Congratulations to General Motors Canada, on the official commissioning of the new landfill gas cogeneration facility at the General Motors
Powertrain Facility on Glendale Avenue in St. Catharines.
On Monday, Aug. 31, General Motors Canada and partners celebrated and announced the completion of a $28-million cogeneration investment at the GM St. Catharines Propulsion plant that will enhance the operation’s competitiveness by lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing future energy costs. The cogeneration program is expected to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 70 per cent while protecting the engine and transmission plant from rising electricity and carbon costs.
Thanks to a partnership with Walker Industries, the 6.4-megawatt cogeneration project will use renewable landfill gas delivered by pipeline from the nearby Walker landfill to generate electricity from newly installed engines at the plant. GM will also recover the thermal energy that is typically considered waste to power and heat its St. Catharines Propulsion Plant.
St. Catharines City Council unanimously supported this project in December 2016 by resolution, which has a direct relationship to economic and environment pillars objectives in the City of St. Catharines' strategic plan – attracting public and private investment, supporting local businesses and reducing the community’s carbon footprint.
This $28-million investment not only improves the plant’s long-term competitiveness but sets an example – environmental leadership with a target to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by about 70% and lower energy and carbon costs moving forward.
The project was facilitated through partnerships with Alectra Utilities, Integrated Gas Recovery Services and the Ontario Centres of Excellence. It is the first complete renewable landfill gas industrial cogeneration system in Ontario delivering renewable landfill gas from an offsite source.
GM and its partners were joined at the COVID-appropriate celebration event by Mayor Walter Sendzik, Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley and local MP Chris Bittle.