A renewable natural gas project launched at the Hébertville-Station landfill site

The Residual Materials Authority (RMR) of Lac-Saint-Jean and the company Waga Energy announced Wednesday the signing of an agreement for the implementation of a renewable natural gas (RNG) production unit instead of technical landfill (LET) of Hébertville-Station.

Ultimately, the infrastructure would make it possible to recover biogas to supply Énergir’s natural gas distribution network.

This is an important source of revenue for the Régie, between 12 and 17 million over the duration of the 20-year agreement. So it’s still very interesting. It will also reduce citizens’ bills. It’s a project where there are only winnersquantified Luc Simard, president of the RMR and prefect of the MRC by Maria-Chapdelaine.

For the moment, the project’s feasibility study benefits from maximum funding of $300,000 from the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy (MEIE), the press release said. A grant application will also be submitted for the equipment.

Commissioning is hoped by the end of 2026.

Waga Energy already has a production unit in the region, at the former Matrec landfill site in the Chicoutimi sector. She has been in office since December 2023.

The LET d’Hébertville-Station serves the 50 municipalities in the region.

Replacing the flare

Concretely, the company will install a purification unit, called WAGABOX, which will transform the biogas produced by waste in the ground into renewable natural gas.

Currently, biogas from the landfill site is burned by a flare, just like at the old Saguenay landfill site in Laterrière. We therefore want to recover these gases and send them back into the natural gas network.

We are going to install a WAGABOX which will be capable of treating up to 1600 cubic meters. So, the WAGABOX will be made up of different containers and inside that, we will remove all the impurities that are inside the biogasexplained Julie Flynn, president and CEO of Waga Energy.

An energy injection station will distribute the GNR.

These gases will go directly into the Énergir network, the pipes of which are two kilometers further away.

People who are supplied with natural gas for, for example, heating or cooking will be able to benefit from it.

Several advantages

According to Luc Simard, the operation has financial and environmental advantages.

This is the equivalent of 10,000 tonnes of CO_² per year that we will still remove from the atmosphere. It is the equivalent of 3000 houses that we can heat, if we make an equivalent with the hydroelectricity that we currently have in Quebecargued Luc Simard.

This will be the company’s fourth of its kind in Quebec.

The RMR believes that there will be very little impact on the neighborhood.

The project is part of the Quebec government’s 2030 Green Economy Plan.

In the case of the production unit located in Saguenay, we are talking about the equivalent of 1,000 residences.