Summerside's new wood chip furnace will heat hospital, manor

Energy Minister Paula Biggar said a contract has been awarded to a private developer for the project

Image | P.E.I. Transporatation Minister Paula Biggar

Caption: Energy Minister Paul Biggar said the province's biomass heating plants displace over three million litres of oil in total. (Krystalle Ramlakhan/CBC)

A new wood chip furnace in Summerside will provide heat for Prince County Hospital and Somerset Manor, displacing nearly 500,000 litres of fuel oil every year, according Energy Minister Paula Biggar.
Biggar said a contract has been awarded to a private developer to build and finance the project, the 20th biomass heating plant on the Island since the provincial government began converting public buildings back in 2012.
"It also reduces our emissions here on Prince Edward Island, but this is going to displace over three million litres of oil use in total with all of our biomass plants, and about nine thousand tonnes as part of our greenhouse gas reductions," said Biggar.
The government says the new wood chip furnace in Summerside will be in operation later this year and another biomass furnace is scheduled to begin operation at Morell High School.