquiries are coming in,” said Pellet Flame owner John Swaan, who started the plant in 1994 south of the BCR industrial site.

“First, I think there was denial and anger over the increase in gas prices. But now people are looking for ways to do something about it. And there is another serious alternative which is viable, available and convenient.”

Just this week, 40 rail car loads of pellets were shipped to Quebec, where pellet use is more popular than in B.C.

Swaan pegs the annual cost to heat a home using wood pellets at about 35% to 45% less than with natural gas.

The initial capital outlay to convert to wood pellets can be recouped in two and a half to three years, he said.

Wood pellet producers — there’s also a plant in Quesnel and one preparing to open in Vanderhoof — are also trying to interest greenhouse growers on the Lower Mainland to consider using wood pellets.

A conference has been organized for later this month in Delta where pellet producers, boiler and furnace manufacturers and B.C. government officials will outline the product, its supply and cost to greenhouse growers.

“We’re giving them an option,” said Swaan.

Some greenhouse operations have seen their heating bills triple. Vern Toews, who runs B.C. Vegetable Greenhouse in Delta, which has 40 acres of product under glass, said they’re considering everything from coal to wood pellets as a long-term solution to the increased heating costs.

Unfortunately, he said, the growers also need some immediate relief