From pollution to power: Canada's first Indigenous-owned bioenergy facility opens

Source: Bonnie Allen| · CBC NEWS · | January 2, 2023

Meadow Lake Tribal Council turns wood waste into heat and power, shuts down old beehive burner

Source: At the MLTC Bioenergy Centre, plant manager Jason Rasmussen eyes a pile of shredded wood waste that's feeding into a biomass-fired power plant. (Bonnie Allen/CBC)

As the temperature dips to -28 C, Paul Opikokew is ready for the unexpected at the newly-built Meadow Lake Tribal Council Bioenergy Centre in northwestern Saskatchewan, now being tested by its first winter in operation.

Opikokew, 44, a process operator, monitors 980 alarms on a computer system that tracks every part of the $100-million facility — from the wood chips coming in from the nearby sawmill to the power going out to roughly 5,000 homes.

"It's something new, something that I'm excited about because it's new technology and good for the environment," Opikokew told CBC News during an interview at the facility located on the outskirts of Meadow Lake, 250 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

Opikokew, who grew up at Canoe Lake Cree Nation, is thrilled that NorSask Forest Products, the largest First Nations-owned sawmill in Canada, is ditching a dirty habit.