CEO Rod Bryden.
Plasco Energy Group CEO Rod Bryden.
Laura Mueller
OTTAWA - The city’s proposed deal with Plasco would give Ottawa control over how much garbage it delivers to the facility to turn into electricity, and it wouldn’t require the city to invest in building the plant.
Councillors, including environment committee chair Maria McRae, applauded the draft deal released on Dec. 2. It would see Ottawa-based Plasco Energy Group build the world’s first plasma gasification facility in Ottawa, near the Trail Road landfill site.
“It’s great to see us back here today with this potential breakthrough for waste in Ottawa,” McRae said.
The deal will be debated by the environment committee on Dec. 12 and by council just two days later. It would see the city agree to supply 300 tonnes of leftover garbage each day for 20 years.
The facility could be up and running as soon as June of 2013, which would make it the first of its kind in the world, but it would have to be operational by June of 2016 at the latest.
The city wouldn’t be on the hook for the capital investment of constructing the facility. The money would start to flow when Plasco’s operations get underway, and it would cost the city around $9.1 million a year to send waste to Plasco.
That means the tipping fee is $83.20 per tonne of garbage, compared to the $105 Durham Region will spend to send a tonne of garbage to its new incinerator.
It costs the city around $4.7 million net to operate the Trail Road landfill each year, but without reducing the amount of garbage Ottawa residents produce, that landfill will be full by 2035.
Diverting trash through more recycling could add seven more years to the landfill’s life, but Plasco could add an additional 28 years, making the landfill useable until 2070, said Dixon Weir, the city’s manager of environmental services.
Plasco stands to generate 1.4 megawatt hours of electricity per tonne of garbage.
The city could also see up to $18 million in revenue once Plasco hits the $34-million mark. Once Plasco hits $37.4 million, the city would receive 25 per cent of the additional revenues.
Because the city has partnered in the development of the technology since 2005, the city would also make $5 per tonne for garbage that might be processed at future Plasco plants the company might build in North America.
The contract is the best deal the city could negotiate.
“My opinion is that this contract has benefits in it for the City of Ottawa that other municipalities that follow won’t have, quite frankly,” Kirkpatrick said.
After the plant is up and running, there would be a “ramp-up” period of three years, during which Plasco could reduce the amount of trash it takes from Ottawa.
While Plasco only has one chance to do that, the draft contract would allow the city to change the amount it must deliver to Plasco 15 times over the 20-year contract.
The plant will take all of Ottawa’s leftover residential garbage, and it doesn’t have to be sorted or contain certain percentages of different types of waste.
Plasco recently received a certificate of approval for its process from the provincial ministry of the environment.
A more detailed report will be released on Dec. 5, with a lengthy presentation to follow at the Dec. 12 environment committee meeting.
Plasco CEO Rod Bryden said it is unlikely the company would choose to keep its headquarters in Ottawa if the city rejected the deal.
Correction: This story originally contained an inaccurate amount of revenue the city would receive for waste processed by any new Plasco plants that could be built elsewhere in North America.