Pinnacle, Tolko starts up High Level pellet plant

Canadian wood pellet producer Pinnacle Renewable Energy and Canadian forest products firm Tolko Industries have started pellet production at the partnership's 200,000 t/yr High Level plant in Alberta.

Pinnacle and Tolko will each own a 50pc stake in the facility. The firms also jointly own the 250,000 t/yr Lavington plant in British Columbia, situated at Tolko's Lavington sawmill.

The High Level facility is expected to ramp up and reach full capacity in 2021, with wood fibre feedstock set to be primarily sourced from Tolko's sawmill in High Level.

The pellets produced will be sold through Pinnacle's backlog of long-term offtake contracts. Pinnacle has at least 11 long-term offtake agreements with Japanese buyers and at least three with South Korean consumers, with various start dates, for a combined 1.68mn t/yr of wood pellets.

"The commissioning of this mill along with our project at Demopolis, Alabama, which is scheduled for completion in [the second quarter] of 2021, will increase Pinnacle's overall production capacity by almost 25pc to 2.8mn t/yr and increase the portion located in jurisdictions outside of British Columbia to approximately 44pc," Pinnacle chief executive Duncan Davies said.

Pinnacle sold record volumes of pellets in the third quarter this year, bolstered by investments in plant upgrades and improving fibre supply.

By Jamie Aldridge