The BC Bioenergy Network (BCBN) announced Friday $1.5 million in funding to Harvest Power’s subsidiary Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre.
BCBN is a provincially funded non-profit organization supporting the acceleration of bioenergy development in B.C.
The project will establish an “energy garden,” an innovative municipal green (food and yard) waste to renewable energy demonstration in the Lower Mainland that will divert 27,000 tonnes of organic materials away from B.C. landfills.
The funding will support two programs: a $1 million loan for a commercial demonstration of a high solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD) plant that will convert municipal green waste to produce electricity under the BC Hydro Community Based Biomass Power Call, and a $500,000 grant to acquire a pilot-scale mobile HSAD testing unit – a “mobile energy harvester” – that will be used initially in Richmond and later toured throughout North America.
Once food scraps and yard debris have been converted to biogas, it will then be used to produce more than 6,000 MWh of electricity per year, enough to power some 700 B.C. homes.
The residual organic materials remaining after the digestion process will be further composted and returned to local farms and gardens as nutrient-rich soil amendments.
The Government of Canada has also invested $4 million in this project through its Clean Energy Fund.
Over 50 jobs will be created through the construction phase and an additional six for ongoing operations.
Michael Weedon, executive director of BCBN, said “This first demonstration in British Columbia of the innovative HSAD technology is an all-around winner: it solves a waste disposal problem, generates value added clean renewable energy in support of the province’s renewable energy goals and creates green sector jobs right here in the Lower Mainland.”
Jennifer Harrison
@JHarrisonBIV