Going inexperienced: Solar panels added to $325M renewal of Buffalo Pound

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BUFFALO POUND – Rows upon rows of latest photo voltaic panels will quickly come on-line on the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant following an unveiling this week of latest components included in a serious renovation. within the facility.

With the $4-million photo voltaic challenge now full, the panels are lined up on the entrance to the remedy plant close to Moose Jaw and are anticipated to be operational by the top of this month.

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Board member Patricia Warsaba, talking at a gap Tuesday, referred to as the addition a “very thrilling” and “necessary step the company is taking in decreasing its carbon footprint.”

“While this represents a small portion of the vitality used within the plant, it’s a vital step and we anticipate it to result in an enlargement into extra inexperienced vitality initiatives sooner or later,” mentioned Warsaba, joined by Moose Jaw Mayor Clive Tolley and Regina Mayor Sandra Masters, whose cities share joint possession of the Buffalo Pound plant.

“It’s an necessary factor that we proceed to work on by way of utilizing different vitality sources to save cash and scale back emissions,” Masters mentioned.

The panels are anticipated to supply 1,800 kilowatts of electrical energy, which can feed right into a self-contained grid.

President and CEO Ryan Johnson mentioned the wattage is equal to 400 houses and roughly 10 % of the plant’s complete annual electrical energy use – about what is predicted from the plant’s new administrative constructing, which additionally a part of the change.

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“We need it to be a inexperienced constructing, so the purpose is to generate sufficient energy to cowl that,” Johnson mentioned throughout a tour Tuesday.

Buffalo Pound is predicted to recoup the price of the photo voltaic set up in 15 years by lowered electrical energy prices.

The addition of photo voltaic technology is only one of many components of a serious restoration challenge that started in 2022 and surpassed 50-percent completion.

Crews have been working to widen and deepen lagoons, improve pumps and add new clarification, filtration and remedy techniques for the previous two years. Some new applied sciences are already underway, reminiscent of a swap to dissolve air flotation as a clarification course of.

Much of the work is to extend operational capability and resilience, in addition to extra contingency room to assist proceed supply within the occasion that some techniques go offline.

Johnson mentioned the improve will prolong the lifetime of the plant one other 25 to 30 years.

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“If one thing goes flawed we’ve to repair it and perhaps we will not produce water, with the brand new plant we are able to bypass any mistake,” Johnson mentioned. “These are the issues that assist us sleep at evening.”

Water service continues as ordinary all through the challenge, with minimal disruption as crews work to switch the infrastructure. Johnson mentioned the older techniques, some put in within the Sixties, are extra “fragile” than anticipated.

“We are cautious how we do issues,” he added.

A vivid yellow tower crane nonetheless faces the ability, however Johnson expects it to vanish by the top of 2025 when development ends. A ribbon slicing ceremony is predicted in spring 2026.

For Regina, future work previous the goal will embrace including fluoride, as authorized by council in 2021, and orthophosphate to cut back lead publicity from pipes or service connections.

Buffalo Pound can be working with a University of Regina researcher to discover a marketable use for the 7,500 tonnes of sludge byproduct produced through the clarification course of.

Sludge is presently dumped within the Moose Jaw landfill at a value of about $1 million per yr, however analysis is wanting into turning it right into a ceramic-like product that may be reused and was compost. If profitable, Johnson mentioned it might flip from an expense right into a “vital” line of enterprise for the plant.

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The Buffalo Pound was established in 1955, final upgraded to this commonplace within the Nineteen Eighties. The complete value for the present challenge is $325 million, funded by federal, provincial and two municipalities.

The City of Regina has agreed to contribute as much as $100.7 million.

lkurz@postmedia.com

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