Transactions
Selkirk advises on project financing for 200,000 GJ on-farm renewable natural gas project in British Columbia
Selkirk Advisory Group Inc. (“Selkirk”) is pleased to announce closing of an approximately $30,000,000 non-recourse construction-to-term project financing for an on-farm renewable natural gas (“RNG”) project (the “Project”) to be located in Chilliwack, British Columbia and owned by Dicklands Farms. Selkirk acted as financial advisor to Dicklands Farms for purposes of the transaction.
The Project will utilize a mixture of on-farm organic waste (51%) and off-farm organic waste (49%) to produce more than 180,000 gigajoules per year of pipeline quality RNG for sale to FortisBC Energy Inc. pursuant to a 20-year biomethane purchase agreement. It will also produce nitrogen-rich fertilizer pellets for sale to the local agricultural market, by converting a portion of the digestate by-product of the anerobic digestion process. The Project will be operated and maintained by Dicklands Farms and be located on agricultural land owned by Dicklands Farms.
Dicklands Farms is a 75-year-old family-owned group of agricultural businesses, operating over ~400 acres in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia. Current operations include a dairy farm with 360 milk cows, 110 calves and 420 heifers, poultry broiler farm, and agricultural equipment dealership. The Project will represent an integral piece of the Dicklands Farms enterprise, diversifying revenue and facilitating long term sustainable manure/nutrient management and production of low carbon milk.
“Developing our biogas project has had a lot of twist and turns. When it became evident that project finance was the best solution we were introduced to Selkirk. This was our first-time using project finance, so we required a lot of education on the process. The Selkirk team did a great job explaining and then taking what we brought them and turning it into a marketable package. We are thankful that we connected and were able to work together with Selkirk on our project. We would without a doubt use the Selkirk team again” George Dick, Partner of Dicklands Farms.
“Selkirk is grateful to have had the opportunity to assist Dicklands Farms with this financing and development of this project generally. Our team believes the biogas/RNG sector, and on-farm projects in particular, are a critical part of Canada’s transition to a more sustainable economy. Biogas and RNG are rapidly growing parts of the alternative energy space globally and an area of focus for the Selkirk team. We are extremely fortunate to have fantastic clients like Dicklands and appreciate the trust of the Dick family, with whom we hope to continue to work for many years to come.”
