Making money from waste

PRINCE GEORGE – The wastewater treatment facility on Landsdowne Road produces about 3000 cubic metres of biogas per day. It uses 18-hundred cubic metres to operate the plant, while the remainder, roughly 16-hundred cubic metres, is flared off into the atmosphere. But Fortis BC recently approached the City.

“Fortis would like to partner with us in order to purchase the biogas and use it as a renewable natural gas,” explains William Wedel, Manager of Utilities. “In order for us to do that, we have to condition that gas so it meets the standards and same quality as what the natural gas in the system already.”

To make that happen, a conditioning plant would need to be built at the site of the current wastewater treatment facility at a cost of just under $13 million. The City will apply for a grant to cover 73 percent of that cost, while the City would pay the remainder via the Sewer Capital Reserve Fund. If successful, the City could make between $400 and $800-thousand per year from the sale of the gas. Those revenues would, initially, pay off the capital investment and then after that, it would go to operations.