Alternative energy gets a $29M boost in Alberta

Edmonton, AB – Alberta research to turn municipal waste into power is taking a major step forward with a $29-million boost from the province. The funding will be used to help design and build a facility to convert municipal waste into electricity.

“The focus is on developing an environmentally-responsible and economic alternative to landfills for the disposal of municipal waste,” says George VanderBurg, acting minister of innovation and science.

Building and operating the facility is the third and final phase of a project led by the City of Edmonton’s Waste Management Branch and the Alberta Energy Research Institute. The facility will be used to evaluate the performance of gasification technologies using different feedstocks, and to demonstrate the commercial viability of the optimized system.

Located at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre, the gasification demonstration plant will provide other possible users with information to support decisions on converting feedstocks such as municipal, industrial, agriculture and forestry wastes into clean energy.

The $29-million injection comes from Alberta’s Energy Innovation Fund and covers one third of the project costs, over four years.