Tignish residents warm up to new project

Residents in Tignish recently got a peek at the community’s new district heating project.

They were treated to a tour of the heating system, which is under construction, that will use a hot water boiler fueled by wood chips, along with underground piping, valves, heat exchangers and energy meters to generate and deliver heat for 10 commercial buildings in the Tignish core.

The project will include a new boiler house near the rear of the Heritage Inn and an underground hot water piping network coupled together with a state-of-the-art control system.

The project will cost an estimated $1.1 million with the federal and provincial government each contributing up to $752,540 each through the Small Communities Fund.

The remainder of the cost will be provided by Tignish Initiatives Corporation (TIC). TIC will finance one-third of the capital cost and will own and operate the facility.

The general contractor, Wood4Heating Canada, is responsible for construction and commissioning of the system under the direction of Bay Winds Consulting, the project manager.

The system will utilize European and Canadian technology to heat water in a central plant with locally sourced wood chips which will heat local commercial buildings.

About 500 tonnes of locally harvested wood chips will replace 200,000 litres of furnace oil each heating season.

This project is the first of its kind in P.E.I., reducing the region’s carbon footprint by using locally sourced renewable energy instead of oil.