A lack of power capacity in the county is being blamed for the end of a gas management deal at the Essex Regional Landfill -- adding $90,000 in cost onto the taxpayer.
Integrated Gas Recovery Services Inc. ended its agreement with the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority after trying for years to get Ontario Power Authority approval to convert methane gas at the landfill into electricity and sell it back to the grid. However, the Kingsville transformer station couldn't handle the project according to the OPA.
"Any of the large projects that would tie in there have not been approved," says Michelle Bishop, finance and administration manager at the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority.
IGRS had been handling the required gas management at the landfill at no cost to the regional solid waste authority until ending its agreement with the EWSWA at the end of 2015. The company will continue to manage the methane at the landfill, but with the agreement ended, the EWSWA will now have to pay for the work.
Bishop says the company's decision to end the agreement didn't come as a shock.
"We really were not that surprised. We've had a very good relationship," says Bishop. "We understand from their standpoint if there's little expectation of generating a revenue from this then at some point they have to decide that it's not in their best interest to continue dealing with us."
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