Future Dundalk biogas plant wins 20-year contract
Southgate Renewables has landed an “anchor contract” in a 20-year agreement to process organics from Simcoe County.
Starting in the fall of 2027, a planned facility in Dundalk’s EcoPark will be processing organics collected at Simcoe houses.
When the company presented at Grey County council this spring, several municipalities there expressed interest in its operations.
LONG-TERM DEAL
Envest Corp., the parent company of Southgate Renewables, announced the contract in late April.
As well as producing renewable natural gas, the effluent digestate could produce about 93,000 tonnes of fertilizer per year to be used by regional farmers, the media release said.
Envest’s CEO Jason Moretto called the agreement with Simcoe an “anchor contract” for the new Dundalk facility.
The company opened Seacliff Energy facility in Leamington in 2010 to recycle commercial and municipal organics through anaerobic digestion processes.
The plant planned for Dundalk uses an anaerobic digestion process and then biogas upgrading treatment. The design capacity is more than 200,000 gigajoules of renewable natural gas per year.
“We are honoured to work with the County of Simcoe for the processing of its SSO (source-separated organics) over two decades,” said Jason Moretto, Envest’s President and CEO in a media release. He said the contract will lead to “significant waste reduction, resource recovery and environmental benefits to southern Ontario, as well as substantial cost savings to the ratepayers of the County of Simcoe.” Envest finances, builds, owns and operates turnkey clean energy systems for business and government, through resource recovery and other carbon emission reduction strategies.
RECENT ECA APPROVAL
A notice about changes to the plans for the Southgate Renewables biogas plant recently closed for comment.
The changes relate to the company acquiring adjoining property in the EcoPark, as reported in the paper.
This Environmental Compliance Approval amendment included changes to the facility layout since the company added to its Dundalk property.
These changes include:
-a biofilter for improved odour control;
-changes in tank and combined heat and power sizes;
-the use of process water and double membrane roofs; and
-the addition of boilers.
The anaerobic digester facility is to be built at 100 Eco-Park Way in Dundalk, on a four-hectare site.
The plant can receive organic residuals weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
It is allowed to accept source separated organics, as well as institutional, commercial and industrial food waste materials, and a blend of agricultural materials such as silage, stover, culled material from vegetable and tuber crops or animal manure.
The end result will be renewable natural gas that will be injected into the natural gas grid, and organic fertilizer, available to local farms.
The service area as per the permit includes Ontario and the states of New York, Michigan, and Ohio.
The maximum daily waste received will be 700 tonnes of non-hazardous waste and 700 cubic metres of other liquid waste.
Maximum on-site storage capacity will be 400 tonnes of non-hazardous solid waste and 480 cubic metres of other liquid waste.
The facility is permitted to process up to 73,000 tonnes of waste annually. The anaerobic digester will operate continuously.
M.T. Fernandes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Dundalk Herald
