28.FEB.2007 | Canadian Bioenergy Corporation

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Energy Plan accelerates BC biodiesel

The BC Energy Plan makes British Columbia the leading proponent of biodiesel in North America, requiring an average five percent blend with petroleum diesel by 2010. The plan equates to approximately 185,000,000 litres of biodiesel use resulting in cleaner air for BC and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 400,000 tones annually.

British Columbia wants to advance the domestic renewable fuels industry and is ready to step ahead of the federal government's commitment for a two per cent renewable fuel requirement in diesel by 2012. Both federal and provincial policy support is necessary to create a domestic renewable fuel industry with fuel produced and sold in Canada, rather than imported from the United States.

"This is a huge boost for biodiesel in Canada," says Doug Hooper, CEO of Canadian Bioenergy, a Vancouver-based company with plans to build a biodiesel production facility in Alberta. "We've been working with leaders in the biodiesel value chain for a long time, pushing hard to establish a national renewable fuel standard for biodiesel. The five per cent commitment from the BC government is an important step, and shows real leadership in lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing air pollution."

The provincial announcement will accelerate Canadian Bioenergy's plans to construct a $65 million production facility near Edmonton in Sturgeon County, Alberta. Co-located adjacent to the Bunge Canada canola crushing facility, the plant will be capable of producing over 100 million litres of canola-based biodiesel annually. "This plant will be the first of its kind in Western Canada and will position us to be a leading supplier in the western market," Hooper says.

With only two Canadian biodiesel facilities currently in operation, Canada's domestic production capacity should increase substantially over the next five years to meet the forecast annual demand of 700 million litres under the federal and provincial mandates.

"The feedback from our existing biodiesel fleets in BC has been very supportive" says Ian Thomson, President of Canadian Bioenergy Corporation. "Over the past year, several of our end-users, including the City of Vancouver and TSI Terminals (Vancouver Port), have been using blends up to twenty per cent - - a five per cent mandate will give us the opportunity to introduce fleets across the entire province to the benefits of biodiesel."