A British Columbia clean energy project that will generate enough clean electricity to power 1,500 homes received $11.2 million in government funding.

Being placed at the University of British Columbia campus, the four-story, 1,886-square-meter facility will be the first North American commercial construction using cross laminated timber, a European building system adapted for  lumber and manufacturing facilities.

Cross laminated timber is a renewable, low-carbon replacement for steel or concrete in multi-story residential and commercial buildings, said to be practical for 10 story structures or higher. 

To fuel the generator, the University of British Columbia will buy 5,000 tons of tree chips from Vancouver's municipal operations. Beetle-killed pine and clean wood waste from are sawmills will also be used..

The $27-million UBC Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Project  is a partnership with Vancouver-based Nexterra Systems Corp. and General Electric Co. When it opens in 2012, it will be the first biomass-fueled, heat-and-power generation system of its kind in the world.