The West Kootenay Village of Fruitvale will be the site of a new state-of-the-art natural gas facility.

FortisBC is partnering with REN Energy International Corporation (REN Energy) to create Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) from wood waste sourced from Fruitvale91裸聊视频檚 ATCO Wood Products and other Kootenay forestry companies.

91裸聊视频淭he Village of Fruitvale is beyond excited,91裸聊视频� said Fruitvale mayor Steve Morissette. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 a once in a lifetime thing, it doesn91裸聊视频檛 happen in small communities very often. It will offer good paying jobs and there91裸聊视频檒l be plant operators, process operators, and typically fork lift drivers, and wood managers.91裸聊视频�

The proposed site for the facility is at the old Park Siding ATCO mill about 6 km from Fruitvale in southeastern BC. The project will offer about 18 months of construction jobs and, once construction is complete, the plant will employ 30-35 local workers.

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According to FortisBC Supply Manager Scott Gramm, Fortis will buy the gas generated by the facility and tap into its pipeline that runs near the Park Siding property.

91裸聊视频淩EN Energy chose that location because it was a source of wood waste and close to our pipeline at the same time,91裸聊视频� said Gramm. 91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e talking like 300-metres from our transmission pipeline, it91裸聊视频檚 nice and close - so acceptable wood waste, acceptable pipeline.91裸聊视频�

REN Energy is a global company whose goal is to reduce waste and improve the environment through the development of sustainable, clean fuel-based projects. REN seeks out opportunities to create partnerships with municipalities like Fruitvale and regional districts, forestry industry operators like ATCO, and financial partners like FortisBC to create essentially zero-emission energy products like RNG.

91裸聊视频淭he plant, the first of its kind in North America, will create an immediate annual economic impact in the Kootenay region,91裸聊视频� said Philip Viggiani, president of REN Energy in a release. 91裸聊视频淎s well, our future waste-to-energy project regions will carry similar economic impacts in regard to the creation of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs, significant in-community investments and, of course, the clean energy product we create.91裸聊视频�

RNG is a carbon-neutral energy that is made from capturing the methane released from decomposing organic waste.

The project will make use of waste from forestry operations, sawmills and other wood product manufacturers and will speed up the natural process by creating syngas through gasification. The syngas is further converted to methane and then purified to meet natural gas line specifications.

The output is expected to be substantial, and FortisBC estimates over one million gigajoules of energy will be created annually from the facility.

91裸聊视频淭he average household uses about 90-ish,91裸聊视频� explained Gramm. 91裸聊视频淪o we91裸聊视频檙e talking enough gas to sustain 10,000 to 12,000 homes annually.91裸聊视频�

The construction on the facility will begin in the fall, and is expected to be up and running in late 2021, early 2022, says Gramm.

Once operational, the technology will create a use for forestry waste in B.C. and unlock the potential for significant new volumes of RNG in the province.

91裸聊视频淲e are extremely pleased with our FortisBC agreement spanning 20 years, to provide RNG to our fellow B.C. customers,91裸聊视频� said Viggiani. 91裸聊视频淩EN Energy plans to be a major factor in assisting with the FortisBC mandate of creating carbon-neutral RNG.91裸聊视频�

When economically feasible, REN Energy intends to benefit both the province and the forestry industry by cleaning up and processing brush piles, and thereby mitigate potential forest fires.

Furthermore, the REN facility will create a market for local forest companies in a time when they need it most.

91裸聊视频淚t will for sure help our forest industry,91裸聊视频� said Morissette. 91裸聊视频淚t will help ILMA - the Interior Lumber Manufacturers91裸聊视频� Association - because they (REN) will be sourcing a lot of the waste wood from them.91裸聊视频�

The ground-breaking project91裸聊视频檚 use of carbon-neutral energies is a crucial element of FortisBC91裸聊视频檚 30BY30 target.

The goal is to reduce customers91裸聊视频� greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2030. FortisBC is also working towards having 15 per cent of its natural gas supply be renewable by 2030, which is in line with commitments outlined in the Province91裸聊视频檚 CleanBC promise 30-30.

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