of gas, especially considering in 2019 we only produced or bought a total of about 225,000 GJ,” Gramm says. A DOUBLE WIN Both FortisBC and REN Energy are looking to support local communities in B.C. through this project. REN Energy plans to double their internal staff in the near future for this project. Viggiani foresees hiring 20-22 people within the next year-and-a-half to two years. Ultimately, the project will add up to 25 direct jobs and 85 indirect jobs, providing substantial economic growth for the surrounding Kootenay communities. Since the project’s inception, the companies’ main goal has also been to reduce GHG emissions in the province. Both FortisBC and REN Energy say that the government has been supportive of their objective in this new endeavour. They believe that using waste products to produce RNG and creating jobs in the process is a double win for the government and surrounding communities. “So far, we have had nothing but excitement and curiosity and a lot of backing from municipal and district leaders,” Viggiani says. FortisBC also has publicly-stated environmental goals, which includes reducing emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 on behalf of their customers. They call it 30BY30 or #30BY30. This goal coincides with the B.C. government’s policy objective (CleanBC) of 15 per cent renewable gas content by 2030. “Our 30BY30 target means a lot of gas. The emissions reductions for 30BY30 will come from four pillars, one of them being renewable natural gas,” Gramm elaborates. “We think that renewable natural gas will play a significant chunk of that. To put it into numbers, our renewable natural gas target will be about 30 million gigajoules a year, or 30 petajoules annually, which could represent up to one half of our 30BY30 target. This project with REN providing about one million gigajoules a year will be a nice step toward a larger opportunity.” A STEPPING STONE The companies hope that within the first year of operations, this endeavour will act as a stepping stone to several more RNG projects. Gramm says they’ll be watching carefully to make sure the gas produced from the wood waste meets their expectations. “We want to see this hit good volume numbers so that FortisBC reaches their sales goal. Ultimately, if they do, this model can be duplicated and improved upon.” FortisBC and REN Energy will also be looking at their progress for possible future endeavours using this technology. Gramm says he could see doubling the Fruitvale plant’s capacity, as well as replicating their plant and production model, or potentially improving upon other areas where there is an intersection of wood waste and pipeline. “FortisBC has agreements to procure renewable natural gas from outside of B.C. I can possibly imagine a similar operation to this in Ontario where we procure renewable natural gas notionally not necessarily physically. I think there is opportunity there for other provinces to play in,” he explains. Although the RNG industry is a small one, Gramm believes that anyone who knows anything about the industry will be watching this project very carefully to see how well they do. • From single units to complete turnkey systems, CSE Bliss Manufacturing specializes in an industry leading line of hammer mills, rotary feeders, pellet coolers, parts and rebuilds, providing the complete solutions that only the CSE Bliss family can offer. Authorized Distributor of Contact us today to find out how we can help improve your process efficiency! 580-749-4895 | www.csebliss.com Contact Cardinal for all your equipment, parts and service needs! www.cardinalsaw.com [email protected] Follow us Canadian BIOMASS 25
Canadian Biomass Summer 2020: Page 25
