Projects to convert landfill waste into energy will utilize existing infrastructure to heat homes, power businesses and fuel vehicle fleets while reducing carbon emissions
CALGARY, AB, April 28, 2021 /CNW/ - Today, Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge) (TSX: ENB) (NYSE: ENB), Walker Industries and Comcor Environmental, announced a partnership to jointly develop renewable natural gas (RNG) projects across Canada.
The partnership aims to transform landfill waste into carbon-neutral energy, which will be injected into local natural gas distribution networks across Canada, reducing the overall carbon emission of the gas supply used to heat homes, power businesses and fuel vehicle fleets.
The partnership brings together industry leaders with a proven track record in energy transportation and landfill gas utilization to deliver a cost-effective solution to help advance Canada's energy transition to a low-carbon future.
"Renewable natural gas is a low-carbon fuel that will help us get to net-zero," said Seamus O'Regan, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources. "Companies like Enbridge are working to lower emissions, create jobs, and develop new opportunities to transform landfill waste into low-emitting energy."
The industry estimates over 33 Petajoules (PJ) of landfill derived RNG can be generated in Canada, potentially supplying energy to approximately 400,000 homes for a year. This joint venture intends to unlock this RNG potential and offer commercially viable solutions to landfills ready for development. The Niagara RNG facility in Ontario, which is currently under development for in service in 2022, is the partnership's first landfill RNG project, and several additional projects are in the works.
Canada has over 10,000 landfill sites, generating approximately 30 Megatonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) annually, accounting for 20 percent of national methane emissions. Only one third of those landfill emissions are captured and utilized and the rest are emitted directly to the atmosphere. Repurposing this under-utilized resource has the potential to divert 20 Mt of CO2e, which is comparable to diverting 850 million trash bags of organic material from landfills per year.
"RNG presents a tremendous opportunity to provide affordable, reliable, and low-carbon fuel for Canada's increasing energy needs, leveraging our existing energy system and stimulating economic growth," said Cynthia Hansen, Executive Vice President and President, Gas Distribution and Storage, Enbridge. "For example, the Niagara RNG facility project will generate enough clean energy to heat 8,750 homes and reduce GHG emissions by 48,000 tonnes per year. This is just one example of how Enbridge is connecting consumers to renewables sources of energy. Together we're leading the way to a green energy future."
"We are excited to be partnering with leading companies like Comcor Environmental and Enbridge in innovative technologies to provide resource recovery solutions," said Geordie Walker, CEO of Walker Industries. "By converting waste into a clean energy resource, we are able to build a sustainable future. This partnership provides significant benefits to our environment while stimulating the local economy with jobs."
"The production of RNG from landfill gas and its use in existing energy infrastructure is a pathway towards greenhouse gas reductions and a greener energy future in Canada," said Walter Graziani, President of Comcor Environmental. "Comcor Environmental is proud to partner with Walker Industries and Enbridge to make this first of its kind partnership a reality. We look forward to helping Canada meets its climate change goals through RNG project development across the country."
About Enbridge Inc.
Enbridge Inc. is a leading North American energy infrastructure company. We safely and reliably deliver the energy people need and want to fuel quality of life. Our core businesses include Liquids Pipelines, which transports approximately 25 percent of the crude oil produced in North America; Gas Transmission and Midstream, which transports approximately 20 percent of the natural gas consumed in the U.S.; Gas Distribution and Storage, which serves approximately 3.8 million retail customers in Ontario and Quebec; and Renewable Power Generation, which generates approximately 1,750 MW of net renewable power in North America and Europe. The Company's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol ENB. For more information, visit www.enbridge.com.
About Walker Industries
Walker Industries is a fifth generation, family-owned Canadian company that has operated from its base in the Niagara Region for more than 130 years. With facilities across Canada and the United States the company employs more than 1100 people in environmental waste management and recovery, renewable energy, paving and construction, aggregates, and emulsions. For more information about Walker visit walkerind.com.
About Comcor Environmental Limited
Comcor Environmental is a privately held Canadian company founded in 1985 and based in Cambridge, Ontario that has developed around a nucleus of specialized personnel serving a broad range of clientele including both the private and public sectors. With projects across Canada, the firm is a recognized specialist in the engineering, design, testing, approval, construction, operation & maintenance, and monitoring of landfill gas collection, flaring and utilization systems. For more information visit www.comcor.com
Forward-Looking Information
Forward-looking information, or forward-looking statements, have been included in this news release to provide information about Enbridge and its subsidiaries and affiliates, including management's assessment of Enbridge and its subsidiaries and affiliates' future plans and operations. This information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as ''anticipate'', ''expect'', ''project'', ''estimate'', ''forecast'', ''plan'', ''intend'', ''target'', ''believe'', "likely" and similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking information or statements included in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the partnership between Enbridge, Walker Industries and Comcor Environmental (the "Partnership"), including its plans and projects, including the Niagara RNG facility, and expected benefits.
Although Enbridge believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable based on the information available on the date such statements are made and processes used to prepare the information, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements. By their nature, these statements involve a variety of assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Assumptions regarding the expected supply of and demand for energy, and the prices thereof, are material to and underlie all forward-looking statements, as they may impact current and future levels of demand for Enbridge's services and for the Partnership. Similarly, exchange rates, inflation, interest rates and the COVID-19 pandemic impact the economies and business environments in which Enbridge operates and may impact levels of demand for Enbridge's services and the Partnership as well as the cost of inputs and are therefore inherent in all forward-looking statements. Due to the interdependencies and correlation of these macroeconomic factors, the impact of any one assumption on a forward-looking statement cannot be determined with certainty. The most relevant assumptions associated with forward-looking statements on potential or announced projects and projects under construction, including estimated completion dates, include the following: the COVID-19 pandemic and the duration and impact thereof; the impact of customer, government and regulatory approvals on construction and in-service schedules and cost recovery regimes; the availability and price of labour and construction materials; the effects of inflation and foreign exchange rates on labour and material costs; the effects of interest rates on borrowing costs; the impact of weather; and the ability of our joint venture partners to complete and finance proposed projects.
Enbridge's forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to those risks and uncertainties discussed in this news release and in Enbridge's other filings with Canadian and United States securities regulators. The impact of any one risk, uncertainty or factor on a particular forward-looking statement is not determinable with certainty as these are interdependent and Enbridge's future course of action depends on management's assessment of all information available at the relevant time. Except to the extent required by applicable law, Enbridge assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made in this news release or otherwise, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Enbridge or persons acting on Enbridge's behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.
For more information, contact:
Leanne McNaughton
Enbridge, Senior Communications Advisor
Phone: (1) 519-619-0370
leanne.mcnaughton@enbridge.com
SOURCE Enbridge Inc.
