CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Power Wood Holdings Ltd has agreed terms for an investment of up to CA$84M into its development of two advanced black pellet production facilities in Northern Alberta, the company announced today. The Calgary-based biofuel business will receive its finance in multiple amounts from London-based private investment firm Chair Capital Ltd., as it reaches key project milestones towards the completion of each pellet facility to be developed by its subsidiary Power Wood Canada Corp.
INVESTMENT PROJECT
Power Wood is in the pre-construction phase of building its first ‘Peace River’ steam explosion black pellet plant on land near La Crête in Mackenzie County, Alberta. In December (2025), the company agreed a CA$1.1M land deal for installing a rail spur and its second ‘Hay Meadow’ facility on 175 acres close to the town of High Level. It will use Chair Capital’s funding to progress the development of each black pellet production facility towards full operative capacity, as well as to complete the construction of its rail spur for transporting offtake for export.
Each pellet plant will manufacture durable and waterproof, densified steam-treated biofuel pellets from waste stream wildfire-damaged deadwood, diseased trees and forest floor debris removed from ranges in North West Alberta. The facilities will have a combined annual output capacity of 700,000 tons. Power Wood has 10-year, take-or-pay offtake agreements in place with multiple Japanese energy companies that will use its biofuel as an energy-dense, drop-in replacement for coal. Steam-treated black pellets come with a negligible carbon footprint and can be burned in existing thermal power generating stations without material infrastructure modifications.
INVESTMENT STRUCTURE
Chair Capital’s aggregate funding of CA$84M comprises an initial single sum of CA$42M, to be invested in Power Wood’s completion of its La Crête facility and rail spur, and up to a further CA$42M committed in tranches to support the development of Power Wood’s High Level plant. The second and subsequent provisions are sequenced and to be triggered in line with verifiable progress milestones laid out in investment architecture by both companies. As announced also by the venture capital company, the companies have agreed to base the investment on a CA$700M equity value of Power Wood Holdings Ltd, equivalent to CA$4.44 per share. Their agreement is subject to evidence of third party construction financing and completion of definitive documentation in the coming weeks, following which the parties will confirm their deployment schedule against the build program for Power Wood’s La Crête facility.
INVESTMENT CONTEXT
The biofuel investment comes against a backdrop of rising global investment in energy security. The IEA has forecast a five percent rise on 2025 outlay figures worldwide, with US$2.2T (65%) of US$3.4T spent on clean energy. Japan is the world’s second largest importer of biofuel pellets, raising its year-on-year procurement by 35 percent to a record 8.4M tons in 2025. The global black pellets market was valued at US$298.6M in 2025 and is forecast to reach US$465.9M in 2026 and US$3.2B by 2040, according to Grand View Research.
COMPANIES’ COMMENT
David Peters, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Power Wood Holdings Ltd, said: “Chair Capital’s commitment gives us the foundation we need to complete the funding stack for La Crête and to progress High Level on schedule. However, their ability to help us design, fund and build Power Wood goes beyond investment alone and that was clear from day one. They understood the asset quickly and engaged on the questions that matter, which are feedstock security, offtake quality and construction risk. We have the industrial and commercial relationships to grow this business beyond these two facilities now in development. An investor of Chair Capital’s type, with its ability to assess other opportunities alongside us, is a material advantage.”
Darren Green, Chief Executive Officer at Chair Capital, added: “Energy has moved from being a sector to being the constraint on everything else, and the last 18 months have made security of supply a board-level question rather than a policy one. We are seeing that in our own pipeline, both in the volume of energy transition opportunities reaching us and in the appetite of institutional co-investors to underwrite alongside us. Power Wood meets our valuation criteria on entry and, more importantly, it solves a real problem: coal-fired plant remains a valuable dispatchable generation asset at a time of sharply rising power demand, and black pellets are one of the few fuels that can substitute for coal in that installed base and extend asset life without rebuilding it. The feedstock position is what distinguishes this asset because fire-damaged and diseased timber is a liability to the forest and a low-cost input to the plant. We are enthusiastic supporters of the black pellet market, and we intend to be a long-term investor.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Power Wood Holdings Ltd.
Based in Calgary’s Canada Trust Tower (T2P 4K9), AB, with manufacturing facilities planned for sites in multiple Canadian provinces, Power Wood Holdings Ltd is the parent company of Power Wood Canada Corp which will produce best-in-class advanced black biofuel pellets to serve as a low carbon footprint replacement for coal burned in power stations and industrial factories worldwide. Power Wood’s forthcoming ‘Peace River’ and ‘Hay Meadow’ pellet facilities – in Mackenzie County, AB – will operate continuous steam explosion production systems developed by Valmet. They will also produce bio-based chemical furfural as a by-product and alternative to petrochemicals. Using other rapid transformation technology, the company will also produce nutrient-rich, carbon-based soil substrate as an alternative to peat-based substrates. For more information about Power Wood Holdings Ltd and Power Wood Canada Corp, please visit www.powerwoodcanadacorp.com
Chair Capital Ltd.
Chair Capital is a private investment firm operating in London and Dubai. The firm invests in energy transition, data centres, AI, and MedTech, deploying £10M to £100M+ as principal capital alongside a structured Investment Architecture. Chair Capital’s funding deployment is based around critical business milestones, de-risking the investment journey and positioning portfolio companies for premium valuations. For more information about Chair Capital Ltd, please visit chair.capital
Forward-looking statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to anticipated funding deployment, technology development, commercial milestones, customer engagement, and market opportunity. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and actual outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Neither Chair Capital nor Power Wood undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. This release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.
For more information about this company update please contact:
Power Wood Holdings Ltd’s Communications Officer Jonathan Stones on [email protected]m
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