From Trash to Cash!

[Max]

City making green electricity

Date Published | Sep. 6, 2007

www.northernlife.ca/News/LocalNews/2007/09-07-07-gsu.asp?NLStory=09-07-07-gsu


BY BILL BRADLEY

Mayor John Rodriguez switched on Greater Sudbury’s first major renewable energy plant, the Landfill Gas Generation System, located at the Sudbury Landfill on Highway 17 E yesterday.

Once fully operational the $3.2 million plant will supply 1.6 mega watts of electricity, enough to power 1,200 homes and generate approximately $500,000 per year in revenues for the city. Another engine could be added in five years, said officials.

The Greater Sudbury Utilities (GSU) project involves a series of perforated pipes set into the ground where a vacuum slowly draws gases released from decomposing material into the piping where it is cleaned before being sent to a reciprocating engine that then powers a generator. That turn creates electricity for the power grid. Construction of the piping was completed in January 2006.

“Today’s ceremonies reinforces our city’s commitment to alternate energy solutions,” said Rodriguez.

“The landfill gas generation plant at the Sudbury Landfill is an excellent example of how new technologies are converting formerly wasted resources (methane) into lucrative energy sources. So long as we have municipal landfills, we have methane gas to power our homes,” he said in a news release.

Landfill gas is produced when organic waste such as kitchen waste decompose inside a landfill. The gas is roughly 50 percent methane, 50 percent carbon dioxide with other trace gases.

The methane is worrying to climate change experts.

“Methane (CH4) is a greenhouse gas (GHG) 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide and responsible for 16 percent of global GHG emissions. The lions’ share of human induced methane emissions comes from landfills, natural gas and oil systems and coal mining,” states the website Environment Canada.

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment is proposing to make it mandatory for new, expanding and existing operating landfills larger than 1.5 million cubic metres to install systems to capture methane.

Greater Sudbury is the first city in Northern Ontario to install a methane capturing system, said Doug Craig, chair of Greater Sudbury Utilities.

“It took the political will and the expertise that we have on our board, in our utility and in Ontario. When Rodriguez came onto the board of GSU one of his major priorities was getting this plant going,” said Craig.

GSU has a wholly owned subsidiary, GENCO, which investigated the feasibility of capturing methane gas, said Craig. Previously, the Sudbury Landfill burned the methane to prevent its dispersal into the atmosphere.

“I found out two years ago that burning the gas meant a loss of potential revenue to the city of $50,000 a month. I talked to our CEO Doug Reeves and also to Toromont Energy, a Canadian company with expertise in small scale generation plants,” said Craig.

GSU has a 20 year agreement with Toromont to operate and maintain the plant.

“We saw an opportunity to pay back our initial investment of $3.2 million quickly and decided to make it work,” said Craig.

Paula Tarini, supervisor of conservation for GSU, said they have a 20 year agreement with the province for the sale of green energy.

“The new Standard Offer program on Ontario has really helped make it viable. They have established a market-based price of 11 cents per kilowatt hour for green electricity delivered plus a performance incentive of 3.5 cents. We expect production costs to be 3.8 cents so the profit goes directly to the city,” said Tarini.

[Max]

More misrepresentations and outright lies by elected city officials.

The project cost over 10 million $; not 3.2 million. This project won't make a penny in profit for 25 years or more. The city is responsible for all cost maintaining the collection system and financing the project. That means interest payments. The operator, GENCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of GSU also has to pay taxes. The project is also a partnership with Toromont Energy, a company whom Sudbury did business with a few years ago and lost millions of $ before pulling the plug.

The 3.2 million was just the first bit of money spent in 2005 installing the collection system. If you think they built the collection system and generating plant, etc, for 3.2 million you're crazy.

This project was supposed to be up and running 5 months ago. Oops! North Bay's project has already been a flop.

The city signed a contract to sell electricity @ 11 cents for 20 years. What happens when the rates go above 11 cents in the future? That's right we lose more money and the payback period is extended.

And look at the silly comments from Craig. He claims the project only cost 3.2 million and the city will make 500+ thousand $ a year. That's an amazing rate of return folks, yet he claims " “It took the political will and the expertise that we have on our board, in our utility and in Ontario" to get this project done.

It's so great and profitable that they don't plan on adding more engines for another 5 years. Would you let this fool run your business?

He also claims he only "found out out two years ago that burning the gas meant a loss of potential revenue to the city of $50,000 a month."

Hel-lo! There are over 1200 landfill gas to energy plants around the world and has been for a long time, yet he just found out about them. Some leader he is.

And despite the 1200+ existing plants Joe Cimino asked and Danielle Braney, acting director of solid waste for the city said Sudbury could sell its expertise to other communities. Ha!

We're not making a profit, the plant opened 6 months late, the return will not materialize, and they want to sell their expertise to other communities.

Would you buy it?

The city should've installed a landfill bioreactor which also produces electricity and reduces landfilled waste in 5 to 10 years. By the city's own admission, the current project will continue to spew greenhouse gases for 30+ years.

