Grape byproducts from a local winery will soon power homes in Ontario's Niagara region, Inniskillin Wines and StormFisher Biogas announced Wednesday.
StormFisher Biogas said it will convert nearly 2,000 tonnes of grape skins and seeds from the Niagara-On-The-Lake winery into energy for homes in the region. The byproducts were previously sent to a landfill for disposal.
"This partnership is a win for residential power consumers, a win for Inniskillin, a win for StormFisher and a win for the environment," said senior Inniskillin winemaker Bruce Nicholson in a release.
Biogas is produced in anaerobic digesters, which speed up the decomposition of organic matter, such as food byproducts, used cooking oil and organic materials such as manure. It is mainly made up of methane and carbon dioxide, and can be used to produce electricity, natural gas and heat.
StormFisher said the use of food and beverage processing byproducts for biogas generation is already popular in Europe and is gaining favour in North America.
Inniskillin's parent company, Vincor Canada, and StormFisher said they were looking at expanding the deal to include Vincor's other wineries in the region.
A release from the two companies did not say how many homes would be fuelled by the power supply.
Vincor Canada is owned by U.S.-based Constellation Brands, Inc. StormFisher Biogas is an Ontario-based developer and operator of biogas installations across North America.
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