A BUSINESS ANALYSIS OF BC'S WOOD PELLET OPPORTUNITIES

摘要

Wood pellets are an ecologically friendly and transportable fuel produced from wood residues densification. The European wood pellet market has been growing rapidly since the 1990s, especially in Sweden. Recent years, Canada's British Columbia (BC) has become a major wood pellet production and export region in the world due to the abundant forest resources and its unique location, which allow the access of low cost wood residues and the ocean passage to Europe. This study systematically examined the current wood pellet market and the future world market growth, potential wood pellet resources in BC and the cost of wood pellets for producers and exporters at BC, as well as the competitiveness of BC's wood pellets in the European wood pellets market and the North American energy market. The results showed that BC's wood pellets hold an extremely promising future, and British Columbia can potentially become the largest wood pellet production center in the world, supported by the unused wood residue surplus and the mountain pine beetle (MPB) infested trees. Key barriers, which need to be overcome in the future, are reduction of production and transportation costs via technology advancement to improve process efficiency and product quality such as energy density and water-resistivity, as well as support from government policies in promoting the domestic use of wood pellets.