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More South Delta greenhouses looking into co-generation

More Delta greenhouses are joining the co-generation business. Delta council this fall gave final approval to an application by Houweling Nurseries Ltd. in Ladner to operate two natural gas cogeneration facilities.

More Delta greenhouses are joining the co-generation business.

Delta council this fall gave final approval to an application by Houweling Nurseries Ltd. in Ladner to operate two natural gas cogeneration facilities. The 64th Street operation, containing 20 hectares (49 acres) of greenhouses on its 37-hectare (92-acre) property in the Agricultural Land Reserve, currently uses natural gas boilers to power its operation. The plan, given the green light by the Agricultural Land Commission, is to install two co-generation facilities that would produce 8.8 megawatts of electricity as well as fulfill heating and CO2 needs.

A report to council notes that according to the applicant, emission levels from the co-generation plants are expected to be equal to or less than the current energy supply system.

The co-generation would be used to offset the existing electrical load and any excess electricity would be sold to B.C. Hydro on the open grid.

Power would be sold in the summer when excess electricity is anticipated, but the greenhouse would have to purchase electricity in the winter as the units would be incapable of meeting total demands.

The first co-generation in Delta is one operated by Maxim Power at Village Farms on 80th Street. There's another plan by the same greenhouse and Quadrogen Power for another co-generation facility. Meantime, another application to build a natural gas co-generation for a new operation on 46A Street, submitted by Aljane Greenhouses Ltd., has been forwarded to the ALC for comment.

The Houweling and Aljane plans are different in that they would use natural gas, whereas the others at Village Farms involve landfill gas.

Two years ago, the Ministry of Agriculture, working with agricultural producers and B.C. Hydro, released a draft discussion paper on the demand by greenhouses to get in on co-generation sales. The government then established a set of criteria where co-generation could be considered, the size and scale of co-generation facilities relative to the size of farm operations.

Noting Delta has many greenhouse farms that need to stay competitive, Delta Farmers' Institute president David Ryall asked council to streamline the rezoning process for natural gas cogeneration applications. Meanwhile, more Delta farms are expected to also start adding on-site wasteto-energy facilities using animal waste.

Delta council earlier this year approved an application by Seabreeze Farm Ltd. on 112th Street to build a biogas facility, which includes an anaerobic digester that would process on-farm agricultural material, such as manure, crop waste and silage, as well as off-farm non-agricultural feedstocks, including fats, oils and greases.

The facility would produce renewable energy in the form of biogas that would be sold to FortisBC. The ALC gave its approval as well.

In a letter of support that application, Ryall noted anaerobic digesters are becoming a new reality for farmers.

"This innovative technology is good for the environment as they assist farms by utilizing waste byproducts more efficiently and with less odour. Anaerobic digesters are already a reality south of the border as these forms of efficiency are far more aligned with 'green energy' concepts," he said.

During council's debate on the application, Ian Paton, a longtime Ladner farmer, noted that an important provision is that 51 per cent of the waste for the new facility has to be produced on the farm, which should alleviate concerns the facility will be a hub for waste trucked into Delta.