Construction will begin this year on upgrades to the Fish Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, including an Alberta-first plan to use thermal wastewater energy to heat the buildings and reduce emissions.

The emissions-reducing plan was awarded $7.45 million on Thursday from the Alberta Government’s TIER program, and administered through Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA).

The use of thermal energy is part of a swath of upgrades to be made to the plant over the next six years. First built in the 1960s, the Fish Creek wastewater treatment plant serves more than 280,000 Calgarians.

According to the City of Calgary’s Fish Creek project webpage, the plant requires these critical upgrades as it’s only operating at 30 per cent capacity. Among the new additions are odour control systems, a new sludge facility, an effluent filtration facility, a sludge blender, and a sludge storage tank. They will also add new buildings for admin and electrical.

There will be upgrades made to the UV disinfection facility, stream flow distribution and electrical works.

The new Wastewater Heat Recovery Facility will capture and transfer the wastewater’s warmth through water-sourced heat pumps, the City of Calgary said.

Treated effluent water will go through a heat exchanger and the heat exchanger will transfer the heat from the effluent to a closed-loop system. Heat pumps will then upgrade that heat to generate hot water that will be circulated through the entire plant and provide hot water to HVAC equipment for space heating.

“This funding support enables the City of Calgary to employ innovative low-carbon technology to heat the new infrastructure for the Fish Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade project,” read a quote from Michael Thompson, general manager of infrastructure services with the City of Calgary, in a provincial news release.

“By using heat pumps to recover thermal energy from wastewater effluent as a heat source, the project significantly reduces the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

Plant upgrades are a cost savings: City of Calgary

The total cost for the Fish Creek wastewater treatment upgrades wasn’t provided, however, the Alberta Purchasing Connection bid page shows Graham Construction was awarded the contract on Jan. 29 for a sum of $547,125,000.

The City of Calgary said that’s between $120 million and $200 million less than decommissioning the plant and building elsewhere. It’s also expected to reduce annual emissions by 1,600 tonnes of CO2 per year. That’s the equivalent of roughly 330 cars driven over a year.

The upgrades mean the location will be able to handle future population growth projections for the southeast part of Calgary, the city said.

“In 2021, Calgary City Council declared a climate emergency in support of accelerated action to respond to climate change,” read an email response to questions about the project. 

“The City’s Water Utilities considers heat recovery from wastewater as a critical technology for achieving Fish Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant’s long-term energy neutrality and GHG reduction goals.”

It’s believed to be the first project of its kind for a wastewater treatment plan in the province, the second in Canada.

“To our knowledge, this will be the first wastewater treatment plant in Alberta that uses this technology, which strengthens The City of Calgary’s position as a leader and pioneer in innovation while advancing our climate goals,” the City of Calgary said.

The new heat exchange facility is more expensive than the typical natural gas boiler, the city said. The total cost of that element, according to a release from ERA, is $14.9 million. Funding from the province helps defray that cost. The city said it was thankful for the support.

Alberta Minister of Environment and Protected Areas, Rebecca Schulz, said that Alberta is second to none when it comes to delivering innovation.

“This funding will help empower our industry and businesses to develop the new technologies that are in hot demand around the world,” she said in a prepared media release.

“This funding is a win-win: creating jobs, reducing emissions, and strengthening our economy for the benefit of all Albertans.”