City of Regina, Saskatchewan
The City of Regina, Saskatchewan BDO Zone for Wheat Straw is rated ‘A’.
Rating Issue Date: July 22, 2022.
'A' ratings denote high prospective viability of Feedstock Supply and Infrastructure and low expectations of default risk in the Zone. Capacity to support new biobased plant operations is considered strong.
City of Regina, SK holds an investment-grade BDO Zone ‘A’ Rating for Wheat straw. Issued in Jul 2022, the rating certifies approximately 1,000,000 gt/yr of reliable, low-risk biomass feedstock available within a 110-km driving distance from the center point (City of Regina, SK).
A ‘A’ rating is an investment grade rating, signalling a reliable, low-risk feedstock supply. It signals to developers, lenders, and investors that City of Regina, SK’s feedstock supply has undergone rigorous, standardized due diligence across 100+ risk indicators, the same framework applied to every BDO Zone across North America.
Every BDO Zone Rating assesses a region across three dimensions, mapped as expanding radii around a candidate site.
- Feedstock surplus: Data indicating at least 50,000 tonnes per year of excess feedstock available to support typical intake of new biofuels manufacturing plants.
- Supply chain strength: Evidence supporting long-term commitment to supply both quantity and quality by local farmers, forestry companies, food waste generators, haulers and municipalities.
- Sound infrastructure: Suitable transportation, logistic, operating and supporting infrastructure to meet the requirements for new facility operations.
Assets & liabilities
- Stable long-term outlook on feedstock price and quantity: low impact of seasonal variation on feedstock price and quantity.
- Marginal increase in transport cost for substantial wheat straw supply basin.
- Large Biomass Availability Multiple (BAM) and a good grower participation rate is available within 150 km.
- Relatively large average farm size requires the engagement of fewer growers.
- No large-scale competition for wheat straw.
- Positively rated infrastructure asset profile.
- Moderate to high probability of necessity to engage third parties to provide square balers for harvest.
- Current high wheat costs may serve to lessen grower interest in supplying wheat straw.
- Currently 20% of large growers have expressed interest. It is likely there will be greater interest once a biomass plant is commissioned and supply chain gets secured.
Infrastructure & sites
- Inland port facility with just over 1,800 acres
- Industrial building sites available that are service-ready and have full utilities
- Designed to accept freight by truck and train
- Products can be quickly shipped to domestic locations and the United States
- Efficient rail connections with deep-water shipping ports, such as Vancouver to the west and Montreal to the east
- State of a art container and intermodal terminal facility served by CN Rail
- Opening in the fall of 2018
- Over 7000 TEU of container storage and apron space
- Connectivity to the Trans Canada Highway 1, Highways 33, 6 and 11
- Ideal location for businesses in warehousing and logistics, trucking, manufacturing and value added agricultural processing
Local grants & incentives
- Saskatchewan: 10% tax credit for research and development
- Saskatchewan: 6.8% refundable investment tax credit for manufacturing and processing equipment
- Saskatchewan Commercial Innovation Incentive (SCII): six per cent corporate income tax reduction for 10-15 years
- Saskatchewan Value-Added Agriculture Incentive (SVAI): 15 per cent non-refundable tax credit for $10M+ investment
- Saskatchewan Technology Start-up Incentive (STSI): 45 per cent non-refundable tax credit for equity investments
- Canada Digital Adoption Program: micro-grant of up to $2,400
Contacts
