FortisBC has reached a tentative deal with the Capital Regional District to purchase renewable natural gas produced by the Hartland Landfill.
The CRD said the agreement, unveiled on Wednesday — Earth Day — will reduce the region’s greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 264,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over 25 years, the same as removing 2,240 cars from the road over the same period.
Neither side disclosed the value of the contract, which still has to be approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission.
But CRD chairman Colin Plant called it a “win-win” for both parties.
“We are going to lower our greenhouse gases,” he said.
“Fortis has renewable natural gas in their system, so they are meeting some of their objectives that the province has set for them.
“And we have the ability to use that natural gas in our region first. So it’s not even like we’re piping it away. This is going to make a difference to the region.”
Hartland already has a facility that converts landfill gas to electricity to supply about 1,600 homes in the region.
But Plant said that facility is reaching the end of its useful life, and an analysis concluded it would be better to install a new facility that purifies the landfill gas to produce renewable natural gas.
The result will be far more effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
“If we just continued with the electricity, we’re looking at around 2,800 tonnes over 25 years. We’re doing 264,000 tonnes over 25 years, so it’s nearly 100 times more [effective].”
The CRD says the renewable natural gas captured from a landfill is considered carbon neutral because it involves repurposing existing carbon rather than extracting and burning new sources. It’s also interchangeable with conventional natural gas, so the more renewable gas injected into the system, the less need to extract new sources, the district says.
The agreement, which has received approval in principle, allows Fortis to buy 140,000 to 280,000 gigajoules of renewable natural gas each year for 25 years, beginning in late 2021.
Scott Gramm, Fortis’s manager of renewable natural gas supply, said that’s enough renewable gas to displace conventional natural gas for 3,000 homes, each with a gas-powered hot water tank, furnace or fireplace.
“It would be probably the second-largest project in the province in terms of the gas generation, second to the Vancouver landfill,” he said.
Gramm said the company and the district felt it was important to announce good news on Earth Day in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“We wanted to remind people, as did they: ‘Hey, we're still there, we're still working, we still care about more than just your health and safety, but about the long-term care of the environment and the planet and making use of our resources in the best way possible.’ ”
Plant said the CRD anticipates paying off the undisclosed cost of the new facility at Hartland in seven to eight years. “We are not having to go out and borrow money to do this,” he said.
