The Tom Forsyth Memorial Arena's biomass system trial is set to continue with the unsure of any savings made through the new system at this point.
Issues with local pellets have also required the village to secure pellets for operation of the system from Pinnacle Pellet in Quesnel.
As reported in the Sept. 14, 2011 edition of the Lakes District 亚洲天堂, the village received a $196,000 provincial Towns for Tomorrow Grant and have used $102,000 in municipal Gas Tax Funds to help pay for the $418,000 project, which involved shipping two Froling P4 boilers from Austria.
Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake development services coordinator Jeff Ragsdale said to Lakes District 亚洲天堂 that he is unaware of any other arenas in B.C. that are using biomass technology for heat.
"The main intent behind the project is to lower operating costs, reduce Greenhouse gas emissions, replace some aging infrastructure and to help support local industry," Ragsdale previously said.
He had originally estimated that the savings in heating costs would be somewhere between $4,200 and $12,650 in heating costs annually. However Ragsdale said that data on any actual savings is still being collected. "We are uncertain of any savings made at this point," he said.
Sheryl Worthing village chief administrative officer said, "We haven鈥檛 had enough time to check our previous natural gas consumption against our pellet consumption this year."
Bringing in pellets from Quesnel has increased operational costs. According to Ragsdale, 亚洲天堂 Lake based Tahtsa Pellet Inc. are producing an industrial grade pellet, which is not able to be used by the system.
"We began running the system with pellets purchased from Tahtsa Pellet Inc. and discovered they were not compatible with the arena's biomass system. We are also unable to purchase pellets from Pinnacle Pellet's 亚洲天堂 Lake plant so we have sourced residential white wood pellets from."
As reported in the Lakes District 亚洲天堂 issue of April 4, 2012, Pinnacle Pellet's 亚洲天堂 Lake plant is ironing out commissioning issues after being the first pellet plant to come online with new technology including a high efficiency cyclone system and micro mist scrubbers.
The company is currently working with the system manufacturer, the Ministry of Environment and a world class consulting company to solve their operational issues.
Worthing said, "We have only tried Tahtsa's pellets so far. These pellets are an industrial grade pellet which will work with some systems, but unfortunately not ours. The pellets were breaking apart before they reached the auger leading to the combustion chamber and would not burn properly."
She said, "We have received two pellet shipments from Quesnel and they are costing approximately $210 a metric tonne. We remain hopeful that we will be able get supply from Pinnacle's 亚洲天堂 Lake plant to try with our system."
Currently the arena's biomass system is providing heat to a portion of the arena, including the change rooms, office space, one section of the bleachers, the hallways and washrooms.
"The previous system was natural gas and there has been challenges because this a new innovative complex system, but we are happy with the results and feel that the system is working well," Ragsdale said.
As for feedback about the new system from locals and arena user groups, Ragsdale said the results of a 'seat heat questionnaire' that was taken by the village are not sufficient enough to provide a true representation of the public's opinion.
"We will continue to collect survey information for consideration with the [multi sport facility] expansion project," he said, adding that he is unsure at this point if the biomass system will eventually incorporate the curling rink
"That will be determined as the detailed [expansion project] design is completed," he added.
