Vishnu, the one-horned rhino at the Toronto Zoo, can produce enough manure in a year to power a home for 72 days and Oshawa Power has stepped up to help turn that waste into a resource.

Oshawa Power is joining ZooShare — an energy co-operative with more than 600 members — and the Toronto Zoo in building a biogas plant at the zoo’s Scarborough location.

“It’s a waste-to-energy solution, so basically it takes organic waste, most of which comes from the zoo … it diverts it away from landfill,” explained Ivano Labricciosa, Oshawa Power CEO and president.

The plant will use an anaerobic digester where bacteria will break down animal waste as well as other organic waste, like food waste, in an oxygen-free environment.

The bacteria then release methane and other biogases, and those greenhouse gases are fed into a 500-kilowatt combined heat and power engine. The plant will offset a third of the zoo’s electricity use and generate electricity equivalent to powering 500 homes.

The leftover solid waste from the process becomes fertilizer.

Labricciosa explains that 75 per cent of the material to feed the plant will come from the zoo, most of it in the form of manure.

“It really is about the zoo poo, it’s the majority of what we’re converting from waste to energy,” he said.

Oshawa Power is investing roughly $4 million in the project through the company’s non-regulated arm, meaning that the dollars do not come from hydro ratepayers. That investment means a 49 per cent stake in the project with an option to eventually become the majority owner.

The company already partners with Ontario Tech on a campus geothermal project and is working on other energy projects both within Oshawa and outside of it.

“This one stood out because it was halfway there,” said Labricciosa. “It needed a little bit of expertise in operating, a little bit of investment in terms of money and a little bit of innovation in terms of thinking outside of the box and bringing a solution to the forefront … we bring the expertise of running a district energy system.”

The federal government is also contributing $2.7 million to the project from the Low Carbon Economy Fund.

The annual environmental benefits of the project include diverting 30,000 tonnes of manure and food waste and preventing the equivalent of 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

“What we like about this project is it’s the first in Canada for a zoo and it’s the second in North America, so it’s a very unique application and it’s not limited to zoos,” said Labricciosa.

The technology has the potential to divert organic waste from landfills and incinerators in municipalities and prevent farm waste from entering waterways.

“It has definite applications in Durham Region and outside Durham Region, and that’s where a lot of our discussions are going,” said Labricciosa.

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The project is currently in construction mode and is expected to be completed in the latter part of 2020.

“We’re excited because it’s part of our showcase and the innovation that we do,” said Labricciosa. “We’re a believer of this technology and this solution and being part of it.”