WPAC 2025 Annual Conference Presentations

WPAC’s 2025 Conference Biomass for a Low-Carbon Future was held September 22-23 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. See below for presentations from the event.

Opening Remarks

WPAC Year in Review 2024-25, Vaughan Bassett, WPAC President and Senior Vice President, Biomass Sales and Logistics, Drax Group

Advancing Safety Together, Julie Griffiths, Chair, WPAC Safety Committee and Quality, Sustainability & Environmental Program Coordinator, Shaw Renewables

Panel Session: Inside the Smoulder—How to Detect, Prevent, and Survive Self-Heating in Biomass Storage

Introductory Remarks, William Strauss, President, FutureMetrics

Bioheat Opportunities for Canada

Atlantic Canada, Jonathan Levesque, General Manager, Biomass Solution Biomasse

Northern Canada, Mark Heyck, Executive Director, Arctic Energy Alliance

Canada, Jean Blair, Director, Planning and Outreach, TorchLight Bioresources

Sweden, Gustav Melin, Chaiman, World Thermal Services

Upper Austria, Christiane Egger, Deputy Manager, OÖ Energiesparverband

Keynote

Local Energy: The Foundation for Economic Success and Export Growth, Jamie Stephen, Managing Director, TorchLight Bioresources

One on One: Powering the Net-Negative Transition—BECCS in Action

Ørsted’s Carbon Capture and Storage Business, Søren Alsing, Director Bioenergy, Head of Fuel, Ørsted

Panel Session: Decarbonizing Industry

Taaleri Biocoal Canada Development Ltd, Juha Hyvärinen, Managing Director

NB Power, Brad Coady, Vice President, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships

Market and Policy Update: Navigating Regulatory Change

FutureMetrics, William Strauss, President

Hawkins Wright, Fiona Matthews, Bioenergy Director

Argus Biomass, Marta Imarisio, Senior Reporter

Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Pierre-Jonathan Teasdale, Director of Trade and International Affairs Division

Fuelling the Future: Decarbonizing Transportation with Bioenergy Innovations

NYK Bulkship (Atlantic) NV, Cate Moran, Senior Chartering Manager

CN, François Bélanger, Sr. Director Sustainability

Canadian Council for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (C-SAF), Juliana Lisi, Sustainability and SAF Manager

Queen’s University, Warren Mabee, Director, Queen’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy