Business View Magazine l November 2022

56 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 11 Skilled labor is another area that can impact the biogas industry’s growth. With multiple sectors competing for the same labor pool, the CBA is exploring different avenues to generate interest in the industry from the younger generation of skilled workers. “Some trades are merging from traditional trades to the renewable field,” says Green. “As this happens, some workers are turning their attention to biogas and RNG. This interest is also trickling into learning institutions looking towards bodies like the CBA to get additional content for their curricula to communicate the finer details about the industry.” Other areas in the biogas/RNG industry that might benefit from the traditional trades are instrumentation, electrical, mechanical, and biological systems, all of which can be staffed with tradespeople from conventional sectors. Cost and Adoption considerations Emerging renewable energy sources often must meet and overcome market forces to gain mainstream adoption, with the main challenge being cost. Solar did this over a decade, with the cost of installing solar falling from $8.50 per watt in 2009 to $2.77 in 2022, a sixty-seven percent price decline. Green admits this is a significant hurdle the biogas industry must scale, even though it isn’t the largest. “At this point in the industry’s timeline, it’s still early days, so the technology does not come cheap,” she says. “When you build a biogas plant, not only are you fronting all the investment for the components and infrastructure that you’re building, but the asset will live on for ten, twenty, possibly 30 years, depending on all the components that you would need to replace.” To offset some of these costs, various government programs are in the offing to support the production of green energy. “As interest in achieving emission reductions in Canada heightens, various government- sponsored programs are helping make green solutions more economical.” “Another critical driver is the more progressive regions and businesses that have created programs that specifically allow fixed price long term engagements with developers and producers, offering a monetary value that can help support the long-term longevity of plants.” While Green admits that the cost of biogas/RNG is higher than traditional gas, she also points out