The University of British Columbia has snagged $11.2 million in new government funding for a sustainability initiative.
The university is partnering with Vancouver-based Nexterra Systems and General Electric (NYSE:GE) on a $27 million, biomass-fuelled, heat and power generation system that will generate enough clean electricity to power 1,500 homes and reduce the university’s natural gas consumption up to 12%.
(See “Nexterra powers ahead with biomass system at UBC ” – BIV Business Today, August 17, 2010.)
Victoria allocated $4.5 million to the project last year. B.C.’s Minister of State for Climate Action John Yap announced an additional $1 million in funding February 24. Ottawa announced the same day that it would contribute $10.2 million.
The project is expected to eliminate up to 4,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year from UBC’s Vancouver campus – the equivalent of taking 1,100 cars off the road.
This is part of UBC’s plan to reduce institutional greenhouse gas emissions from 2007 levels up to 33% by 2015, 67% by 2020 and to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
“The total cost of the project includes infrastructure upgrades, the cost of a new building that has laboratory space in it and so on. The cost of the equipment – the technology – inside it is a portion of that. It’s not the entire cost,” Nexterra CEO Jonathon Rhone told Business in Vancouver February 24.
He estimated that the project would be worth between $10 million and $15 million to his company, which generates between $40 million and $50 million annually.
“This is an incredible example of partnership that helps establish B.C. as a leader in the development of creative energy solutions,” said Yap.