Council approves grant to study renewable fuel refinery

A company is eyeing the Regina area to build a refinery that would produce billions of litres of renewable fuel each year.

The proposal is from True North Renewable Fuels (TNRF). The company would also construct what is referred to in a report from Economic Development Regina (EDR) as an “agriculture value-add complex.”

That would consist of a canola crushing plant and a canola protein extraction plant, which would be capable of producing nearly a million tonnes of canola oil annually.

According to EDR’s report, the entire complex would cost about $2.4 billion to build, creating more than 2,500 construction jobs. Three hundred jobs would be permanent once the plant is operating.

Regina Mayor Sandra Masters said the city stands to gain a significant investment with plenty of economic benefit.

“If that goes ahead, we would have hundreds of millions — in excess of a billion dollars — and potential spinoff of more, relative to creating renewable diesel, renewable aviation fuel and there’s some spinoff in terms of protein meal as well,” Masters said Thursday during the Greg Morgan Morning Show.

The EDR report estimates the complex would generate $1.85 billion in gross economic output, supporting close to 2,000 jobs and $76 million in wages.

“If the additional investments from the protein extraction and the potential crushing plant are realized, the combined economic direct and indirect impacts is $4.45 billion for the city creating 4,569 employment opportunities,” the report said.

On Wednesday, city council voted to give TNRF a $1-million grant that would cover a small portion of the cost to conduct a study that would “define the capital cost requirements, permitting and detailed construction planning as well as all other matters necessary to secure the construction and operational financing of the project,” states the report from EDR.

The total cost of the study would be $21 million. But by giving TNRF the grant, the city would allow the company to access $5 million from the federal government’s Agriculture Clean Technology Fund. The rest of the study would be paid for through private sector investment.

“We don’t have a lot of risk with this considering the way we’ve structured the deal. The $1 million is convertible into a fuel contract with the city,” Masters said. “If it goes ahead and it’s not in the City of Regina, we’ll get a penalty built into the program as well.”

EDR’s report ties the development to the federal government’s plans to regulate the carbon intensity of fuels, known as the Clean Fuel Standard.

Regulations require five per cent renewable content in gasoline and two per cent renewable content in diesel and heating oils. Over time, producers will need to reduce the carbon intensity of their fuels.

Combined with carbon taxing, “this regulatory action is creating both a need and a market for renewable fuels such as would be produced by the proposed facility.”