Gaz Metro applauds Saint-Hyacinthe’s natural gas initiative

Gaz Métro applauded its partner’s initiative, the city of Saint-Hyacinthe, the first municipality to recover organic materials via biomethanization and to use the renewable natural gas produced to meet its energy needs.

The city of Saint-Hyacinthe is Gaz Métro’s first client municipality to have selected natural gas to fuel its municipal vehicles. Earlier this fall Gaz Métro signed an agreement in principle with Saint-Hyacinthe for the purchase of surplus renewable natural gas produced by the city’s biomethanization centre for injection into its distribution network. This project was submitted to Québec’s Régie de l’énergie for approval. To date, it is the organic materials of citizens and businesses of the 23 municipalities taking part in the brown bin program that could be processed to supply the first municipal vehicle fleet with renewable natural gas, in addition of being the privileged source of energy to heat municipal buildings.

Martin Imbleau, Vice President, Development and Renewable Energies at Gaz Métro, said “Choosing this energy to fuel vehicles is another step toward the intelligent and systematic recovery of organic materials in Québec, by creating an infinitely renewable cycle. We hope that this project will inspire many other municipalities to follow suit.”

Natural gas generates savings on fuel of up to 40% compared with diesel, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions up to 25%. By opting for renewable natural gas as a fuel, GHG emissions decrease by more than 99.4%, considering the fuel’s complete life cycle.

To date, there are 350 natural gas vehicles on Québec’s roads.

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Press Release; Image: ville.st-hyacinthe.qc.ca