TransForce to convert landfill methane to electricity
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Logistics firm invests $10-million to make power out of landfill gas at two Quebec facilities
Montreal—TransForce, Inc., has announced its environmental services division has formed a partnership with Quebec-based Terreau Biogaz, Inc., to convert methane to electricity from its landfill sites.
The electricity has been placed on the Hydro-Quebec grid as of June 29.
In its first year, the project—working out of both the Granby and Sainte-Cecile-de-Milton, Que., landfill sites—will produce one megawatt of power, according to TransForce, roughly enough electricity to power about 450 homes.
That number will double to two megawatts next year and at its peak the facility will generate three megawatts.
According to the company, the $10-million investment in the project will allow for the sale of electricity to Hydro-Quebec for a 24-year period.
“In addition to generating electricity, the project will reduce greenhouse gas production at the Granby site and will contribute to the Quebec government’s 2012-2020 climate change goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent versus the base year of 1990,” Terreau Biogaz general manager Marc Couture said in a statment.
TransForce has launched a similar project at its Moose Creek landfill in eastern Ontario.
Construction on the facility is underway and it is expected to be selling power into the grid by October.
At its peak, the facility should generate close to seven megawatts of power annually, according to TransForce.
