In 2008 Farallon completed a study for the Quesnel Community and Economic Development Corporation outlining the best options for resource recovery in the community. The top-ranked project is a community electricity and heating system. The system will generate electricity with a low-temperature Organic Rankine Cycle turbine, which will in turn produce waste heat for a district heating system. Fourteen buildings will be served by this system, including the local hospital, City Hall, an arena, an education facility, and a retirement home.
The system will be the first of its kind in North America, and will:
- Recover waste energy through efficiency improvements to an existing sawmill wood residue burner adjacent to the City of Quesnel
- Become a joint venture between the municipality and the owner of the sawmill
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing natural gas with energy which has been scavenged through efficiency improvements
- Generate non-tax revenues for the City
The project has been awarded $4.1 million from British Columbia’s Innovative Clean Energy Fund, and Farallon is providing project management services to facilitate further financing arrangements and agreements among the participants.