What the Finns can offer Northern Ontario's biomass economy: European know-how could reduce First Nations' dependency on diesel.

• Author: Strong, Graham
• Position: ABORIGINAL BUSINESS

Biofuels could be the right solution at the right time for Northern Ontario. That's the message that a delegation of companies from Finland brought to various area businesses, government agencies, and municipalities including at least one First Nation during a visit to Thunder Bay.

"We're promoting the European knowhow," said Matti Virkkunen, a research scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and part of the delegation. "We're looking for research projects and companies that we can do joint ventures with."

The delegation attended the Building Biomass Value Chains Workshop, held at Lakehead University on Jan. 24 and hosted by Biomass North.

During the workshop, Virkkunen provided an overview of what the biomass economy might look like in Canada based on a project now underway in La Tuque, Que. That pilot is building a demonstration biorefinery to determine the feasibility of such a plant, both in terms of technical practicality and economic benefits.

The plan is to convert forest residues which can include the leftover from forest harvesting, thinning initiatives, and sawmills, among other sources--into 200 million litres of biodiesel per year.

Jarno Valkeapaa, a counsellor in the commercial and trade affairs department with the Finnish embassy, accompanied the group to Thunder Bay. Fie said that the purpose of the visit was essentially to show stakeholders what possibilities exist in Northern Ontario.

"It's a know-how transfer on (how to use) the waste biomass you have in a sustainable way," Valkeapaa said. "Then hopefully, of course, that would create business opportunities for the technology."

Finland has built its biomass economy over the last 50 years. Necessity is the mother of invention, and in this case, the necessity was to make the best use of the fuel around them: wood.

Until recently, Canada's experience has been markedly different in that respect.

"You've been blessed with all the energy you need," Valkeapaa said. "Natural gas, oil, hydro: the driver is different than what Finland had. We needed to create these models because we needed energy. We didn't have oil."

Skyrocketing energy costs throughout Northern Ontario have changed the picture, though, making alternative energy sources more attractive.

"Take First Nations, most of them are fully dependent on diesel. Money goes out, and no jobs are created. There are small-scale entrepreneurship models that could be benchmarked," Valkeapaa said.

Indeed, many First...