ecoTECH Energy prepares for site construction of eco-industrial complex in BC

In preparation for what will be one of the most advanced complexes of its type in North America, ecoTECH Energy Group, Inc.has begun to clear the McBride, B.C. Lamming Mills site for its Aquaponics and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility that is slated for construction this Spring.

The Canadian Ministry of Forests and Range has granted ecoTECH its Timber Mark Certificate and a local logging company has been contracted to selectively cut enough trees to allow room for the development, whilst retaining as many trees as possible on the site.

Only trees that must be cut for the complex will be cleared, with the larger, high quality timber sold to generate revenue for ecoTECH. The smaller trees and shrubs will be cleared and stockpiled at a later date to be used as the first biomass fuel for the 5 Megawatt carbon-neutral CHP plant to be built on the site.

The CHP plant will provide the heat and electricity for the Aquaponics facility that will grow “beyond organic” fruits, vegetables and fish for the company’s $61.3-million supply contract with Overwaitea Food Group Limited Partnership (OWFG), a division of the multi-billion dollar Jim Pattison Group of Companies. Product shipments are slated for the second quarter of 2013.

Taking “green” to the extreme, the facility will use the carbon dioxide gleaned from the ecoPHASER exhaust to augment the transpiration effect of the 8 hectares (approximately 20 acres) of oxygen-emitting plants that takes the facility from being “carbon neutral” to having a “carbon negative” output.

Financing for the McBride project has been addressed through a non-dilutive debt financing package from Corpfinance International Limited (CFI) to fund 60 per cent, or $55 Million. CFI is partially-owned by the Canada Life Assurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Great-West Life Assurance Company.