As you enter east Lethbridge from Highway 3 you may notice some large green silos to your right. These large green tanks are busy transforming organic waste into power. This is a new form of green energy taking place in our city. The facility, called Lethbridge BioGas, is the largest of its kind in Alberta. They are in the business of sustainable energy and their goal is to see southern Albertans adopt this technology.
Lethbridge BioGas sends out trucks to pick up feed and manure from local farming operations. This waste is brought back to the facility and converted into electricity. The waste is emptied from trucks into the large tanks, which are anaerobic digesters. Organisms naturally break down the substances in the digesters, which in turn, creates methane gas. The gas that is produced runs engines that convert the product into electricity.
Stefan Michalski is the Operations Director at Lethbridge BioGas, who came here from Germany 12 years ago. Since then he has been working to develop the biogas industry in Alberta. “This technology we have employed here in the plant comes from overseas, largely from Germany, where biogas and anaerobic digestion has been part of the landscape there for the last two decades,” said Michalski. He explains that the biogas industry has been tested and perfected in Germany for many years and it is his goal to bring that knowledge to Canada.
Because southern Alberta is home to many livestock, feed and farming operations, there is a lot of waste in the area that can be recycled at the facility. There is a problem though- Lethbridge BioGas is not receiving enough waste to run its facility at full capacity.
Currently Lethbridge BioGas is only powering about 1,500 homes, yet the facility has the ability to power just over 4,000. Michalski says it hasn’t been easy getting farming operations on board. He explains that it is relatively inexpensive for them to deposit waste at the landfill in Lethbridge and many of these companies don’t have the urgency to change their ways.
Some companies are getting on board with going green though and Richardson Oilseed Limited in Lethbridge is one of them. Dave Shannon is the operations manager at Richardson and says Lethbridge Biogas is a reliable company they will continue to work with. Shannon explains there are a lot of benefits to working with them. “There’s definitely a financial benefit to using biogas. Their disposal costs are cheaper than the landfill,” said Shannon. “The other benefit is that this material is being reused for fuel.” He explains that this technology impacts the environment in a positive way by using a renewable energy source. “As industry I think we have to have an increased awareness on the environmental impact we’re having, said Shannon.
Although biogas has become a mainstream form of energy in Europe, southern Alberta is just becoming aware of this technology. Lethbridge Biogas is here to stay and is working to promote the importance of this green form of energy in our community. “From a community perspective, what we’re doing here is largely contributing to climate change goals. We see ourselves as an alternative method to dealing with waste, which in this part of the world is largely landfilling. We can take a good chunk of the material out of the landfill, which prolongs the life of the existing landfill. We keep methane out of the atmosphere. This all helps to have a more sustainable community in the big picture,” said Michalski.
