The University of British Columbia
IN-3: Innovation 3

UBC’s Bioenergy Research & Demonstration Project, currently under construction and scheduled to open in March 2012, is the first commercial-scale demonstration of its kind in North America. The $27 million project will combine Nexterra's biomass gassification technology with GE/Jenbacher's high efficiency gas engine to convert renewable woody biomass (waste wood) into heat and power on campus. It will be a focal project for sustainability research, teaching and learning, and operational activities. The biomass plant will generate enough clean electricity to power 1,500 homes, reduce UBC's natural gas consumption by 12 percent, and eliminate up to 4,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year - equivalent to taking 1,100 cars off the road. It will produce two megawatts of clean, cost-effective electricity, which will supply up to six percent of the campus's average electrical demand in co-generation mode and up to 25 percent of the campus's base requirement for steam in thermal mode. This unique, innovative research and teaching platform will yield valuable new knowledge in the clean energy sector and will inform new global standards for the performance of bioenergy systems.