The release of greenhouse gas emissions is reduced both by higher recovery rates of landfill gas through a bioreactor and from offsetting fossil fuel use with landfill gas energy. Methane, which comprises about 50-60% of landfill gas volume, is about 24.5 times more potent (mass per mass) as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

[Max]

Articles from last year regarding the plant.

www.northernlife.ca/News/LocalNews/2006/08-10-06-landfill.asp?NLStory=08-10-06-landfill

City aims to turn methane gas into power

Date Published | Aug. 10, 2006


BY KEITH LACEY

By next spring, methane gas produced from the main Greater Sudbury landfill site will provide electricity to more than 1,000 homes in the city's east end and generate significant revenue, as much as $800,000 annually for city coffers.

Danielle Braney, acting director of solid waste for the city, made a brief presentation before city council Wednesday evening detailing how the city's Landfill Gas Utilization program has moved ahead very quickly over the past few months.

Last March, council approved staff commence negotiations with Genco, a methane gas production company, to develop a landfill gas utilization program, said Braney.

A $2 million collection installation system was put in place last fall and data has since been compiled and equipment was ordered by Genco two weeks ago, said Braney.

Construction of an operational plant has been delayed from late 2006 to the spring of 2007. Genco hopes to begin producing electricity next spring, said Braney.

Large pieces of a collection system have already been acquired and put in place and an engine needed to gather the methane gas produced by landfill waste will soon be installed, she said.

A waste optimization study estimated 375 cubic feet of methane gas would be produced per minute, but current performance levels show that's increased to 480 cubic feet, and the original estimates of producing 45 percent methane have increased to between 50 and 55 percent, she said.

“Those numbers will increase with continuous site filling until at least 2020,” she said.

The city is still waiting for approval and certification by the Ontario Energy Board, and various other government agencies, but she doesn't foresee any significant problems, said Braney.

The city and Greater Sudbury Utilities must also hammer out a working agreement, but that also won't pose any problems, she said.

Agreements to supply and complete construction of the 1.6-megawatt generating plant should be in place within the next few weeks, she said.The Ministry of Energy has agreed to purchase electricity from the plant at 11 cents per kilowatt for 20 years, far above the assumed market price of eight cents, said Braney.

The working agreement will also allow an additional 3.5 cents per kilowatt incentive for performance for output at peak times, she said.

These higher numbers have increased projected revenue streams from $50,000 to $100,000 per year to anywhere between $300,000 to $800,000 annually, said Braney.

Similar technology being used at this plant is now being used successfully at more than 1,000 landfill sites around the world, including 250 in North America and nine in Canada, she said.

Doug Reeves, general manager of the GSU, said potential revenue streams and ability to increase power generation will only increase as the collection system at the landfill site is expanded.

There's potential to add more engines and capture more methane gas using even more leading edge technology, he said.

Electricity produced from the plant will be added directly to the Moonlight Beach substation located near the entrance the landfill site and will allow for as many as 1,200 homes to receive electricity, he said.

Options to finance completion of the project will be presented to council in several weeks, said Braney.


On Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 11:16, Paul said:

Great work Sudbury keep it up

On Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 11:25, shawn said:

Lets hope this venture turns out better than the multi million dollar white elephant off Elgin St. I'm talking about the co-generating plant, this was also a good idea on paper yet to this day it sits idle never having produced steam for heat or electricity. The old carpenters rule "measure twice,cut once" must be applied here and more importantly the city must be open and honest with the public. To this day they refuse to reveal how much tax payers money was lost on the co-generation plant.

On Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 11:34, J. Smith said:

"................the city already has decided to award a $3.1-million contract to build the generating facility to a familiar partner - Toronto-based Toromont Energy. The contract was awarded by Greater Sudbury Utilities.

Toromont is the company that formed a partnership with the City of Sudbury in 1999 to build a co-generation plant on Elgin Street to produce as much as 5 MW of power. The electricity was to produced by two huge turbine engines fuelled by natural gas.

The $15-million plant did not achieve the success the city had envisioned and in 2003 - at which point the facility had not produced electricity in more than two years - the municipality pulled out as a shareholder.

The turn of events was shrouded in secrecy and controversy, with the city refusing to reveal how much was invested by taxpayers, or whether the municipality lost money in the deal. Speculation at city hall at the time suggested taxpayers lost millions in the deal." From the Sudbury Star


Now WHY would council partner up with the SAME company they LOST MILLIONS (of TAXPAYERS DOLLERS) to on the co-generation plant...

Council needs to give their head a shake! VOTE THEM ALL OUT IN NOVEMBER!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

On Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 11:39, Mac said:

First they open with a comment claiming it will produce enough hydro for a 1000 homes. They close stating it's 1200 homes.

So which is it?

They make it sound like 1200 homes will get free hydro; and this is not the case. If rates are 8 cents per kilowatt today and they say they're selling it to Ministry for 11 cents what does the city resident have to pay?

11 cents, which is three cents more than the current 8 cent rate?

What happens when rates go above 11 cents per kilowatt ? Oh that's right, we're being losing money because it's a 20 year contract with the Ministry; the very Ministry that controls setting the rates.

