Just ask Enrique Reyes, a thirtysomething Spaniard in the middle of a multi-year posting in the hinterlands of British Columbia (BC), where he is site manager at two 40MW biomass-fired power plants currently in the hot phase of construction.

The Fort St James and Merritt plants, 800km apart, are the largest biomass projects Iberdrola has ever taken on, burning sawdust and waste produced by local sawmills, as well as disease-infected or fire-damaged trees.