Welcome to the Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s Fall 2025 newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading it, and we look forward to your feedback.
THE HEADLINES
In New Brunswick, NB Power’s plan to convert the Belledune coal-fired electric power station to black pellets presents an exciting opportunity for Canada. One that could strengthen the economics of the Canadian lumber sector, ensure better use of existing harvests and support rural communities across Atlantic Canada, while ensuring the power station complies with Canada’s 2030 coal phase-out regulation.
With the right federal support, all of Belledune’s fuel supply can come from within Canada—specifically, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario. This is “buy Canadian” in practice: Canadian fibre turned into Canadian pellets for Canadian electricity.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, will host a premier in-person event for Canada’s bioenergy sector from January 26 to 28, 2026—the Arctic Bioenergy Summit and Tour. Organized by the Arctic Energy Alliance (AEA) and the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC), and sponsored by the Government of Northwest Territories (GNWT), with media sponsor Canadian Biomass. This event is in lieu of the 2026 edition of the online Northwest Territories Biomass Week, traditionally held the last week of January, which attracts upwards of 300 participants each year.
Heating with biomass often saves money compared to using fossil fuels and has a much lower carbon footprint. Biomass heating is also a major part of the GNWT’s 2030 Energy Strategy to reduce the Northwest Territories’ carbon emissions.
The event, which profiles Sustainable Bioenergy for Northern Communities: Reliable. Affordable. Local., kicks off with a full-day tour of civic buildings, schools, and community centres across Yellowknife, each demonstrating biomass heating systems in action. This day offers a look at how bioenergy is reducing reliance on fossil fuels in northern climates.
Following the tour is a two-day Summit filled with informative presentations by speakers from the Northwest Territories, across the rest of Canada, and as far away as Alaska and Finland. Day 1 sets the stage by exploring the bioenergy landscape in Canada’s North, with a focus on supply chain challenges and opportunities. Domestic and international leaders will share their experiences, highlighting successes and lessons learned in adopting bioenergy solutions.
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) was proud to participate in the November trade mission to Japan alongside Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks, Todd Loewen and British Columbia Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar. This mission was important for strengthening relationships with Japanese energy partners and showcasing Canada’s role as a trusted supplier of renewable biomass energy.
During the mission, WPAC held our annual customer dinner and took the Alberta Minister and his team on a tour of a power plant to demonstrate how Canadian wood pellets are used by our customers in market.
Misleading claims about Canada’s wood pellet industry have surfaced again in international media—repeating long-debunked myths about using “whole trees” or “old-growth forests,” including attention-grabbing claims about “250-year-old trees.” These portrayals ignore the broader context of Canadian forest management and misrepresent how Canada’s pellet industry works within an integrated forest sector.
The reality is that over 90 percent of Canada’s forests are publicly owned, meaning that governments—not companies—set harvest levels, regeneration requirements, and biodiversity protections, including those related to old-growth forests. This public governance framework has created one of the world’s most comprehensive systems of forest regulation. A 2020 peer-reviewed study from the University of British Columbia found that Canada has some of the most stringent forest management laws and policies globally, spanning national, provincial and local levels.
Regeneration is central to Canada’s approach to sustainable forest management, and it’s especially critical in landscapes affected by wildfire. In recent years, British Columbia has faced fire seasons of unprecedented scale, leaving behind vast areas of dead and damaged timber that threaten both regenerating seedlings and long-term forest resilience. In the province’s central interior, Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR)—an Indigenous-owned company focused on forest rehabilitation and enhanced fibre utilization—is showing how responsible salvage can turn these challenging landscapes into healthier forests and renewable energy opportunities.
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada acknowledges the release of the BC Timber Sales (BCTS) Task Force report and the government’s commitment to strengthening fibre access across the province.
British Columbia’s forest sector is facing a crisis on many fronts, and central to that crisis is the severe challenge of accessing enough fibre to keep mills operating. For the pellet sector, this issue is especially acute: our industry relies on sawmill residuals, and when sawmills struggle, so do we. Stable and predictable fibre supply is the foundation for a healthy, resilient and diversified forest sector.
While we welcome the report’s recognition of the need for improved fibre access, we remain concerned that the proposed fibre targets may not be ambitious enough to match the urgency of the situation. Without timely and effective action to improve access and accountability, the whole value chain—including pellets—will remain at risk.
WPAC stands ready to work collaboratively with government, industry partners, and First Nations to ensure that reforms to BCTS deliver real improvements in fibre flow. Strengthening fibre security is essential not just for sawmills and contractors, but for the pellet industry’s ability to contribute to jobs, climate solutions, and the future of BC’s forest economy.
We are pleased to welcome the following new Category B members:
Lumberscan offers a cutting-edge technology to optimize raw material inventory management for the wood industry. Their self-service AI platform can transform the inventory process for raw materials like wood pellets, timber, wood chips and shavings. Lumberscan empowers clients to gain real-time, transparent and self-managed control over raw material stock, significantly improving efficiency, financial tracking and production planning. This ensures 100 percent production uptime and 100 percent workplace safety.
