City’s landfill gas project hasn’t gained any steam after four years

Four years after the city started working on a proposal to convert potent landfill gases into renewable energy, a lack of buyers is being blamed for holding the project up.

In March 2022, city council directed staff to complete a deal with Integrated Gas Recovery Services, which would see Winnipeg become a raw landfill gas supplier and potentially earn millions of dollars of new revenue.

If city council approved the proposed contract, the reuse of landfill gas would then replace the city’s current practice of flaring — burning as it’s released — the vast majority of methane produced at Brady Road landfill.

However, the effort has faced a few different roadblocks since it began.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces involved in this and we’ve had a number of hurdles that we’ve had to get through … It’s still very much in the forefront (as) one of the key projects that we’re trying to get off the ground,” said Michael Gordichuk, the city’s manager of solid waste.

In July 2025, a finished contract was expected by the end of that year or early this year. That target came after a lengthy process to obtain provincial approvals for the work, which city officials linked to the contract being the first of its kind in Manitoba.

Now the city is facing a new delay, since it has yet to find someone to buy significant amounts of the renewable natural gas, which is key to making the project feasible, said Gordichuk.

“The biggest challenge we’re having right now is to confirm a purchaser of the gas, so we’re trying to find somebody to enter into a long-term contract … The other piece that does complicate it a little bit more is we have a commitment with the Province of Manitoba to try and do everything we can to keep that gas in Manitoba. So, we’re trying to exhaust all efforts in that respect,” he said.

Gordichuk said the city faces several challenges in attracting a long-term buyer.

In 2022, the United States government began offering a 30 per cent input tax credit and a $6 to $8 per gigajoule production tax credit to facilities creating this type of renewable fuel in that country. There are no comparable subsidies in Canada, he said.

“Between the two incentives, it makes the U.S. gas and other renewable fuels much cheaper to purchase, so they’re saturating the Canadian market. It costs them less to produce it, they get paid to make it, so it gives them a tremendous advantage over Canadian (renewable natural gas) at this point,” said Gordichuk.

He said renewable natural gas can also be up to 10 times more expensive than standard natural gas, though it does provide a cleaner fuel.

“(With this option) you’re reducing your reliance on fossil fuels (to extract natural gas) … It’s always better to burn the garbage that your grandparents put in the ground 70 years ago than to tap out your fossil fuels that have been in the ground for billions of years,” said Gordichuk.

Despite the challenges, he stressed the landfill gas conversion plan has not been ruled out and remains a priority.

“It has been a long, long process … We’re almost there. We’re going to keep plugging away to make this happen,” he said.

The city no longer has a target date to complete the proposal.

In 2022, the city estimated it could earn about $10.5 million over 20 years by selling the gas. At the time, Integrated Gas Recovery Services was expected to cover the $22-million capital cost for the project, along with $2.5 million per year in operating costs. No cost estimate was released for how much revenue the company would earn.

Coun. Brian Mayes, a longtime supporter of the project, said the delay in completing a proposal has dragged on for far too long.

“Let’s just either wrap it up or move on. It’s been more than four years and it’s incredibly frustrating,” said Mayes (St. Vital).

He plans to raise a motion at the September water and waste committee meeting that directs city staff to either present a final deal for a city council vote by the end of 2026 or end negotiations and “explore other options.”

“Somebody needs to throw the stick of dynamite at this and blow up the logjam. I’m trying to do that,” said Mayes.

The councillor said he understands the financial impact of the project may be different now, though he’s disappointed councillors weren’t previously alerted to that issue.

“If the math has seriously changed, councillors should be briefed on that,” said Mayes.

The city’s initial plan called for the firm to construct, operate, maintain and own the gas-converting facility. The city would sell raw landfill gas directly to the company, which would then convert the gas and sell it.

Initial plans called for the TransCanada pipeline to distribute the converted landfill gas.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga