After years of hard work, on January 27, 2011 there was cause to celebrate at Seacliff Energy. The “switch” was officially flipped and the green-energy company began supplying electricity to the power grid.
Seacliff Energy was established in 2007 to invest in the construction of an anaerobic digestion facility that transforms vegetable waste from local farms, greenhouses and local food processing companies into electricity for the Ontario power grid, heat for the greenhouse, and natural fertilizer for the farm market.
The project began with Seacliff looking for an alternative heating source, but as it turns out heat is now a by-product and electricity has become the major revenue source. Seacliff collects waste such as cucumbers and prunings, and vegetable and local food processing waste that is fed into the digester. The digester is a first in Canada. Unlike the single-stage digester that is currently used in some Canadian landfills, which works slowly and only breaks down one type of waste at a time, Seacliff is using a two stage digester. The technology has been proven in Europe and, working similarly to a cow’s stomach, is able to break down up to 80,0000 metric tonnes of waste, consisting of up to 50 types of material.
Despite the technology being used successfully in Europe, the owners had to prove that it would work in the Canadian environment. The Federal Government provided a repayable contribution of up to $2.9 million to help prove the success of the technology. OMAFRA, through the Ontario Bio-gas Assistance Program, contributed $400,000.
The system leaves nothing to waste and is helping Ontario in its quest for renewable fuels for electricity.
— Municipality of Leamington