Fortress Paper Ltd.

An army facility in New York will undergo a conversion from coal-fired power to biomass power as part of a project conceived to help the US Department of Defense meet renewable energy initiatives. Last month ReEnergy Holdings LLC purchased the idled 60MW coal-fired facility at Fort Drum announcing an investment of $34 million to upgrade the plant. The facility has since been renamed ReEnergy Black River and is set to begin its operations in 20...

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver told reporters this week that the federal government may extend innovation programs designed to help the forest industry adjust to the challenges of a changing sector. “There may be a continuation of some programs that currently exist,” he said during a lunchtime speech at Paper Week in Montreal on Wednesday. "We should not underestimate the sector's resilience, the excellence of our forest products an...

Though they’re already one of the world’s leading developers of renewable energies, Scotland is looking to ramp up its alternative energy sectors by turning to bio-energy. Recently, drink manufacturer Diageo announced plans to build a bio-energy plant that will produce green energy from byproducts of malt whisky distilling. Initiatives like this are setting a strong example for other companies in Scotland and around the globe to look for b...

The University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus unveiled a new bio-digester that will produce biomass power for the campus and the community. Funded by a federal program aimed at injecting development, innovation and economic diversification in Southern Ontario, the $2.6 million digester is set to produce 250-kilowatt hours of electricity and has the capacity to produce the same amount of heat energy as well, reported an article published in the...

In an effort to capitalize on renewable energy sources throughout the country, the government of India is preparing a national bio-energy mission. According to a recent article published by the Economic Times, this mission will aim at improving energy efficiency for industries that already use biomass as an energy source, but will also seek to develop projects in various cities that could benefit from biomass power. "Our surplus biomass is ...

A delegation of Canadians traveled to New Delhi, India last week to participate in the 5th Renewable Energy India 2011 Expo. Comprised of representatives from companies involved in the production of renewable energy – including bio-energy - the delegation presented their expertise to representatives of the Government of India as well as Indian companies with the goal of facilitating research and partnership opportunities between both countri...

Representatives from diverse Canadian sectors are joining forces to lobby federal, provincial and municipal governments to develop a national energy strategy focusing on bio-energy. The New Economy Alliance, composed of delegates from the forestry, chemical, agricultural, renewable fuels and biotechnology sectors throughout the country, is trying to get governments to realize the potential of using Canadian resources for an energy strategy. ...

by CHAD WASILENKOFF Push aside dated notions of our global forestry sector as dominated by lumberjacks focused solely on logging trees and processing the wood. Today’s forests are increasingly high-tech with employees skilled in biochemistry, genetics, computer modeling, satellite imagery, and digital processing. Today’s bio-economy is a dynamic global market that mirrors a paradigm shift to products that originate from natural renew...

With a $62 million plan to build a cogeneration plant on site at the Thurso mill, Fortress Paper will be able to produce nearly 25 megawatts of power both for the mill and the Quebec power grid by the end of 2012. While cogeneration plants are dependent on recycling byproducts from the manufacturing process – in Thurso’s case, steam from the pulping process – to produce energy, they also require additional “fuel” from biomass to maxi...