CHAR Tech Provides Lake Nipigon and Saint Félicien Project Updates

TORONTO, Jan. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CHAR Technologies (“CHAR Tech” or the “Company”) (TSXV:YES), a leader in sustainable energy solutions, is pleased to provide project updates for the Lake Nipigon and Saint-Félicien renewable energy facilities.

For an early look at both project sites and existing infrastructure, refer to CHAR Tech’s monthly newsletter.

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Lake Nipigon Forest Renewable Energy Facility

The Lake Nipigon project, CHAR Tech’s second build own operate renewable energy facility, north of Thunder Bay, Ontario, is being developed as an Indigenous partnership with Lake Nipigon Forest Management Inc. (LNFMI), the Sustainable Forest License (SFL) holder to the Lake Nipigon Forest. This partnership secures CHAR Tech’s feedstock supply.

Over the past year, the project site has undergone significant advancements. In December 2023, the site was a greenfield location, as captured in a photo taken at the time for the CHAR Tech facility construction to commence in 2025.

In 2024, CHAR Tech completed the engineering package to support wood waste to biocarbon production and are pleased to share that the Company is targeting commercial biocarbon production in late 2025. Construction and in-service dates are dependent on timing and severity of the Northern Ontario winter seasons.

Once the facility is commercially producing biocarbon, CHAR Tech will work towards the next phase of the project, Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) production.

Saint-Félicien Renewable Energy Facility

Last month CHAR Tech was pleased to share that the Government of Québec, through the Programme Innovation Bois, announced the approval of $2.5M to CHAR Tech to support the advancement of the Saint-Félicien build, own, operate project to convert wood wastes and residuals into both biocarbon for metallurgical coal replacement, as well as green hydrogen, which the project intends to upgrade further into renewable natural gas. 

The Saint-Félicien project is uniquely positioned at an industrial cogeneration facility site, la Société de cogénération de Saint-Félicien (“SCSF”), providing a strategic advantage with all major utilities already available to support the CHAR Tech facility.

SCSF (owned by Green Leaf Power) operates a 25 MW cogeneration facility, converting approximately 260,000 green metric tonnes per year of wood waste biomass into renewable energy, with the electricity sold to Hydro-Québec, and steam for additional industrial uses locally. The SCSF partnership secures the long-term wood waste feedstock supply while providing existing infrastructure to ensure the project’s operational readiness.

Through 2025 CHAR Tech will continue advancing the detailed engineering while working in parallel to secure the financing package required to support the end-to-end project deployment. The goal remains to begin construction in 2025, paving the way for operations to commence in 2026.

About CHAR Tech

CHAR Tech (TSXV:YES) first-in-kind high temperature pyrolysis (HTP) technology processes unmerchantable wood and organic wastes to simultaneously generate two renewable energy revenue streams, renewable natural gas (RNG) or green hydrogen and a solid biocarbon that is a carbon neutral drop-in replacement for metallurgical steel making coal.

CHAR’s HTP is an ideal waste to energy solution that aligns with the global green energy transition by diverting waste from landfills and generating sustainable clean energy to decarbonize heavy industry.