Energy INet and BIOCAP enter strategic agreement to develop biomass strategy

Energy INet and the BIOCAP Canada Foundation are joining forces to develop a Canadian bioenergy strategy and integrate bioenergy into an overall national energy plan. The collaboration is intended to extend the reach of both organizations and ultimately lead to the integration of bioenergy research with more downstream activities such as technology demonstration and deployment.

For Energy INet, working with BIOCAP boosts the sustainable energy component of its mandate, which currently comprises about half of its activities. The other half is focused on bringing innovation to bear on Canada’s various energy resources, from oil and gas to coal and oil sands upgrading.

“This brings together on a national basis the significant leaders in bioenergy … Energy INet views the energy system as integrated and BIOCAP is in the right spot right now because biomass is energy neutral,” says Dr Doug James, director of Energy INet’s alternate renewable energy. “BIOCAP brings a good piece of the bioenergy industry with it. They’re project-oriented with a broad reach, while we are good at process work and bringing diverse groups together.”

The first order of business under last month’s memorandum of understanding will be a challenge dialogue system (CDS) process facilitated by Dr Donald Simpson of London ON-based Innovation Expedition. The CDS process has been used successfully in the areas of technology foresight, conference agenda development and national and provincial centres of excellence.

“The agreement with Energy INet is a wonderful fit. This is ultimately an integration issue and biomass must be part of a larger energy system and strategy in Canada,” says Dr David Layzell, BIOCAP’s CEO and research director. “On the biomass side, we need to get a sense of how big the opportunity is and get a collective vision on that.”

BIOCAP has the advantage of several years of building research alliances between industry and university researchers and has initiated several networks involving researchers from both sectors.

On the other hand, Energy INet has the backing of several powerful energy companies as well as provincial and federal governments and is led by the recently appointed Dr Michael Raymont. “Energy is the one area where Canada can be a global superpower,” he says. “We need to identify the most unproven and risky parts of technology that already exist and de-risk them.”

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