The Yukon has a long history of using wood as a source of energy. Today, many Yukoners heat their homes with woodstoves. This is especially true in communities where sustainably harvested wood is readily accessible.
Wood is what's called a biomass fuel. Biomass is organic matter that we can use as renewable fuel. Biomass heat is a clean, renewable energy source to reduce our fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Since 2019, we've hosted a series of engagement workshops with local biomass representatives. We did this to help inform the implementation of renewable heating systems in public infrastructure. The main findings from these workshops were that the industry is looking:
- to work with the government to increase the use of biomass in the territory;
- for the government to take action on biomass projects; and
- for the government to be flexible in their approach toward biomass.
Based on this feedback, we’re exploring alternative business models to:
- work closely with the industry; and
- make biomass successful in the Yukon.
The business model we've decided to use is the innovative build-operate-maintain model that:
- maximizes greenhouse gas reduction by rewarding efficient operations; and
- offers local industry more opportunities to both support and service public infrastructure.
This, in turn, creates local economic benefits. We hope this model proves successful in building the Yukon’s local biomass industry capacity.
Using biomass at Elijah Smith Elementary School in Whitehorse
We’ve applied the build-operate-maintain business model for the biomass system at Elijah Smith Elementary School in Whitehorse. Using this model, we awarded 2 contracts to the same contractor for both the:
- design and construction of the biomass system; and
- the operations and maintenance (O and M) of the system.
The O and M contract structure encourages efficient system operations using the wood fuel best suited for the equipment. Because of this structure, we pay the contractor based on the amount of heat the system delivers to the building rather than the amount of fuel they deliver to run the system.
Biomass system construction at Elijah Smith Elementary School began during summer 2022. We expect the system to be completed this winter. We’ll monitor the new system to:
- see how it meets our expectations; and
- learn from our experience so we can improve our future projects.
The bigger picture
This project is related to the following action in Our Clean Future:
H17
Install renewable heat sources such as biomass energy in Government of Yukon buildings by 2030 to create long-term demand for renewable heating and contribute to a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.