The Kahnawake First Nation (KAHNAWAKE) and the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (pronounced [ɡahnaˈwaːɡe] in Mohawk, is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke situated on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal.
In addition to small community vendors, KAHNAWAKE’s economy has been able to thrive through the sale of tobacco products and online gaming and requires larger electrical infrastructure to support continued economic and community growth.
4 SKIES believes it has the right solution for supplying electricity for KAHNAWAKE’s current and future needs through a Tri-Gen-Zero™ system. After an initial assessment of the KAHNAWAKE opportunity, 4 SKIES proposes a holistic solution involving the installation of a 22 MW natural gas power plant to supply up to 17 MW of electricity to the vertical farm operation and 5 MW to the KAHNAWAKE community. Once completed, the natural gas generators will provide sustainable power, heat, produce, and jobs to the community while producing zero emissions.
To supply the power to the community and vertical farm, 4 SKIES proposes to install 4 identical gas turbine units, each with an operational capacity of 5.5 MW per hour.
A fifth unit of the same capacity will be installed as a back-up to ensure a continuous, uninterrupted power supply should one of the units need to be shut down for repair or routine maintenance.
With a typical annual production factor of approximately 912,500 kilograms (kg) per 10,000 m2, the KAHNAWAKE Project is expected to produce 25,361,094 kg (25,361 metric tons) of quality organic produce per year. To produce 25,361,094 kg (25,361 metric tons) of quality organic produce per year will require a vertical farm operation comprising 995,743 ft2 (92,508 m2) of floor space. This can be accommodated by constructing two vertical farm buildings, each with five stories and a structural footprint of 107,640 ft2 (10,000 m2), with enough space for processing and shipping. In addition to the gas plant, 4 SKIES proposes to install up to 1,000 kW of roof-mounted thin-film PV solar panels to take advantage of the nearly 215,278 ft2 (20,000 m2) of vacant roof space on the two vertical greenhouse buildings.
Though each of the gas power plants operate at 31% efficiency, reclaiming heat from the generators for the vertical farm buildings results in a much higher energy efficiency from a single fuel source. Some of the rejected heat can also be stored or used to enhance anaerobic digestion of plant waste using anaerobic digesters (not shown), which can easily be installed to take care of the plant waste on site. Anaerobic digesters not only process organic waste from the vertical farms, but they produce biogas that can be converted into natural gas to be consumed by the gas plants. They also produce bio-fertilizers from the residual digestate material which can be used as plant food and bedding material.
The KAHNAWAKE Project will be located on a 5-hectare site situated on the KAHNAWAKE First Nation Territory. The site is owned by Irvin Goodleaf, a private investor and resident member of the KAHNAWAKE First Nation, approximately 5 kilometers south of Montreal, Quebec, and 1.5 kilometers north of the City of Chateauguay, Quebec.
The project will also be able to produce and supply water to the community and to its own vertical farms by processing water from a nearby flooded gravel pit. Approximately 2.2 million gallons (10,000 m3) of water per day can be extracted from the water source and treated and filtered using a reverse osmosis (RO) purification system to create clean, drinkable water.
Through its strategic partnerships, 4 SKIES will be able to contribute to the sustainable development of KAHNAWAKE’s community and economy in a way that is consistent with traditional Indigenous values and worldviews.