The Waterloo Landfill Gas Power project produces electricity and is a public private partnership between the Region of Waterloo, Toromont Energy and Ontario Hydro. Has the city reviewed their agreement to compare?

Have they reviewed the other nine arrangements in Canada and 250 in North America to compare whether we're getting a bargain?

How much has the city invested in this project?

How long before we recoup our original investment and start making a profit?

Are we to trust what the city says after the rock tunnel, brewery and Highway 17 numbers didn't add up?

Why not just completely contract this out to Genco or Toromont Energy and just take a cut of the profit? This arrangement means no investment dollars are required by the city and a new revenue stream is developed.

Why has the city not informed citizens about the millions of dollars wasted on their last attempted energy project that they bailed out on in 2003?

On Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 11:56, J. Smith said:

Forgot to add to my previous comments; Remember how much [taxpayer] money was WASTED when the City/council went after Union Energy [in an attempt to take them and the gas didtribution over]. How much $$ was wasted there?

On Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 13:35, jock moriarty said:

Let me get this straight....tax payers money from the Ministry of Energy is going to pay a premium for electricity from a City/taxpayer owned facility?

Can't the financial wizards at city hall figure out there is only one taxpayer?

On Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 14:43, Man about Town said:

Too bad they ran Sunthetic out of town a dozen years ago.
I wonder if the guys that now own the Molson's Brewery in Barrie would be interested in turning our Brewery into an Ethanol plant?

As always, Sudbury misses the boat and tries to do something to save face.
I wonder how the Bio-Diesel plant is coming along.................?

On Monday, August 28, 2006 at 15:59, Mac said:

Please follow up on this story. The city has now spent another 10 million dollars on this project; for a total of over 12 million dollars. The city will not see one cent of profit for at least 15 years, maybe longer.

Between this project and the Highway 17 project, in the first week of August the council spent another 23 million dollars!

Return on investment = 0 $.

[Max]

www.northernlife.ca/news/LocalNews/2006/12-14-06-landfill.asp?NLStory=12-14-06-landfill

City could profit from landfill gas

Date Published | Dec. 14, 2006


BY BILL BRADLEY

One green energy project, landfill gas collection, is close to reality and could be a money maker for Greater Sudbury.

Danielle Braney, acting director of assets and solid waste for the city, told council, “methane gas contained in our Sudbury landfill gas offers a great opportunity to generate energy."

The project, to be operational April 1, 2007, one of nine in Canada, will generate $500,000 per year in revenue from the province's electrical grid and has potential to earn more money from technology transfer to other cities, said Braney.

In March 2005, council accepted the recommendations from the technical steering committee waste optimization study, that the city pursue the generation of electricity from landfill gas in partnership with Greater Sudbury Utilities.

The construction of the landfill gas collection system, a series of pipes leading to a collection station began in 2005 and was completed last January.

Currently landfill gas is flared or burned off. Data collected shows the city's landfill gas potential is better than expected, said Braney.

Genco, a subsidiary of GSU will be authorized to construct a containerized power generating plant on a small parcel of land adjacent to the city's flare station. Genco would also be responsible for installing the associated infrastructure, the hydro lines, to connect to the grid and for maintaining the plant

As the GSU and Greater Sudbury were finalizing the details of proposed agreements to be presented to city council, the new Standard Offer program of Ontario Power Authority and the Ontario Energy Board has made the project more lucrative.

The intent of the new provincial initiative is to provide a stable market for smaller scale green power from renewable sources over 20 year contracts.

“The program rules of the Standard Offer program have established a market-based price of 11 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for electricity delivered plus a performance incentive of $3.25 cents. Genco builds the plant, the city ensures the gas can be collected and with one engine in place we can expect costs of production to be 3.8 cents/kWh. The profit before taxes goes directly to the city,” said Braney.

Ward 1 Councillor Joe Cimino asked what the cost to the city was to ensure adequate gas collection and if the expertise could be sold to other communities.

“The gas collection system is already in place and to maintain it would mean we would spend about $25,000 a year in contracting fees,” said Braney.

Council was unanimous in support of the initiative.

It is estimated that the city would realize additional revenues from the sale of landfill gas of approximately $375,000 in 2007 and ramp up to $500,000 in 2008.

The knowledge developed in Sudbury would be marketable to other cities, said Braney.

On Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 16:03, Central Scruitinizer said:

MMMM...Braney...hasn't this city had enough brainey ideas over the past the yield little or no results...remember co-generation downtown, bio-diesel and of course..writing off taxes for a now defunct brewery...I think council should focus on cost cutting and efficiencies and let the real world address economic growth or opportunity...This isn't Field of Dreams when one thinks of it...Q7G5

On Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 16:47, dump money said:

Could Profit from it? where is all the $$$ we pay to drop off our waste now?

On Friday, December 15, 2006 at 06:21, John Q said:

Is this another great money maker from the city?
Like the bio-diesel plant that has not been constructed?
The purchase of the Provincial Tower?
Bailing out Northern Breweries?
What about the great Steam Heating Plant downtown that was to save us millions?

What a farce. It reminds me of that episode of the Simpsons where they purchased the Monorail.

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