Trent Hills' council seeks more information on heating system project

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Sue Dickens

---

EMC News -Trent Hills -Ownership in a district heating system operated by a utility set up by the municipality that uses co-generation technology is a vision one local businessman says should be the way of the future for Trent Hills.

Doug Runions, owner of Precision Wood Products, returned to the Trent Hills council last week to ask for their help in accessing funding for a feasibility study.

After a discussion about its viability and whether or not a separate entity should be set up by the municipality, council deferred a decision on this proposal and asked staff to gather more information and come back to council at a future meeting, possibly within a month or so.

This was not the first time Runions has appeared before council on this issue.

When he approached council last year it was decided that staff would work with him on funding applications and on identifying potential government programs available to municipalities for such ventures.

In researching funding program criteria council agreed that the ownership structure of a co-generation facility/ district heating system needed to be better defined.

To assist in their decision regarding their involvement in this project, council directed staff to hire an independent consultant, Larry Doran of Imperium Energy, to assess the project and provide an opinion as to its viability, financial merit, benefits and risks.

Doran suggested a logical next step is a feasibility study to examine this project in detail at a cost of approximately $30,000. Provided this feasibility study is favourable, a second implementation plan with detailed engineering drawings for the co-generation facility and district heating system would be required at a considerably higher cost of approximately $250,000.

The latter is what Runions asked for at last week's meeting, noting it could be funded through programs available that will support up to 50 per cent of this cost if the municipality is a part owner or 90 per cent if the project is owned by other entities.

Setting up a separate en-tity is what he is hoping the municipality will do.

Owning 20 acres of land that sit on a glacial deposit at Tanner Industrial Park that, according to Runions could produce three million gallons of water a day, for 150 years has fuelled his imagination. He has pulled together spreadsheets and statistics as fodder for his project which is estimated to cost $25-to $30-million.

"I've got two huge investors who would love to dump $25 million into this," he told EMC.

This project would provide 15 to 20 full-time jobs directly and between 60 and 100 indirect full-time jobs," he added.

Using hot water from his co-generation project, could save facilities such as the hospital, as much as $40,000 annually in heating costs, he said.

"This is a great opportunity for Trent Hills and Campbellford Memorial Hospital. Not only does this project offer the opportunity to reduce green house emissions and create jobs for the community, it has the potential to reduce the ongoing energy costs for the hospital," hospital CEO Brad Hilker told EMC.

"From the (hospital) Foundation's point of view, we've known about this for a long time. We've obviously been very supportive," said Neil Hannam, Foundation executive director.

"I'm definitely not thinking inside the box," said Runions. "People call me strange, that my idea is being farfetched but I see a complete energy park here one day," he added.

"I see fuel cells, I see hydrogen, I see what are called exchange stations," he said, as he excitedly talked about the day when most vehicles would be using batteries for power, instead of gasoline.

For Runions it's simple. "The study of a district energy system for Trent Hills should become an immediate priority."

"I feel the longer we go without applying for these grants the less chance there is going to be money there. I am giving the town the first chance," he said.







blog comments powered by Disqus