(Resource News International) — The development of the biofuel
industry in Canada remains on track with a number of operations
already in place and a number of others on board to start
production very shortly, according to an official with the
Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.
“With crude oil values climbing above US$105 a barrel along
with federal and provincial inclusion of renewable fuel mandates,
the industry is still very much in an expansion phase,” said Robin
Speer, director of public affairs with the Canadian Renewable
Read Also
Entomologist tests trap crops and marigolds to repel flea beetles at an Ag in Motion
An Agriculture Canada entomologist is experimenting with trap crops and marigolds at an Ag in Motion demonstration cropplot
Current ethanol capacity in Canada was estimated by Speer at
around 835 million litres. That capacity was expected to grow
by at least another 775 million litres by the end of calendar
year 2008 as a number of new ethanol plants were under
construction.
That would place Canada’s ethanol output at close to 1.61
billion litres annually, Speer said.
Biodiesel production capacity in Canada, meanwhile, was
still trailing the ethanol sector, but was beginning to make
inroads, Speer said.
Current biodiesel output in Canada was pegged at 322
million litres.
Speer said some other biodiesel plants were proposed,
but have yet to begin construction. Some smaller operations were
also believed to be under construction in Western Canada, but the
Speer said the inclusion of renewable fuels through
provincial and federal government mandates definitely continues
to fuel the need to produce more of these biofuels.
The British Columbia government just announced that by 2010
it will have a five per cent biodiesel and ethanol content regulation for
its fuels, Speer said.
A federal government bill has just recently passed
committee report stage, and is due for a third reading just after
Easter, he said. The bill is expected to pass.
“If that bill passes there will then be a five per cent renewable fuel
content in gasoline for 2010 across Canada,” Speer said.
There are also plans by the federal government
for a two per cent biodiesel content regulation by 2012, but that mandate may be put into
Saskatchewan and
Manitoba have both put renewable fuel requirements in place and there
are plans to increase those levels in the very near future, he said. Both
provincial governments were also considering imposing a biodiesel
mandate.
Ontario also has renewable fuel
requirements in place and is looking to expand them as well,
Speer said, noting that the seven per cent requirement currently in place may
be expanded to 10 per cent by 2010.
Canada also needs to try to keep pace with the U.S., he added.
“The U.S. government passed an energy bill just before
2020,” Speer said. “That is twice the entire transportation fuel
pool in Canada.”
CLARIFICATION, March 18, 2008: An earlier version of this article included a statement that Bifrost Bio-Blends of Arborg, Man., was “said to be interested” in building a biodiesel plant while Western Biodiesel of Calgary was “believed to be trying” to set up a plant in Alberta. Western Biodiesel, in a statement on its web site in January, said its plant was nearing completion while Bifrost recently reported it has built its facility at Arborg and is close to starting production.
