The Meadow Lake Tribal Council’s (MLTC) bioenergy plant is a first of its kind green energy biomass project for Saskatchewan, combining environmental improvement with thermal efficiency and directly improving the economic outcomes for the ultimate recipients of the project – the nine (9) member-First Nations comprising the Meadow Lake Tribal Council.
The objective of MLTC’s bioenergy project is to generate carbon-neutral green power using sawmill biomass residuals and to reduce air emissions by eliminating one of Canada’s last remaining beehive burners. The project consists of installation of a bioenergy power plant at the Meadow Lake Tribal Council’s (MLTC) NorSask sawmill site located near Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.
The installation involves one air-cooled, refractory-lined, reciprocating grate furnace with thermal oil heat exchangers, a 6.6 MW Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbo-generator and all associated fuel handling and environmental emission systems. The bioenergy plant achieves significant environmental benefits by reducing the carbon intensity of the SaskPower grid, reducing the use of natural gas for industrial process heating and completely eliminates adverse particulate matter in air emissions. The bioenergy plant enhances the economic outcomes of the nine Indigenous communities associated with the Meadow Lake Tribal Council through improved operations of Canada’s only 100% Indigenous-owned sawmill by converting a waste stream into valuable energy. The ultimate recipients of the ongoing long term benefits of the bioenergy centre are the Indigenous youth and families of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council located in northwest Saskatchewan.
Transitioning to cleaner power is essential to protecting the environment, creating more sustainable communities and building a cleaner future. The Bioenergy Centre supports 16 new high-quality jobs, boost regional economic growth and serve as a model for communities across Saskatchewan looking to transition to renewable energy.
The First Nations-owned Meadow Lake Tribal Council Bioenergy Centre generates carbon-neutral green power using sawmill biomass residuals. It is the first plant of its kind in Saskatchewan and produces 6.6 megawatts of baseload electricity to power approximately 5,000 homes with greener energy.
All financial and employment benefits generated by this project will flow directly into local communities supporting underfunded core programs and services needs (health, education, housing, etc.) of the MLTC First Nations membership.
For over 50 years, NorSask Forest Products LP (NorSask) incinerated 100% of its residual sawmill-related biomass in a ‘beehive’ burner. In order to address provincial environmental regulations, contribute to Saskatchewan’s green energy mandate and to generate economic benefits specifically for First Nations, MLTC developed the MLTC Bioenergy Centre – an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) biomass-based combined heat and power (CHP) cogeneration system. The power generation system consumes approximately 55,000 ODT/year of biomass and generates 55,000+ MWh per year of firm, baseload electrical energy. Two lumber kilns at the plant were converted to a single new kiln heated entirely by biomass heat furthering carbon emission reductions.