A proposed “green technology industrial park” that would combine “beyond organic” food production with power generation is being hailed as a potential economic boon for the McBride area, bringing with it the possibilities of hundreds of new jobs and a more reliable supply of electricity for the village.

Representatives from ecoTECH Energy Group will hold a job fair in McBride on Saturday, Oct. 29, as they look to fill up to 140 temporary, construction-related positions in the short term and another 150 permanent jobs they expect to need once the company’s proposed facilities are up and running.

Those facilities include a 430,000-sq.-ft. greenhouse, a 108,000-sq.-ft. aquaculture system, an 18,000-sq.-ft. cold storage and flash-freezing facility, another 18,000-sq.-ft. vermiculture/fish-food facility, as well as a 1,000-sq.-ft. building for filleting and processing fish. The initial phase also calls for a five-megawatt biomass generating plant to power the facilities, which are designed to provide a sustainable, local source of food – both produce and fish.

The idea behind the whole project is “aquaponics” – a combination of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants in water rather than soil). The technique has ancient roots but the modern approach is still relatively new, although existing operations have proven to be “extremely productive,” according to ecoTECH CEO Colin Hall.

“For example, in Mirabel, Que., which isn’t exactly the sunniest place on the planet, they’ve been achieving 500 heads of butter lettuce per square metre, per year,” Hall said. 

The proposed McBride facility will use technology from the same manufacturer, HydroNov, as is used at the Mirabel facility. It will also employ plant nutrition techniques developed by Dr. Nick Savidov, a leading aquaponics researcher.

“The 17 nutrients you get from the systems using aquaponics are far and away more rounded and more nourishing for plant life than the traditional NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) chemical contributions that we’ve been using over the last 100 years or so,” Hall said. “The result has been healthier plants and no disease in the plants.”

The planned cycle for the McBride facility, roughly, works like this: the fish are fed organic food and, as their excrement builds up in the aquaculture, the water is circulated into the hydroponic greenhouse, where the plants absorb the excretions, from which they derive their nutrition. This process also cleanses the water, which is then further disinfected with a UV system before being topped up with two per cent fresh water and recirculated into the aquaculture. This closed-loop system, according to ecoTECH, has many advantages.

Aside from the high rate of yield in the greenhouse, Hall said the resulting fish and produce – which he describes as “beyond organic” – is of high quality and excellent taste. The types of plants and fish grown can also be customized to meet market demand or client specifications and, because the system is completely indoors, there are no seasonal fluctuations in price or availability.

Hall said ecoTECH is looking for local contractors in the immediate term to help with the construction projects, which he expects to begin next year. During construction, the company also plans to start training employees to work in the aquaculture, greenhouse, vermiculture and processing facilities. All told, the need could add up to hundreds of jobs.

“When we get running we’ll be looking for everybody from the kind of people who carry the qualifications to run our laboratory to the kid packing lettuce, just starting out,” Hall said.

McBride economic development officer Margaret Graine said the project would bring a huge boost to the local economy. She noted that the re-training of area workers, who lost jobs due to the recent slow-down in the forestry sector, would be particularly helpful for the village.

Graine will help host the job fair on Oct. 29 and had been working with ecoTECH previously in an effort to bolster the electricity supply in McBride.

“The village has unstable power delivery due to being located at the end of the electricity distribution line,” she said. “EcoTECH’s project will stabilize the power supply to the village and reduce business financial losses and strengthen the local economy.”

Due to some delays in working with BC Hydro, however, Hall said the construction of a 24-megawatt power plant has turned into “Phase 2” of the project, with the aquaponics facility and its five-megawatt plant being the first phase.

Graine said McBride has attracted the attention of companies with a focus on environmental sustainability due to an economic development plan the village developed five years ago.

“The plan was based on the public survey conducted at the same time,” she said. “People were very adamant that we need to preserve the beauty of the valley. The decision was made to concentrate our efforts on attracting a ‘green’ technology industry.”

When it came to ecoTECH, specifically, Hall said connecting with McBride was a “happy accident.”

“We first went there to work on the mill – on the gasifier they had at the mill, on a repair job – and ... we realized there was not enough power being generated so we started off looking for a power project,” he said.

That has since “evolved” into the aquaponics project, Hall added, but the company remains committed to the larger-scale power project as well.

While both the village and ecoTECH are optimistic about both phases of the project coming to fruition, Graine said it’s not yet a done deal as “there are a number of hurdles to overcome.” Those include some additional amendments to bylaws and zoning as well as broader challenges such as the nature of capital markets across the globe.

“The roller coaster ride of the global economy may derail our plans,” Graine said. “After all, they are a public company relying on public investment.”

The Oct. 29 job fair will take place at the Robson Valley Community Centre in McBride from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, visit www.mcbride.ca and click on the green “JOB FAIR” button in the lower, left-hand column of the main page.