It’s the question many residents have been asking, when will REN Energy break ground on a new Renewable Natural Gas facility in Fruitvale?
President & CEO of REN Energy Phil Viggiani said the company is crossing all the t’s and dotting the i’s as they submit their second engineering report to get the green light.
“It’s a fairly expensive procedure and although we have the project money set aside, we’re just picking up some extra development capital to finish the front-end engineering design in detail to guarantee the project,” said Viggiani.
“Doing these permits, buying the land, and working with Fortis with the 20-year contract all have to kind of happen at once. It’s kind of hand-in-glove, so there’s not a whole lot of room for failure points, so we’ve always wanted to make sure we’ve got everything in place.”
The project has been plagued with delays and concerns, but Viggiani said they’re tackling the hurdles head-on.
“We actually had the debt portion of about $102 million for the actual project in Fruitvale, and we have two equity partners, that are going to pick up the other $104 million,” said Viggiani.
“The engineering is the number one priority and yes, there are a lot of moving parts, about 460 failure points through the last three or four years,”
REN is looking to confirm a town hall meeting with locals in September, so, stay tuned for more information as it comes in.
Viggiani said the team will cover where they’ve been, where they’re going and the timeline to get there.
“And the economic impact to that whole area, which is majorly substantial,” said Viggiani. “15 to 17 million economic impact per year in that whole region.”
REN anticipates, that if all goes to plan, they’ll be breaking ground in early 2026, followed by 18 months to commissioning for a January 2027 goal to begin pumping gas.
Kootenay-Monashee MLA Steve Morissette held the title of Fruitvale mayor when the project was first flagged two years ago, and said his support still stands strong.
“This has been many years in the making, and things like the pandemic, supply chains, and reluctant investors have caused delays, but I think it’s great that the folks from REN are at the point of starting the project,” said Morissette.
“It’s nearly a quarter-billion-dollar project- 225 million, it’s a huge project, a huge boost to our area providing clean energy and I’m looking forward to it moving forward.”
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