Features Efficiency Energy
Funding helps B.C. greenhouse tap biogas from landfill

Quadrogen Power Systems Inc. has received a $1.5 million loan to produce ultra-clean sustainable energy for a greenhouse adjacent to a City of Vancouver landfill.

This biogas clean-up project is part of a larger $7.5 million technology demonstration project that will showcase the conversion of landfill gas to ultra-clean electricity, heat, renewable hydrogen, and carbon dioxide for use in greenhouses.

The provincially funded B.C. Bioenergy Network (BCBN) will support two phases of the project. Phase one is designed to prove out Quadrogen’s ultra-clean gas clean-up technology. Phase two will expand the system to process higher gas quantities and demonstrate the technology’s commercial viability.

The further removal of fuel contaminants, such as siloxanes from landfill biogas will provide substantial environmental benefits and offer a variety of potential applications, including subsequent injection into the natural gas pipeline, substantially improving the viability and economics of landfill gas utilization.

“B.C. Bioenergy Network helped us move faster on the bio-methane application of our technology and quantify the potential of its commercial scale applications,” said Alakh Prasad, president of Quadrogen Power Systems Inc. “We have assembled a large high quality team of partners that include clean technology funders, developers, and an agricultural customer who share the goal of producing clean sustainable energy from organic waste materials.”

Additional external funding for the project includes a $2.6 million grant from the Government of Canada through Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). BCBN and SDTC work in partnership to identify high-caliber projects within the B.C. bioenergy sector, with the goal of increasing the number of investment opportunities. Further leverage comes from a $1 million grant from the Government of British Columbia’s Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund and in-kind support from the National Research Council (NRC).

A repayable contribution is also being provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP). In British Columbia, this program is delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C.

“This technology will allow greenhouse operators to improve their competitiveness by making their operations more environmentally and economically sustainable through the use of biogas,” said federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. “We are proud to be a partner in the development of innovative energy solutions that increase the profitability of the agriculture sector.”