Stettler energy centre touted

STETTLER — Greenlab Energy Canada pitched its plans for a regional energy centre to County of Stettler officials on Wednesday.

And Reeve Vic Carey was impressed with what he heard.

“It’s absolutely huge. I don’t know how else to put it.”

Carey and other members of council had earlier heard details of Greenlab’s proposal for the county. These included a canola processing facility capable of converting 625,000 tonnes of seed annually into canola oil and meal.

The oil would be used for the production of biodiesel and other applications, while the meal would be processed into livestock feed and help generate electricity.

Also planned is a business park where related industries could operate, a campus and research centre focusing on canola and alternative fuels, and a hospitality centre with a hotel and convention facilities.

Greenlab initially planned to develop its energy centre on land owned by the Town of Stettler, but after a year of planning determined that the property wasn’t suitable. Soon after, it applied to the county to rezone a quarter section north of Stettler to allow for the development.

County council passed first reading of a rezoning bylaw on Aug. 13, with a public open house scheduled for next Thursday and second reading set for Nov. 13.

Greenlab officials, as well as representatives of its engineering firm and an equity partner, also met with Crowfoot MP Kevin Sorenson on Wednesday. Later, during a formal presentation, Don Lynn, the company’s vice-president of Canadian operations, described the appeal of the Stettler area.

He said more than 80 per cent of the approximately nine million tonnes of canola produced each year in Canada originates in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“Stettler is centrally located in the heart of this canola belt,” he said, noting that the nearest crush facilities are in Fort Saskatchewan, Lloydminster and Lethbridge.

Current crush capacity in Alberta and Saskatchewan is about 3.6 million tonnes, he said.

“That means over 50 per cent of the canola production from these two provinces is leaving here without any value adding.”

Canada has lagged behind the United States and Europe when it comes to production of alternative fuels, largely because of the availability of fossil fuels here, said Lynn.

Construction of the regional energy centre’s first phase — which would include the crushing, processing and electrical generation facilities — will take about 10 to 12 months, he said. It would employ 60 to 70 people when operational, and should be ready to accept canola from the 2010 crop.

He said the second phase, which would include the business park, is expected to be in place by 2011, and the campus and research centre should be completed by 2012. The hospitality facilities would likely be added as a third phase in 2013 or 2014, he said.

It’s too early to comment on the project’s cost, said Lynn.

In addition to canola meal, the electricity generation process is expected to consume landfill waste and raw sewage.

“When fully operational, this stage will have the ability to generate green energy from almost all of the region’s landfill wastes and local sewage output,” said Lynn.

Robert Morrison, Greenlab Energy Canada’s CEO, said the company is part of an international group of related companies focused on agriculture and energy. Projects like the one proposed for the County of Stettler is nothing new, he added.

“We have in our corporate group five of these projects going on at one stage or another.”

He said most of the equipment for the facility would be brought in from Austria in component form.

Morrison stressed the importance of a regional energy centre for farmers and for the environment.

Carey agreed its impact could be significant.

“The spinoffs and everything would be huge to the agricultural community,” he said, adding that the county and town would both benefit.

Contact Harley Richards at

hrichards@reddeeradvocate.com