Officials at the Ridge Landfill are planning to turn garbage into green energy.
Waste Connections Canada is proposing a $50-million renewable natural gas facility that would capture landfill gas from decomposing waste and transform it into low carbon renewable gas.
The project includes construction of a new landfill gas recovery and upgrading facility and an RNG injection station at the Waste Connections Ridge Landfill. A new 4-inch diameter, 5.7 km pipeline will also be put in place that will run from Enbridge Gas’ Chatham East Line at Blenheim North Station to the new injection station located at the Waste Connections Ridge Landfill.
Project manager Cathy Smith says the facility is expected to generate enough green energy to heat over 18,000 homes every year, or about 40% of the homes in Chatham-Kent.
“The Ridge Landfill is one of the largest and one of the, frankly, best run landfills in Ontario, so the generation of gas here, just by virtue of the amount of waste and the size of the landfill, and between us and our predecessor, this landfill has been operating since 1966” Smith says. “The gas is there and we want to capture it and we want to utilize it, hence the amount of gas we’re going to be able to generate in any given year for the benefit of the environment.”
The state-of-the-art project will transform Waste Connections Ridge Landfill waste into low-carbon energy, which will be injected into the local natural gas distribution system. Using renewable natural gas as a low-carbon energy source to heat homes, power businesses and fuel vehicle fleets effectively helps companies and communities achieve Ontario’s GHG reduction goal.
Jim Redford, Enbridge Vice President of Energy Services, Gas Distribution and Storage, says they’re in the early stages of the application process.
“Right now we’re just starting with the environmental assessment and finding our route, also with stakeholder consultations not only with the municipality, with local landowners, but also First Nations as well.”
The RNG facility would be the first of its kind in Ontario and create roughly 50 development and construction jobs as well as several highly skilled permanent operational positions.
“The $50-million-dollar investment into our community is very important from an economic standpoint as are the 50 jobs that will be created,” Mayor Darrin Canniff says. “The fact that the project involves using technology to convert what is essentially a waste by-product into a gas that will heat our homes and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions makes it even better. This type of development represents the best of both worlds and puts Chatham-Kent at the leading-edge of energy transition.”
Once approved by the Ontario Energy Board, construction could begin in the spring of 2023.
