If there was anybody in the Musquodoboit Valley who had not heard about Viridis Energy Inc. of Vancouver, that changed Friday when the company revealed an aggressive reopening schedule for the boarded-up former Enligna Canada Inc. wood pellet plant.
“We fully expect to return the plant to full operating capacity in April through June of this year,” CFO Michele Rebiere said in an interview.
The company will move very quickly as long as approval of the acquisition is obtained from the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, she said. That approval is expected before the end of January.
“We’ll begin hiring as soon as the necessary approvals are in order,” said Rebiere. “We will bring in some people from our existing pellet production facility for their expertise, but will be looking to talk to all former employees of the pellet plant.”
About 60 people worked at the firm until Enligna Canada was placed in receivership in August.
Rebiere said she would not discuss details of the acquisition until it is approved by the courts. The approval process advanced Thursday with acceptance of the Viridis Energy bid by the receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.
“We were in an acquisition mode and we were watching closely what was happening with the Enligna plant,” she said. “Going into production there gives us terrific access to Europe where demand is especially strong.”
Some initial talks with potential customers in Europe and potential providers of raw material in Nova Scotia were part of the company’s preparations to enter a bid of the facility, Rebiere said.
“The original business model is sound, but there were uncontrollable economic developments in Europe that created problems for the previous owner,” she said.
Some of the biggest customers will be electric utilities in Europe, which rely extensively on wood pellets as an energy source.
“We’ll be talking to the Port of Halifax and also local trucking operations with a view towards moving product as soon as possible,” Rebiere said.
The Middle Musquodoboit plant includes a number of buildings, including five pellet presses with the capacity to produce 110,000 tonnes annually.
Viridis Energy operates a pellet production plant in Kelowna, B.C. The company also has offices in Toronto. It is a publicly traded company with annual sales in the range of between $13 and $15 million and a current staff of about 30.
Chief executive officer Christopher Robertson is very passionate about the industry in general and the acquisition of the Nova Scotia plant in particular.
“This acquisition is about furthering our vision to help industry achieve their goals in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he said via email.
“We are passionate about the biomass revolution and we look forward to working in the Maritimes and connecting with our European business.”
(bpower@herald.ca)