NANAIMO - Basil Stewart, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and mayor of Summerside, P.E.I., and James Lunney, member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Alberni, on behalf of Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis, have announced a Green Municipal FundTM (GMF) grant for the Regional District of Nanaimo. The RDN will use the $350,000 in funding to convert biogas extracted from its wastewater treatment process into heat and electricity for the facility.
“FCM’s Green Municipal Fund offers a range of resources and services that specifically address the sustainable community development needs of municipal governments,” said Stewart. “The financing and knowledge provided by the Fund supports the development of communities that are more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.”
“The Government of Canada is assisting municipalities across the country in achieving their goal of a cleaner and healthier environment for Canadians through the Green Municipal Fund,” said Lunney. “Today’s announcement is another example of how our government — in partnership with FCM — is helping Nanaimo build a greener future for our citizens.”
More than 60 per cent of the biogas now generated at the Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre (GNPCC) is flared and wasted. The objective of the cogeneration project — the first of its size at a wastewater treatment facility in B.C. — is to use the biogas as a sustainable fuel source that will meet the electricity and heating demands of the facility.
The biogas will be converted using a conditioning system to remove particulates and compounds in the raw gas, and a cogeneration system to extract heat and power. The completed system will be commissioned in December, 2010, and able to generate approximately 335 kilowatts (kW) of energy.
Cogeneration at GNPCC will significantly offset electricity demands on Vancouver Island, prolonging the life of the aging submarine transmission cables that bring electricity to the island. This will also allow BC Hydro to provide service to additional users without adding capacity to the electrical grid, giving the utility more time to investigate new sustainable power options.
“Thanks to the help of the FCM, cogeneration at our facility will benefit electricity users throughout the Vancouver Island region, and strenghten our efforts for energy sustainability here in the RDN,” said RDN Board Chair Joe Stanhope. “Once our system is operational it may encourage other wastewater treatment plants in BC to pursue similar projects.”
The cogeneration project has a total budget of $2.95 million. It is funded by the $350,000 FCM grant, $2.3 million in funding from the Union of BC Municipalities, provided in 2008 under the Gas Tax program, and $300,000 from the RDN’s Wastewater Services operational budget.
The Green Municipal Fund is an endowment financed by the Government of Canada and managed by FCM. The Fund supports partnerships and leveraging of both public and private-sector funding to reach higher standards of air, water and soil quality, and climate protection.
FCM has been the national voice of municipal governments since 1901. It fosters the development of sustainable communities to improve quality of life by promoting strong, effective, and accountable municipal government.
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