The company is forming partnerships with North American food and drinks firms to allow it to use the organic by-products of farming and food processing operations to produce and sell renewable energy.
Ryan Little, vice president of business development, explained to FoodProductionDaily.com that the partnership agreements StormFisher makes with the processing companies benefit the companies as well as the environment.
"Food processors typically send their by-products to landfills or compost sites. Since we are able to extract more value from these by-products by using the energy they create, we are able to charge a lower disposal fee than landfill and compost sites".
He added that another advantage afforded processors was environmental stewardship: "This allows food processors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions since the gases that are produced by these by-products are used to create energy, rather then seeping into the atmosphere."
In August 2007, StormFisher announced a partnership with beef processing plant Gencor Foods Inc, whereby it would use the plant's processing by-products. StormFisher said that Gencor's "high energy products …will enhance the production of clean, renewable biogas energy"
A month earlier StormFisher had reached a similar agreement with Gordon Food Service Canada, a unit of North America's largest privately held foodservice distributor.
Ryan Little said: "Ontario is on the edge of a biogas boom, and agreements with innovative partners like GFS Canada will allow both our companies to seize this opportunity and do the right thing for the environment…By creating clean, renewable biogas energy with their by-products, GFS Canada is keeping waste out of landfills, reducing Ontario's reliance on coal-fired power plants and supporting a transition to sustainable energy".
In November 2007, StormFisher announced a partnership with Inniskillin Wines to create renewable electricity from grape by-products. 1000 - 2000 tonnes of by-products that were previously destined to landfill would be given a new use as a fuel. The methane gas produced by the decomposition of grape pomace will be captured and used to generate power for homes in the Niagara region.
This month, StormFisher announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Denham Capital Management, a Boston-based private equity firm, to develop a Cdn$350m (€237m) portfolio of biogas projects. The company said it intends to develop about 30 biogas projects across North America over the next 5 years. Its first three facilities are currently in early development in London, Drayton and Port Colborne, Ontario and will be operational by 2009.
StormFisher believes that the partnership with Denham Capital affords "the largest dedication of capital to a biogas-focused renewable energy platform to-date" and that the partnership will bring about a reduction of greenhouse gases "equivalent to removing approximately 26,000 average-sized cars from the road".
The company explained that the natural decomposition of organic matter releases a combination of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere methane is capable of trapping 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide and is considered a major contributor to global warming.
"When captured and used to generate energy, however, methane serves as an excellent fuel and provides the dual environment benefit of being sequestered from the atmosphere and displacing traditional, polluting forms of energy like coal."
