The City of Prince George has been flushing a potential revenue stream down the toilet, city council heard on Monday.

The city’s Lansdowne Wastewater Treatment Plant currently produces an average of 3,000 cubic metres of biogas each day, city utilities manager William Wedel said. Of that, 1,800 cubic metres are used to run the plant and the remaining 1,200 are flared from the plant’s smokestack.

“A portion of the gas is used on site,” Wedel said. “The rest of it is literally going up in smoke.”

It’s likely all the gas from the wastewater plant would go through the process, he added, reducing emissions from the gas burned to operate the plant as well.

A renewable natural gas conditioning plant would allow the biogas to be piped into the city’s natural gas system – reducing emissions at the wastewater plant and reducing greenhouse gasses by displacing conventional fossil fuel natural gas, he said.

Fortis BC has expressed interest in buying the gas and even offered to build and run the plant itself, Wedel said. However, under such a deal, Fortis wouldn’t pay the city for the gas.

If the city builds and operated the gas conditioning plant, Fortis was open to negotiating a five-to-10-year contract to purchase the gas, Wedel said. The projected revenue for the city was estimated between $400,000 and $800,000 per year.

Renewable natural gas currently sells for $30-35 per gigajoule, compared to $4.50 per gigajoule currently for conventional natural gas.

The project is eligible for funding under the federal Clean BC Communities Fund, which would cover $9.4 million of the $12.9 million project – leaving the city to pay $3.5 million from the sewer capital reserve, Wedel said.

“Those are the numbers they (Fortis) have provided us,” Wedel said. “The (city’s) consultant has also crunched the numbers, and that’s what the number is.”

The natural gas utility company has committed to its 30 By 30 plan to reduce customer greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, Wedel added, and renewable natural gas is a big part of that plan.

Coun. Brian Skakun said he likes the idea, but he is concerned if the project costs the city more than expected, or the revenue is less than expected, the taxpayers could be left on the hook.

“These are just some estimates right now,” he said. “I am hopeful, but being hopeful doesn’t pay the bills.”

The city has built “a fairly health contingency” into the budget for the project, and the city is able to use a pre-packaged system it could reduce the costs further, Wedel said.

“It is a way to bring money into the city without raising taxes,” city finance director Kris Dalio said.

Based on the estimated revenue, a five-to-10 year deal would cover the city’s costs for the project, Coun. Garth Frizzell said. After that, the city would come out ahead.

“I think it is a good idea, just for the merits for the environment,” he added.

Council voted unanimously to approve adding the project to the city’s capital plan and applying for the federal grant. The project would only go ahead if the city receives the grant, which isn’t expected to be announced until the summer of 2023.

If the city goes with a pre-packaged system, it could be installed and operational in under a year, Wedel said.

“We are just venting potential money out the stack, that smells bad,” Coun. Terri McConnachie said. “It’s not only good environmentally, it is good financially.”