Tidewater Renewables, FortisBC sign 20-year RNG supply deal

Tidewater Renewables Ltd.’s majority owned subsidiary Rimrock Renewables Limited Partnership has entered into a 20-year offtake agreement with FortisBC Energy Inc. Under the offtake agreement, FortisBC expects to purchase up to 525,000 gigajoules of renewable natural gas (RNG) annually from a new RNG facility located in Foothills County near High River, Alta.

“On behalf of the entire team at Tidewater Renewables, I want to congratulate our partners at FortisBC for their leadership in climate action and look forward to working together to build a lower carbon future,” said Joel MacLeod, executive chairman and CEO. “The 20-year offtake agreement by FortisBC marks a significant milestone for the RNG Facility and enhances the
economic certainty of the project.”

“One of the many ways we’re working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is by increasing the amount of renewable and low carbon gases, like RNG, in our system,” said David Bennett, director of renewable gas and low carbon fuels at FortisBC. “And it is with agreements like these, with dedicated RNG suppliers such as Tidewater Renewables, that we can make commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our system and for our customers.”

Under the offtake agreement, FortisBC expects to purchase up to 525,000 GJs of RNG annually from the RNG Facility, underpinning 100 per cent of the project’s revenue generation. Upon completion, the RNG facility will convert organic waste into enough energy to meet the needs of more than 5,800 residential homes in British Columbia.

The offtake agreement remains subject to regulatory approval by the British Columbia Utilities Commission, with a decision expected to be received in the first quarter of 2023. Tidewater Renewables expects to start supplying FortisBC with RNG by the first half of 2024.

On April 4, 2022, Tidewater Renewables closed a strategic renewable natural gas and feedstock partnership with Rimrock RNG Inc. and Rimrock Cattle Company. On the back of this announcement, Tidewater Renewables, through its subsidiary Rimrock, has commenced construction of the RNG facility. The RNG facility will convert feedlot manure to pipeline quality RNG with negative carbon intensity scores (meaning it takes more carbon out of the environment than it produces) through an anaerobic digestion and gasification process. Through its feedstock partnership, Tidewater Renewables expects to secure 100 per cent of the project’s feedstock requirements for the entirety of the life of the project by the start of commercial operations of the RNG facility.