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ZooShare awarded contract to sell into Ontario grid


July 5, 2013  by Press release

July 5, 2013, Toronto, Ont – ZooShare Biogas Co-operative Inc. recently announced the company has received a Feed-in Tariff (FIT) contract offer from the Ontario Power Authority for its 500-kilowatt biogas plant, to be built at the Toronto Zoo in 2014.

ZooShare – which plans to generate renewable electricity from zoo animal manure and food waste – is funding the project through the sale of bonds to Ontarians who want to help the environment, support the zoo, and at the same time make a healthy return on their investment. The bonds pay seven percent per year for seven years, but purchasers need to be a co-op member to get them. Membership costs $100, and those who join the co-op before September 1 will get $100 off the first bond purchased, essentially making membership free.

Each year, the co-operatively owned biogas plant will turn the zoo’s manure output (equal to the weight of 15 pandas) and food waste from grocery stores around the Greater Toronto Area into enough clean, renewable electricity for 250 homes. Resulting emission reductions are equivalent to removing 2,100 cars from the road, and annual contributions to the zoo will total at least $50,000. 

To date, ZooShare’s 127 members have invested $460,000 and the co-op has secured $172,000 in grant funding from the Community Energy Partnership Program and the Toronto Community Foundation.

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“The ZooShare Biogas partnership will incorporate a unique community funding model that will showcase waste management best practices to the public. This closely aligns with the Toronto Zoo’s education and sustainable environmental programs,” said John Tracogna, CEO of the Toronto Zoo.

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