PowerWood Canada to build two facilities turning forest fire deadwood into biofuel

In Canada, PowerWood Canada Corp. is progressing with plans to build two facilities in Northern Alberta which will convert forest fire deadwood into biofuel used to replace coal in Japanese power plants.

The company will manufacture ‘black pellets’ from the region’s fire damaged timber when it completes its first ‘Peace River’ facility on 65 acres of prepared land near La Crete, Mackenzie Country – with construction slated to commence in the spring of 2026 and the creation of up to 290 new jobs anticipated through its construction, operation and supply chain.

The facilities will also see the introduction of Canada’s first steam explosion pellet production process – developed by leading industrial systems engineers Valmet and capable of producing black wood biofuel pellets with 94% less carbon release than coal. Three black pellet plants using the steam explosion method are currently operating in France, Norway and Malaysia with additional plants under construction in both Europe and Asia.

PowerWood Canada Corp. plans to open a second Alberta plant and has developed expansion plans for further plants in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Construction of the ‘Peace River’ facility will be undertaken by WB MelBack Corp., and followed by the company’s construction of its second pellet plant, to be located near the Mackenzie County town of High Level, 90km Northwest of La Crete. PowerWood Canada Corp.’s ‘Alberta pellet project’ is expected to create more than 500 new jobs across the company’s entire supply chain.

Once operational, planned by the first quarter of 2027, PowerWood Canada Corp.’s ‘Peace River’ plant will have a production capacity of 350,000 tons of black biofuel pellets per annum, using a feedstock of only native dead fire-damaged timber, diseased trees and forest floor debris – to protect Alberta’s boreal carbon sink and create forest ‘fuel breaks’ that inhibit the spread of local wildfires.

PowerWood Canada Corp. has secured long term renewable Crown forestry licenses to source raw materials from millions of hectares of Albertan forest containing a 15–20-year supply of fire damaged timber. The company has agreed terms with a major Fortune 500 A-rated Japanese buyer for 100% of offtake produced at its Peace River pellet plant, on a long-term take or pay basis.