BEP Engineering and ecoTECH Energy Group Partner Up On McBride Biomass Facility

www.forestindustry.com ForestWire Media Release

For Immediate Release
Nov. 28, 2011

BEP Engineering and ecoTECH Energy Group Partner Up On McBride Biomass Facility

New eco-industrial park in McBride, British Columbia, will comprise of greenhouses and on-land aquaculture

Earlier this year, the Provincial Government of British Columbia and the town of McBride approved a two-phase biomass project for the Mount Robson Valley area. The new facilities will provide more dependable electricity for residents, as well as produce organic, indoor land-based food, fish aquaculture, and silviculture.

During phase one of the project scheduled to commence in 2012, a stand-alone 5 MW combined heat and power plant will also be built to provide energy for the facility.

Surrey-based BEP PowerTech Corp. is engineering the project, alongside the property owners and project developers, ecoTECH Energy Group, a development-stage renewable energy company specializing in the development and operations of thermal electricity supply from zero-carbon-footprint power stations.

The overall goal of the new McBride industrial park is to provide regional supermarkets with fresh product, fresh plus frozen-when-fresh-fish, and a route to help provide healthy, uncontaminated food in an ever-threatened world environment. Facilities will be sized to suit each client, and further customization of the level of production will also be provided, such as:

• Proven production systems customized for product types and volumes per supermarket needs;
• Production facilities, at planning stage now, will be built to suit optimum output;
• Salad and vegetables types per client specifications;
• Fish species grown to suit client market demand;
• Flexible cultivation with ultra-filtration and natural nutrient blends;
• Technology licensed from a Canadian-owned, worldwide successful design/operator with 18 successful facilities.

Both BEP and ecoTECH are excited about what this means for the area and suspect it’s likely more of these projects will sprout up in other small towns later down the road.

“We look forward to being involved in this much-anticipated project and in seeing the benefit to the local community at its completion,” says Bernie Pahlke, President and Owner of BEP Powertech Corp.

“McBride lost its major forest products employers in the past few years and has been disadvantaged to attract industries due to insufficient and unstable power supplies,” says Terry Ferguson, executive vice-president of business development, ecoTECH Energy Group.

“The ecoTECH project will provide enough electricity for a 20 km ‘energy island’ along BC Route 16 (The Yellowhead Highway) and will enable the planned hydroponic horticulture and aquaculture business of a new eco-industrial park.”

Because ecoTECH Energy Group strives to manufacture biomass-fuelled power stations that produce renewable and sustainable energy products, phase two of the project is a 24 - 60 megawatt biomass power plant that will use wood waste from local forestry operations as the sustainable clean, zero-carbon-footprint fuel.

Combining the power generated from burning wood waste with the services of BC Hydro will help solve some of the electricity problems that are typical in serving the Mount Robson Valley area of BC. In addition, residents will also enjoy more fresh produce year-round.

It’s a large undertaking, but BEP Powertech Corp. and ecoTECH Energy Group are certainly prepared for this unique contribution to the province.

For more information, visit www.ecotechenergygroup.com and www.bepengineering.com.

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