Manitoba is considering bumping up the schedule for implementing its biodiesel mandate by one year, which would make it the first province in the country to have one in force.
“We think there’s an opportunity to exceed our stated goal,” said Dan McInnis, Manitoba’s assistant deputy minister of energy and climate change.
The province had previously committed to having a minimum of 20 million litres of biodiesel production by 2010, which represents about two percent of Manitoba’s annual diesel consumption.
But after completing consultations with the industry, it appears that target was too conservative.
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“We’re far enough along the process that we could put in a mandate prior to year end,” said McInnis.
Three small biodiesel projects are under development in Manitoba, one in St. Boniface, one in Arborg and another in Beausejour.
“We’re quite confident that one or more than one will be licensed shortly,” said McInnis.
Bill Ross, executive manager of the Manitoba Canola Growers Association, said the first one out of the gate will likely be the 20 million litre facility in St. Boniface, which would have enough capacity on its own to meet the entire provincial mandate.
“About the only one that could probably be up and running real quick would be Greenway Biodiesel,” he said.
Brian Chorney, president of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, said the inaugural plant would consume about 45,000 tonnes of canola a year. Manitoba farmers produced about 2.6 million tonnes of the crop in 2008.
“It’s a start,” Chorney said.
McInnis said getting fuel suppliers, blenders and distributors prepared for biodiesel production has gone smoother than anticipated because the province has already gone through it once when implementing its eight percent ethanol mandate.
“It is kind of the second time around so you’ve learned from the first time around,” he said.
But contrary to a story published in the Winnipeg Free Press, Manitoba isn’t racing ahead with its mandate in order to beat British Columbia to the punch. B.C. has announced a standard that calls for five percent renewable content in gasoline and diesel by 2010.
“It just makes sense,” said McInnis.
“If the local producers are ready and industry is ready and it’s good for the environment, why wait?”
Chorney understands why provinces want to establish individual mandates, but as a canola grower, the last thing he wants to see is trade barriers that prevent biodiesel from flowing between provinces.
He has heard rumblings that the Manitoba mandate would be specifically for methyl ester. By contrast, the federal mandate calls for two percent “renewable content” in diesel fuel no later than 2012.
The difference between the two is that the federal mandate could be met by hydrocracking technology, while the Manitoba mandate would come exclusively from biodiesel plants.
Both the hydrocracking and biodiesel models could potentially consume canola oil but biodiesel plants could be owned by a group of farmers, while hydrocracking would likely be the domain of oil companies, said Chorney.
