A step towards making the Foothills landfill a source of fuel for FortisBC was taken this week when Fraser-Fort George Regional District directors approved in principle a deal to sell methane gas generated at the site to the company.
The gas is currently flared off and turning it into a revenue source has been a long-sought-after goal for the FFGRD. Using it to heat greenhouses was considered at one point but the venture fell through.
"It's been 25 years in coming," board chair Art Kaehn said. "Since 1994 the regional district has been looking for opportunities to find beneficial use of the gas that has been released on the landfill site and we're very pleased to have come to this agreement."
Because the agreement spans 20 years, it remains subject to voters' consent via an alternative approval process. If less than 10 per cent of the electorate express opposition through the process, directors can authorize the contract.
No dates have been set but the process is expected to take about three months. The agreement also remains subject to approval from the B.C. Utilities Commission.
Should those hurdles be cleared, the gas from the landfill will be siphoned off and injected into FortisBC's natural gas distribution system.
FortisBC would pay the FFGRD $75,000 to $145,000 per year and be responsible for financing, constructing and operating a processing plant on the landfill to purify the gas before it's pumped into the system. Building the plant plant will cost an estimated $8.5 million and cost a further $500,000 per year to operate, according to a FortisBC presentation to directors.
The FFGRD will remain responsible for upgrades and maintenance to the landfill's gas collection system and would be obligated to supply 75,000 to 125,000 gigagoules of gas per year.
The deal includes a base rate of $1.25 per gigagoule to cover the FFGRD's costs with annual increases to account for inflation. On that basis, delivering 75,000 gigagoules would reap $93,750 per year, according to a staff report.
FortisBC is working to reach a provincially-mandated goal of securing 15 per cent of its supply from renewable sources by 2030. Diverting gas from Foothills into the FortisBC system would reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 3,500 to 5,700 tonnes per year, according to the company.
The target date for getting the plant up and running is December 2020.
