Tignish Iniatives Corporation tours a containerized system destined for the provincial government garage at Slemon Park.

Representatives of the Tignish Initiatives Corporation have expressed interest in the Pellagri Energy system to help their community develop a green energy system.  Mandated by the community to look at green energy as a result of a strategic planning session, Tignish Initiatives Corporation representatives were impressed by the burner technology and the fact that the fuel is produced locally and is annually renewable.

Thursday the committee toured Pellagri’s pellet plant in Hartsville and the installation at the Garden Gate Inn in Charlottetown.  With other structures close to the Inn, the committee was pleased to see that there were very little emissions from the system.  Tignish Initiatives Corporation is hoping to have the installation of a community green energy system using the Pellagri Energy agricultural pellet burner funded under the Canada Infrastructure Program.

Touring the pellet plant and bagging line

Discussing option for processing and drying of different feedstocks for fuel

Viewing Pellagri's unique burner system that can accommodate high ash content pellet fuel

May 21, 2009 - Randy Angus, Director of Integrated Resource Management for the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI (MCPEI)  toured Pellagri Energy’s operations on Thursday.  Like most communities, a growing expense in First nation’s communities is being created from heating costs that are rising as global oil prices creep back up.  Being more self sufficient while reducing costs and reducing green house gas emissions is a strong motivation for the group.

MCPEI brings together the First Nations Bands of Abegweit and Lennox Island.  Both Band Councils provide services to their communities and costs savings on heating buildings will allow the Band to expend resources on other important socio-economic issues.

CanBio tour of the pelletizer and bagging line.

On Wednesday, March 11th, a group of over 40 individuals from the Canadian Bioenergy Association’s (CanBio) Maritime Bioenergy Working Group toured the Pellagri Energy’s pellet plant in Hartsville, PEI. As one of four Island stops for the two-day workshop, the Pellagri plant provided industry people the chance to view a working pellet plant and view the innovative burner developed by Pellagri Energy.

The plant’s current capacity is 1MT/hr but is expandable to accommodate the expected demand for pellets.  Particpants on the tour envision several plants such as this one around the region.  The development of the Pellagri Energy burner and the commencement of the pellet plant are both seen as important developments in the bioenergy industry for both PEI and Canada

More photos of the tour.

• Building Canada Fund
• Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund
• Gas Tax Fund
• Infrastructure Canada Fund

With an already good return on investment for Pellagri Energy’s products, financial assistance programming such as infrastructure support makes good financial and environmental sense.

Jim Cumming, owner of the Garden Gate Inn, stands next to his new Pellagri pellet burner

Jim Cumming is excited about his new purchase of a Pellagri pellet burner for his business, the Garden Gate Inn in Charlottetown, PEI. The owner of this 19 unit, 2.5 star Inn was faced with increasing heating costs with the rise in oil prices in 2008. As a facility open year round and directed at the economy conscious traveller, Jim needed to keep his costs in check. Using fuel oil to heat his facility and the domestic hot water was becoming too great a cost.

Examining alternatives, Jim first thought of pellet furnaces since the technology has been around for decades. He was excited to learn about Pellagri Energy who not only produces and supplies pellets from locally grown straw, but also manufactures and installs the burner systems. The new heating system for the Garden Gate Inn is expected to be operational later this month.