Contact: Derek Deveau, Head of Sales North America
email: derek.deveau@lumberscan.com
Fetch Enterprises provides business development strategies to global companies in the energy industry.
Contact: Hugh Young, Founder & President
email: hughjyoung@gmail.com
Over 160 people attended WPAC’s 2025 Conference Biomass for a Low-Carbon Future in Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 22-23.
Read post-event articles:
- WPAC 2025 Conference Discusses Bioheat Opportunities in Halifax
- WPAC Conference Offers Wood Pellet Market and Policy Updates
View the presentations:
Across global markets, bioenergy customers and regulators recognize circular economy principles—such as the cascading use of wood—as essential to achieving climate goals. Cascading means using wood in the smartest order: first for long-lived products, then for re-use and recycling and only at the end for energy. This principle is central to Canada’s approach to forestry and the wood pellet sector, guiding how resources are managed from forest to final product. It also aligns with the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII), which requires cascading use and safeguards against market distortions.
Listen to Gordon Murray, Executive Director at the Wood Pellet Association of Canada speak with Argus Senior Reporter Hannah Adler about:
- Canadian pellet production in 2024.
- Recent changes in policies and their implications for Canadian feedstock supply.
- Challenges faced by suppliers and producers in the region.
- New developments within the Canadian biomass industry.
Visit the Argus website to listen
Listen to Gordon Murray, WPAC’s Executive Director, as he speaks with Aspen Dudzic, the Alberta Forest Products Association’s Director of Communication. They discuss the role wood pellets can play in energy security, the bioeconomy, and much more.
SAFETY FIRST FOCUS
Preventing, detecting and managing self-heating events in wood pellet storage is one of the major challenges of the biomass industry. In September, the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC), FutureMetrics and Ørsted collaborated to host a Safe Wood Pellet Storage Workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark, to address these challenges.
The two-day event kicked off with a half-day tour of Ørsted’s Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) installation at the Asnæs combined heat and power (CHP) plant. Attendees received a firsthand look at CHP technology and Ørsted’s approach to carbon capture, setting the stage for the technical discussions that followed.
Around the world, process safety management (PSM) is becoming central to worker safety and managing risk. PSM implementation protects personnel, equipment, and production uptime, and is associated with lower maintenance cost, insurance and capital.
Self-Assessments and Action Plans have been developed for the 16 elements of PSM and are available on the process safety management page.
Join us for our sector’s largest safety summit, as wood pellet producers, operators of biomass power and heating facilities, suppliers and regulators from across Canada meet to discuss evolving trends and regulatory topics.
June 9-10, 2026
Prince George, BC
If you want to be notified when registration is open, please email Fahimeh Yazdan Panah at fahimeh@pellet.org.
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada is proud to announce its latest Safety Hero: Michael Fantillo, Production Supervisor with Premium Pellet in Vanderhoof, British Columbia (a part of Sinclar Group Forest Products). Michael’s notable dedication makes his workplace safer for his coworkers.
Over the past two years, Michael has successfully led his four-shift team to maintain a recordable incident-free workplace. He hosts every monthly safety meeting, ensuring that all employees are fully engaged as active participants in Premium Pellets’ Safety Culture. Michael also organizes annual safety drills, reinforcing preparedness and fostering a safety culture.
Upcoming events
The Arctic Energy Alliance and the Wood Pellet Association of Canada are excited to be hosting the Arctic Bioenergy Summit and Tour—Sustainable Bioenergy for Northern Communities: Reliable. Affordable. Local. in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, January 26-28, 2026.
Sponsored by the Government of Northwest Territories and supported by media sponsor Canadian Biomass, this in-person event replaces the 2026 edition of Northwest Territories Biomass Week, which is traditionally held the last week of January.
Join us for a full-day tour of biomass installations in Yellowknife, followed by a two-day Summit.
The 2026 European Pellet Conference is in Wels, Upper Austria again on February 25, 2026.
Partner News
k’Mip Forestry (Nk’Mip), the forestry division of Osoyoos Indian Band, and Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR), a joint venture of Tŝideldel First Nation, Tl’etinqox Government, and Yunesit’in Government, recently hosted each other on forestry field tours, strengthening relationships, sharing expertise and technical knowledge, plus exploring opportunities to advance Indigenous-led forestry and land stewardship across their respective territories.
Read the Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. and Kn’Mip Forestry News Release
Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR) crews are carrying out important forest tending work, such as thinning and pruning, in the Chilcotin to help reduce wildfire risk and to support the long-term recovery of the land, as the work supports greater biodiversity of plant and tree species, enhances wildlife habitat, and enables healthier trees to grow faster to store more carbon.