By: Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
Council voted unanimously at its February 23 meeting to move forward with plans for a multi-million dollar Chatham-Kent Waste to Energy Project, in partnership with Greenfield Global.
If approved, a facility will be built on Bloomfield Road, across from the Greenfield Global plant in West Chatham.
An industrial anaerobic digester will convert industrial, commercial, and institutional organic waste into Renewable Natural Gas, diverting material from landfills and producing a clean energy source.
Council also approved establishing a Municipal Services Corporation and beginning the loan process for the proposed plant.
The project has been in the development stage between the municipality and Greenfield Global since 2021.
The current estimated cost is $160 million.
The report to Council stated that approximately $60 million in funding has been secured from upper levels of government – $45 million from the Federal Clean Fuels Fund as an interest-free loan repayable over 10 years once profitable; $10 million in combined grant and loan funding for Greenfield Global through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Organic Waste to Energy program; and $5 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
The municipality and Greenfield Global would be responsible for $40 million in an equity investment – $16 million from Chatham-Kent and $24 million from Greenfield Global.
The remaining $60 to $70 million will have to be financed through debt, including up to $25 million from the Ontario Infrastructure and Lands Corporation.
The report to Council said the municipality could not borrow the entire required debt amount from Infrastructure Ontario.
The project team decided to recommend borrowing $25 million from Infrastructure Ontario for a term of 15 or 20 years, with the remaining debt secured through private commercial sources.
While the prospects of the municipality resorting to debt financing for the project may raise some red flags in the community, Mayor Darrin Canniff said it is a great deal for Chatham-Kent.
“Yes, we’re going to borrow money, but we’re going to make a profit doing it,” Canniff said. “This investment, subject to the financials, will more than cover the interest, and we will be getting additional revenue, which will offset taxes.
“The taxpayer will benefit from this project.” Canniff declared.
Municipal staff will begin the administrative work to create a Municipal Services Corporation under the Municipal Act, with the initial board consisting of Gord Quinton, Chief Financial Officer; Dave Taylor, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer; and Darren Galbraith, General Manager of the Public Utilities Commission.
If approved, the waste entering the plant will mainly come from the Greenfield Global facility and the Chatham-Kent PUC.
Local curbside organic waste will not be going to this facility.
“I know that was the thought four years ago when we started, but that became way too expensive an option,” Quinton told. “It would add about $40 million to the project.”
“If we were forced by upper levels of government to have a curbside organic program, it would be much cheaper to truck it down the 401 to somewhere else,” Quinton said.
A final engineered estimate by administration and the Greenfield Global Board of Directors will be made available before a scheduled final vote at the April 27 Council meeting.
Complete financial projections, including a third-party auditor review, will accompany the final report.
