Low Carbon Economy

Bioenergy Research and Development Facility

Project Lead: Neil Thomson

UBC in partnership with Nexterra Systems Corp, Jenbacher Ltd. (a subsidiary of GE Energy) and with support from FPInnovations is developing a world-class $36MM, 2MWe (gross) renewable combined heat and power (CHP) demonstration project at UBC’s Point Grey Vancouver campus as part of the Living Lab initiative. The Facility will use biomass gasification to produce a synthesis gas or syngas that will be conditioned and cleaned using Nexterra’s proprietary cleaning/ conditioning system. The clean syngas will then be burned in a high efficiency internal combustion engine to generate combined heat and power. The Facility is expected to offset over 5,500 tonnes of UBC’s GHG emissions annually. Heat and power generated by the BRDF will be distributed via the campus steam and electric power grid and used to heat and power University facilities.

Sauder S3i will be writing a Case Study or narrative report that will succinctly provide an overview of the innovative technology, evaluate how well the Facility is performing in relation to the business case that was developed for it from the outset, identify the key factors that need to be considered if the technology is adopted elsewhere, and make recommendations on how suitable the technology is for further application. While the Case Study will be a stand-alone document, it will also be structured and written so that it can be used to substantially complete reports required by the funding bodies Natural Resource Canada (NRCan), Western Economic Diversification (WED), and the Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund.