The new biodigestor in Georgian Bluffs is up and running.
Although the 3.8-million dollar facility has yet to be connected to the electricity grid, it is being supplied with organic material and it is producing methane gas.
Soon, the gas will begin to operate a generator that will create power for the grid — up to 24 hundred kilowatt hours per day at full capacity.
The biodigestor will also take nearly 100 per cent of the pathogens out of the septage and other waste being put into it.
That means the byproduct can safely be put back into the earth.
The facility is the first of its kind in Ontario, and Georgian Bluffs and Chatsworth built it with financial help from the federal and provincial governments.
It’s expected that revenues from electricity sales and tipping fees will enable the biodigestor to be paid off within 10 years.
The townships hope to stage a grand opening next Wednesday morning, pending approval from the feds and the province.
Georgian Bluffs Mayor Alan Barfoot says that approval could come as early as Thursday.
Ontario Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell and Environment Minister John Wilkinson have been invited to attend the grand opening.
