In 2008 the Quesnel Community and Economic Development Corporation hired Farallon to conduct a study to identify and evaluate opportunities to recover energy and water from industrial and community waste streams. Farallon’s study was part of a broader bioenergy strategy designed to find economic development opportunities in a region that has been severely affected by the Mountain Pine Beetle.
The study evaluated the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of resource recovery options, which included mining landfills for wood waste, gasification of wood waste to produce green electricity and district heating, anaerobic digestion of industrial and community organic waste to biomethane, and recovering industrial waste heat for district heating.
The study included an estimate of the greenhouse gas reductions which could be achieved, as well as the economic, environmental, and social values of each option. Extensive consultations with industry, local government, and small businesses were required in this study.
The final report recommended a shortlist of projects, of which two are in the feasibility study and business case phase. In April 2009, the Province of BC awarded a $4.1 million grant under the Innovative Clean Energy Fund to the top-ranked project, a community electricity and heating system.