A local dairy farm recently got the green light for its waste-to-energy project.
Last month, civic politicians approved a proposal from Seabreeze Farm Ltd. on 112th Street in Ladner 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 will produce renewable energy in the form of biogas that would be sold to FortisBC.
Council gave the project third reading following a public hearing last month.
At the hearing, Jim Hessels, who lives nearby voiced his support for the project, saying that the use of an anaerobic digester, while new to Delta, is a tried and true technology that is used in other parts of the world.
He also said that the technology benefits the environment through the production of natural gas and organic digestate.
The Agricultural Land Commission has also endorsed the application.
A report to council earlier this summer, staff noted that odour control would be achieved by storing all non-agricultural material in odour-tight tanks. The material would be pumped directly from the storage tanks to the anaerobic digester. After processing in the digester, the homogenized material is rendered essentially odourless.
The post-digested material, known as digestate, would be separated with the solid portion and used as livestock bedding, while the liquid would be used as fertilizer for crops.
Non-agricultural off-farm feedstock would require five deliveries per week. Solid material would be delivered in dump trucktype haulers, while liquids would be delivered in haulers similar to milk trucks.
