At a time when Quebec wants to stimulate biomethanation, the company Viridis Environnement believes that it should bet on the development of an industry that reflects the size of Quebec farms rather than being charmed by the siren song of mega-factories already planned in the province.
“You know, biomethanation is the same as making beer. It’s a very simple fermentation reaction, when you think about it,” says Simon Naylor, vice-president of the Quebec company. The largest manager of fertilizing residual materials (MRF) in the province embarked on biomethanation last year by creating KERIDIS, a company resulting from a partnership with the French engineering firm Keon.
“If we want to produce more energy and digestate [résidus servant de fertilisant], we just have to process more material by increasing the size of the tank, he summarizes. So yes, we could build big factories to process more slurry or manure, but we think that small is beautiful, as the English expression says. »
Even if the Government of Quebec does not currently limit the size of biogas plants planned in the province, Viridis wants to limit itself to biogas plants that can process 60,000 tonnes of organic matter.
“In fact, these are already big biomethanizers for the type of agriculture that we practice here,” observes the agronomist. A pigsty “generates between 3,000 and 7,000 tonnes of slurry,” he continues, suggesting that between 10 and 20 farms will be needed.
It is imperative that the production of energy from residues from agriculture be harmonized with agricultural production in Quebec, according to him: “Biomethanization megaprojects, why not? But where there are mega-farms, which is not the case in Quebec. »
Contrast of scales
Mr. Naylor does not hide it: he is reacting to the arrival in Quebec of Nature Energy, this Danish giant of biomethanation which operates a dozen plants in Europe and which is eyeing Quebec.
The duty reported in early June that the company planned to inject more than a billion dollars to build up to ten biogas plants. Each of them could process close to 600,000 tonnes of organic matter, such as slurry and manure, annually.
The size of such installations is disproportionate in proportion to the type of Quebec agriculture, judge Simon Naylor. For example, pig farms generally have between 3,000 and 5,000 animals. “If you go to the United States, you can find up to 250,000 pigs on a farm. Here, a dairy farm is generally between 60 and 200 cows. In the United States, it can be 10,000 cows. »
And what about Denmark, where Nature Energy comes from? Pig production is both higher and concentrated in a smaller territory: the Scandinavian country produces more than 13 million animals, almost double the production of the province.
Obviously, he continues, the size of the projects may seem attractive: “But if Quebec chooses the model of mega-factories, that risks becoming a problem over time. First of all, in terms of transport, harvesting so much slurry will require “travelling in several regions” to harvest the raw material. “These are trucks that run on diesel and emit CO2. »
“Furthermore, we must not hide it, these are factories that have problems of social acceptability [à cause des odeurs]. Quebec society wants to make green energy, yes, but when it’s in its own backyard… People want a plant that’s up to what their neighborhood can absorb,” he says.
In Brittany, the Danish giant Nature Energy, which is working on a project called XXL to treat 600,000 tonnes, is facing opposition from citizens who are worried about the impact on the quality of life of surrounding municipalities.
Renaud Lapierre, CEO of Viridis Environnement, maintains that as the biomethanation sector prepares to take off, it is crucial that projects are not considered solely from the perspective of energy production: “ Projects must harmonize with environmental considerations and the regional economy. »
If the environmental aspects are not taken into consideration, he says, the initiatives can become counter-productive: “If we want to go and get only energy, we can – why not, when you think about it – go and cultivate land agricultural crops and use the production to put them in its biomethanizer to make energy. It happened in Germany. It’s time for choices, he believes.