In January 2013, Saskatoon City Council approved the City to enter into a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement that will allow the City to sell the power generated by the Landfill Gas to Energy Project to SaskPower. This is the first power generation facility to be built and owned by The City of Saskatoon in over 100 years.
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| This illustration shows where the facilities are located at the Landfill. |
The Landfill Gas to Energy Project, already underway at the Saskatoon Landfill, involves capturing methane-rich landfill gas that is naturally produced as waste decomposes, and piping it to a power station that will be built just west of the landfill.
A clay cap has been installed over a section of the landfill, trapping the landfill gas within the waste mass. Twenty-nine wells have been drilled into the landfill and underground piping has been installed to connect the wells to a vacuum compressor, which will draw the gas out of the landfill.
After the gas is collected, it will be piped to a power generation facility and combusted in engine-generator sets to generate electricity. The City will recover the heat energy produced during this process and use it in the Turboexpander project, another power generation project underway at the Landfill. Essentially, the gas will be used to generate both heat and electricity, referred to as ‘combined heat and power.’
With the Power Purchase Agreement with SaskPower in place, the next steps include completing construction of the two facilities (the Gas Collection Facility and the Power Generation Facility), constructing a transmission line to the Power Generation Facility (to be completed by SaskPower), constructing the pipeline under Valley Road (to be completed by TransGas), and commissioning of the two systems.
By 2014, the project will begin delivering the green energy produced. The City expects to generate about $1.3 million each year from the sale of the energy to SaskPower.
Other Project Benefits
- GHG emissions will be reduced by over 45,000 tonnes per year – that’s equivalent to removing over 9,000 vehicles from our roads each year.
- Enough energy to power 1,300 homes each year will be produced.
- Air quality at the Landfill will be improved and odours in the area will be reduced.
Find out more here.