Waga Energy and Énercycle have started on-site renewable natural gas (RNG) production at the Saint-Étienne-des-Grés landfill in Quebec, Canada, following completion of commissioning of the WAGABOX® facility installation.
The WAGABOX® is a prefabricated proprietary technology developed, owned, and operated by Waga Energy.
The facility will inject up to 130 GWh (approx. 445,000 MMBtu) of RNG equivalent to 12.4 million cubic meters yearly into Énergir's grid, enough renewable natural gas to heat approximately 8,000 homes, according to Waga Energy. The project consequently helps meet the sustainability goals set forth by Quebec's government in its "Plan for a Green Economy.”
Operated by Énercycle, the RNG produced will be sold to the local utility firm, Énergir, and injected directly into its natural gas distribution system.
Énercycle is the first North American operator to benefit from this innovation that is currently in operation at 15 landfill sites. This is the first WAGABOX® facility that Waga Energy has commissioned overseas. Three additional facilities are being built in Canada and two others in the United States and Spain.
The WAGABOX® unit was built in Quebec by Waga Energy's Canadian subsidiary with support from local contractors. Waga Energy builds the cryogenic distillation unit, which removes oxygen and nitrogen from LFG, in France as this is a critical component of the WAGABOX®.
The Quebec government provided financial assistance for the project through a $3,000,000 CAD (€2m) grant to assist with interconnection and project costs through the Technoclimat program.
According to Mathieu Lefebvre, CEO of Waga Energy: "The successful commissioning of North America's first WAGABOX® unit marks a key milestone in the rollout of our solution designed to tackle climate change and promote the energy transition.
"This first unit outside France is also Waga Energy's largest, proving our ability to deploy our innovative technology throughout the world, drawing on our teams' expertise and the dynamism of local ecosystems."
"A shared commitment to preserving the common good provided the basis of cooperation with our partners in Quebec, particularly Énergir and Énercycle, which proved pivotal to the success of this fantastic project rooted in the region and anchored in the long term.”
Michel Angers, president of Énercycle, said: "We are extremely proud to be the first in Canada to benefit from a WAGABOX® unit. For us though, the main reason this is such a great moment is that we can at last fully tap the potential of the biogas produced by our landfill site and turn an expense into a revenue stream."
Renault-François Lortie, Énergir vice president, customers and gas supply, added: "Our target of 10% RNG injection by 2030 is a minimum requirement. When it comes to achieving this goal, every project counts and makes a difference, as we have seen in Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, which is now Quebec's sixth project injecting RNG into Énergir's grid.
"Once again, collaboration and innovation have provided the basis for a successful project. I'd like to pay tribute to the work of Waga Energy and Énercycle: their expertise and vision are getting things moving in the Quebec RNG industry.”
Waga Energy commissions its first RNG facility in Canada
