News
New partnership to see the use of waste wood become energy
New partnership between FortisBC and REN Energy International will see waste wood be turned into renewable natural gas (RNG).
This technology is making its debut in the US and presents new and exciting opportunities to reduce emissions.
Usually, RNG is made by capturing methane released from decomposing organic waste whereas this project will use waste from sawmills, forestry operations and wood manufacturers. Following this, RNG will then be made via gasification rather than decomposition. Then, the syngas will be converted into methane then purified to meet natural gas specifications.
Philip Viggiani, President of REN Energy, stated;
“We are extremely pleased with our FortisBC agreement spanning 20 years, to provide RNG to our fellow BC customers. REN Energy plans to be a major factor in assisting with the FortisBC mandate of creating carbon-neutral RNG. The REN team has been working for the past several years to create the REN solution that creates RNG from wood waste. The plant, the first of its kind in North America, will create an immediate annual economic impact in the Kootenay region; 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.”
In addition to this, developing carbon neutral technologies, such as RNG, is key for FortisBC to achieve their 30-by-30 target. This target is to reduce the company’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.
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