BDO ZoneCONNECT Webinar: Sarnia-Lambton, Ontario & Trois-Rivieres, Quebec

BDO ZoneCONNECT Webinar: Sarnia-Lambton, Ontario & Trois-Rivieres, Quebec

On November 21, 2024, Ecostrat Inc. and the BDO Zone Initiative, in collaboration with TheDigest, hosted the BDO ZoneCONNECT webinar, highlighting two investment grade BDO Zone communities in Canada: Sarnia-Lambton, Ontario, rated ‘A’ for Corn Stover, and Trois-Rivières, Québec, rated ‘A’ for Woody Biomass.

The webinar was moderated by Jim Lane, Editor of TheDigest, and featured key insights from Aryn Garswood, Head of the BDO Zone Initiative. Participants included Shauna Carr, Economic Development Officer from the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership; David Berthelot, Director of Innovation et Développement économique Trois-Rivières; and Meaghan Seagrave, Executive Director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC). The webinar underscored the regions’ abundant biomass resources, robust infrastructure, shovel-ready sites and attractive local incentives, positioning these BDO Zones as prime locations for biobased projects seeking a reliable supply of feedstock.

BDO ZoneCONNECT, a joint initiative with The Daily Digest, aims to facilitate connections and stimulate development interest within BDO Zone communities. It serves as a catalyst for networking, sharing new BDO Zone ratings, and attracting a diverse global audience of stakeholders, including investors, bio-based project developers, financiers, and community leaders.

To view the webinar, please click below:

To view the webinar, please click below:

Summary of Presenter Remarks

Meaghan Seagrave, Executive Director, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC):

• “We [Bioindustrial Innovation Canada] are Canada’s National Sustainable Chemistry Accelerator.”
• “We build bioeconomy clusters, including the two you will hear from today [Sarnia and Trois-Rivières].”
• “There is well over 40 million tons of agricultural residues that have no home across Canada.”

Marcin Lewandowski, Project Director, Ecostrat:

• “190,000 dry tons of low risk material [corn stover] is available in Sarnia. This is a conservative number considering we used a 20% farmer participation rate as our assumption. So really, there’s 5 times this number of material out there that could be available.”
• “It’s a positive that there is no large competition for corn stover in the region. However, because of this, the supply chains are not fully developed.”
• “The Trois-Rivières BDO Zone is broken down into 3 different types of woody biomass; forest residues, pulpwood and saw mill residuals.”
• “Trois-Rivières has a strong forest industry, over 30 sawmills, 7 of which produce over 100,000 cubic meters of product a year.”

Shauna Carr, Economic Development Officer, Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership:

• “Sarnia has access to the Atlantic Ocean through the St Lawrence Seaway. Canadian National and CSX are the main rail lines that run through Sarnia Lambton. There is also lots of opportunity to connect into a clean green grid.”
• “Southwestern Ontario is one of the largest agriculture producing areas in the country.”
• “We have brownfield sites that have room for companies interested in Sarnia. This can help you save on your CapEx because you can have infrastructure that is already in the ground.”

David Berthelot, Director, Innovation et Développement économique Trois-Rivières:

• “Trois-Rivières is the birthplace of Canadian industrialization and a biobased pioneer. Trois-Rivières was known as the pulp and paper capital of the world.”
• “We are a very strong intermodal city year round with access to highways, rail and ports. Making us a great place to site your project.”

For more information on the Sarnia-Lambton, ON, BDO Zone, click here, and for their slide deck, click here.

For more information on the Trois-Rivières, QC, BDO Zone, click here, and for their slide deck, click here.

For more information on Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC), click here, and for their slide deck, click here.

Contact Information:

Shauna Carr, BDO Zone Local Development Leader (LDL) and Economic Development Officer, Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership (shauna@sarnialambton.on.ca).

David Berthelot, BDO Zone Local Development Leader (LDL) and Director, Innovation et Développement économique Trois-Rivières (dberthelot@idetr.com).

Meaghan Seagrave, Executive Director, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) (mseagrave@bincanada.ca).

Aryn Garswood, Head of the BDO Zone Initiative (aryn@ecostrat.com).

Originally published at bdozone.org.