The Meadow Lake Tribal Council Bioenergy Centre is an entirely Indigenous-owned state-of-the-art cogeneration facility generating carbon-neutral green power. Plant revenues will also support essential programs and services for the Tribal Council’s nine member First Nations.
A new $90-million bioenergy facility has started up in Saskatchewan—and helping the power plant reach its feedstock goals is a custom-built wood hog grinder from Rawlings Manufacturing.
By Jan Jackson
With the help of technical experts from Italy, Germany, Montana and the province of Saskatchewan, the First Nation Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan has now launched a state-of-the-art $90-million bioenergy facility.
The new power facility is producing enough energy to process the wood waste from their sawmill, power the bioenergy plant’s in-house facility (heat, lights and run the wood hog), provide power to 5,000 nearby city homes—and has enough energy left over to sell 6.6 megawatts to provincial utility, SaskPower Corporation.
NorSask Forest Products’ sawmill has long been a source of pride – not to mention revenue – for the nine First Nations of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC). After all, it’s the only First Nation sawmill in Canada owned by First Nations and a good example of effective resource management. But there’s always been an issue that takes a bit of the shine off MLTC’s success: waste.
“All the waste from the sawmill is incinerated in our old beehive burner,’’ says MLTC Cree Vice-Chief Richard Derocher. “It’s a waste of energy and not friendly to the environment.’’
Derocher says MLTC leaders identified the problem years ago and began searching for an affordable fix. In 2009, the Tribal Council began working with the Government of Saskatchewan to find a green solution to replace the old burner but plans didn’t materialize. Several years ago, the stars aligned in the form of federal and provincial infrastructure initiatives including funding for green energy projects.
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Bright Future for Indigenous-led Renewable Energy Project
The Meadow Lake Tribal Council’s new Bioenergy Centre is providing both economic and environmental benefits to Indigenous communities
A first-of-its-kind project is about to come online in Meadow Lake, Sask. The Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC)’s new Bioenergy Centre, which will be operational by the end of February, will turn wood waste from the nearby NorSask Forest Products sawmill into electricity, powering around 5,000 homes in Saskatchewan and providing heat and power for a new continuous kiln.
In the past few years, Saskatchewan’s forestry and bioenergy industries have seen a big boost, with multiple new investments announced and projects underway. One such project is the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC)’s new Bioenergy Centre in Meadow Lake, Sask., which is currently under construction.
The Bioenergy Centre will use residual wood waste from nearby NorSask Forest Products (also owned by the MLTC), to provide enough electricity to power 5,000 homes in the community. As part of that project, a new Muhlbock six-zone Progressive Flo 1306 PRO continuous kiln is being installed, which will run off of the energy produced in the Bioenergy Centre.
Meadow Lake Tribal Council is building a biomass power generation plant at their NorSask sawmill in Meadow Lake. To be completed in January 2022, the plant will convert wood waste into renewable energy and help to create jobs and economic growth for MLTC members and northern Saskatchewan.
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Used with Permission of Northern Pride Publications
“My job,” says Chris Mazuren, “Is to ensure the community
members within the nine Meadow Lake First Nations
have an opportunity to find employment with the
construction contractors during the building of the MLTC
Bioenergy Centre.”
“I meet the contractors to get an understanding of what
it is they’re looking for in a potential employee,” he says.
“Based on that, I send out a call for résumés. Work-ready
individuals contact me and then I make the link – I make it
happen between the two.”
Mazuren says the goal is to
attract as many résumés as possible.
”I’m interested in hearing from
labourers, skilled labour, tradespeople
or apprentices,” he adds.
The MLTC Employment and
Training Facebook page, will
have the latest job opportunities
posted.
“I go through the résumés and
shortlist them. The contractor
looks at the list I have complied for them, then it’s job
interview time,” he says.
Mazuren says he looks for applicants who have some
past experience and their safety tickets needed for the
particular job.
“For example,” Mazuren adds, “When I posted the most
recent job opportunity I was looking for individuals who
have experience in concrete construction.”
Within minutes, Mazuren had résumés emailed to him
from all nine First Nations bands.
“From the best résumés, I recommend those as potential
employees,” he adds.
Mazuren notes a good candidate has a good support
network that includes family, friends and employment
office support from their First Nation.
Because of his 28-year work history in the various fields
of the construction industry, Mazuren has become familiar
with a lot of the contractors looking for workers.
“The construction field is a small world,” he says, adding
he also personally knows a lot of them.
Mazuren explains MLTC Employment and Training is
better than a job placement agency in that his team totally
understands the industrial needs of each contractor.
What Mazuren likes about finding band members from
the nine First Nations is the chance to help MLTC community
members get their foot in the door.
Each phase of construction of the MLTC Bioenergy Centre
has different time periods. Different tradespeople are
required at different times.
“Right now it’s concrete, then, in a while, it’s about 10
months of building,” Mazuren says. “There’s four major
components in the build, and we’ll need about 20 different
contractors. All those contractors need employees
and we want to get as many of our First Nations involved.”
Mazuren reminds potential employees to keep checking
the MLTC Employment and Training Facebook page.
Article by Howie Summers, MLTC Communications Officer
