KELOWNA – Metal Structure Concepts (MSC), a Kelowna-based construction company that specializes in pre-engineered and structural steel buildings, has just started what it is calling a flagship project for Canada’s longest-running and largest manufacturer of wood pellets.
Owned and operated by Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc., the new steel building is being supplied and installed 100 kilometres west of Edmonton in Entwistle, AB. Once completed, the building will be the first wood pellet plant owned by Pinnacle to be built outside of British Columbia.
It will also be the company’s largest manufacturing plant to date. Once completed, the $85 million project is expected to add another 475,000 tonnes annually to the company’s existing output and will employ approximately 70 local residents.
Preparation on the facility began May 1 with operations expected to start in early 2018. The large pre-fabricated building is being built in four-to-five parts and includes interior columns to support cranes and other equipment.
Pinnacle Renewable Energy’s Entwistle project is one of a number of pre-engineered steel building projects MSC has conducted in the forest industry sector around Western Canada. The company has already installed sawmills in Burns Lake (Babine Forest Products) and Barriere, BC (Gilbert Smith Forest Products).
Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. currently runs seven pellet plants in BC and produces 1.5 million tonnes of pellets annually, employing more than 250 people overall. The Richmond, BC-based company manufactures high-heat, low-ash wood pellet products from timber waste byproducts.
Pinnacle makes a wide range of wood pellet products such as softwood pellet fuel, animal bedding and natural sorbent. Most of its production is for the bulk domestic and overseas markets.
The company’s expansion into Alberta is a natural progression as demand for clean-burning fuel continues to grow.
Besides an increase in steel buildings serving the forestry industry, MSC has also seen an increase in the demand for pre-engineered buildings in other commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors.
The company’s recently completed projects include a leachate treatment plant for the Comox Valley Regional District on Vancouver Island, a mini storage and warehouse business in Nelson, BC, a crop seed operation in Fairview, AB, as well as a precast concrete plant in Lloydminster, SK.