Imagine a giant pellet stove that’s 16 times larger than your neighbour’s wood stove.

That’s one simplified way of looking at the Lillooet REC Centre’s new Community Biomass Energy Project. The new biomass unit is also a modern, highly efficient pellet-burning furnace with features such as its own pollution-control technologies and internal fire suppression system.

The biomass unit will be located outside the library office, overlooking the REC Centre parking lot. It’s expected to be in operation by January/February 2011.

The new unit was purchased with $467,000 in funding from the Union of BC Municipalities Innovation fund and gas tax rebate fund. Up to an additional $147,000 in funding will be utilized from the REC Centre’s reserve fund to modernize the centre’s boiler room to accommodate the new biomass system.

Not only will the unit replace the inefficient and oversized propane boilers, its installation will also improve worker safety, remove the remaining asbestos in the REC Centre, link the secondary boiler with the biomass unit to provide backup heating and replace other inefficiencies within the centre, saving taxpayers thousands of dollars every year.

The system will be used to heat the swimming pool, pool space, the main core, arena change rooms, the gym, amenities room, weight room, office, library, hot tub and changing rooms.

Director of Recreation Duane Lawrence says the anticipated cost recovery for the project, including the rebuild of the boiler room, is anticipated at 2.5 to four years. “In any large scale project, if the cost recovery is under 10 years, you just do it. Here we’re looking at a much shorter cost recovery period.”

The REC Centre currently uses propane for its operations, paying anywhere from $65,000 to $90,000 annually. Those costs are projected to rise in the future. Using the new biomass unit, those costs could be reduced to as low as $30,000 annually, depending on factors such as yearly weather conditions. Lawrence says the savings can then be accumulated in a reserve fund to give the REC Centre more funding leverage for future grant applications to upgrade the facility, purchase new equipment, or open the pool for a longer period.

“What this does is give us more options for the future, while using a renewable, sustainable source of energy,” he said.

Compared to a modern cord wood stove, which is rated at approximately 60 per cent efficiency, and high efficiency pellet stoves, rated at 80 per cent efficiency, biomass plants can reach upwards of 90 to 93 per cent efficiency. The District says, “The proposed system will produce more heat and fewer emissions per ton of biomass, providing Lillooet with a clean and economical source of energy.”

Any time a fuel source is burned, there are emissions. “We will have emissions, absolutely we will,” says Lawrence, listing off carbon oxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulates.

As per Ministry of Environment regulations, the District is currently involved in a public notification process, which provides an opportunity for members of the public and agencies such as Interior Health to submit comments and questions about the emissions. The notifications have appeared in the Lillooet News and the BC Gazette.

After that process is complete, the District will still have to apply for a permit to operate the biomass system.

Lawrence says the Ministry of Environment has done an internal evaluation of the proposed system and has determined the projected emission levels are “well below” the standards set by BC’s environmental regulations. He added, “Interior Health and the Ministry of the Environment would not approve a permit for any project that had the possibility of increasing health problems in the community.”

The biomass system has been deliberately designed with propane back up, allowing the District to turn off the plant in situations where the air quality is threatened, such as the 2009 forest fires, and Interior Health deems it necessary.

Lillooet is one of several BC communities adopting biomass solutions. The City of Revelstoke provides heat to all of its public buildings and some residential complexes with biomass. It’s also used to heat education buildings at the University of Northern BC in Prince George and elementary and secondary schools in Nakusp and Nazko.