SUMMERSIDE – Results of an $80,000 study into the feasibility of setting up a biomass alternative energy operation for Summerside should soon be available.
Terry Murphy, the city’s chief administrative officer, said the study, which is being cost-shared by the federal and provincial governments, is expected to be in the hands of civic officials “within the month.”
The city’s share will be just over $26,600.
Murphy said the city will be doing a study of the needs of the heating loads within the Summerside area to determine if there is an opportunity to put in an operation to generate heat, cooling and electricity.
This could be used to feed the commercial areas on the heating and cooling side within the city. In terms of electricty, it would be brought in to use as base-load electricity at the city’s electrical plant.
Murphy said although present plans are confined to commercial areas, the city will be looking into extending this new energy source into residential areas.
“That’s what we’re really trying to define,” he said. “What opportunities are out there to do that.”
Murphy said there are two different products the city is looking at to fuel the process. One is from the forestry industry and the other is from the agriculture industry.
During a recent trip to Ireland, the city saw a process where a crop of willow was grown. It was cut every two years and used in cogeneration.
“Here we have grains and there’s been quite a bit of work done by the provincial department of agriculture in terms of this.”
Where this new biomass generation plant will be located has yet to be determined.
“We really just want to determine the loads and once you’ve defined the loads you can determine how far you can retransfer the product.”