An energy firm based in Ireland says it is planning to produce sustainable aviation fuel at the site where a liquified natural gas project had been proposed on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore. Nova Scotia’s provincial flag flies in Ottawa, Friday July 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Editor’s Note: Goldboro was one the leading candidates for a Canadian East Coast liquefied natural gas export facility, the type German Chancellor Olaf Scholz basically begged Canada for. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was “no business case,” for Canadian LNG in this context.
An energy firm based in Ireland is planning build a plant in eastern Nova Scotia to produce sustainable aviation fuel using about 700,000 tonnes of wood biomass annually.
Simply Blue Group announced Friday that construction would begin in 2026 with the biofuel project expected to be operating by 2029 in Goldboro, N.S., about 165 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
No financial details were disclosed.
The company says it has secured about 305 hectares of land for development, including 108 hectares previously owned by Calgary-base Pieridae Energy, which had planned to build a $10-billion liquified natural gas export terminal at the site. But the project, proposed in 2012, was shelved in 2021.
Based in Cork, Ireland, Simply Blue Group says its aviation fuel performs as well as conventional jet fuel but reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 90 per cent.
Simply Blue says that every year its Goldboro project will source about 700,000 tonnes of wood biomass through Wagner Forest NS Ltd. to produce 150,000 tonnes of the fuel. Wood biomass is typically defined as residue from the wood processing industry and material left behind by forest management, but it can also be created by harvesting smaller, less-desirable trees.
Meanwhile, the company also said it will make use of wind and solar power to produce the fuel.
Tory Rushton, the province’s natural resources minister, issued a statement saying the plant could represent a new market for the province’s forestry sector.
“We know many landowners have an abundance of low-grade wood fibre …. so this is another renewable energy project coming to Nova Scotia,” the minister said, adding that the project requires environmental and safety approvals.
“This is a huge economic spinoff that could happen in our province.”
- 0080 Turnbull Clarence 25 years0080 Turnbull Clarence 25 years
- 0078 LHOS 20240078 LHOS 2024
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
Rushton said the company has not asked for money from the province.
Raymond Plourde, wilderness co-ordinator at the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre, said in an interview the term “low-grade” biomass doesn’t only refer to the wood chips and sawdust created in sawmills, but it can also include cutting species of trees unwanted by sawmills.
He said 700,000 tonnes of biomass a year is “huge,” and he estimates it represents the “consumptive capacity” of a medium-sized pulp mill.
That means there will be a sizable impact on the environment, he said.
“Large-scale forest biomass harvesting and burning, whether in the form of wood chips and pellets for electricity or in liquid form for so-called biofuels, is not a climate solution,” he said in a followup email.
“Industrial-scale cutting and burning trees releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide directly into the atmosphere and degrades forests and impairs their ability to absorb carbon emissions. So it’s a double whammy of ill effects.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax.
- 0080 Turnbull Clarence 25 years0080 Turnbull Clarence 25 years
- 0078 LHOS 20240078 LHOS 2024
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001