Central Huron looks to Europe for Bluewater Youth Centre plan

The former Bluewater Youth Centre property, south of Goderich, has sat vacant since 2012 when the juvenile jail closed.

The Municipality of Central Huron bought the 300-acre property in 2021 for $5 with ambitious plans to bring industry, and the 200 lost jobs, back to the area.

“We want high paying, highly technical jobs for our youth, so there’s a future here. That would be a great thing to have happen,” said Central Huron Reeve Jim Ginn.

Two years ago, Central Huron signed a letter of intent with Carlsun Energy out of Saugeen Shores to build a hydrogen production facility at the former Bluewater site.

Financing has derailed those plans, so the municipality is going back to the drawing board for what to do with the site that also encompasses 2,000 feet of Lake Huron shoreline.

Enter, GreenLab from Denmark.

Officials with Danish company GreenLab pitched Central Huron council on the possibility of a “green energy circular energy park” for the former Bluewater Youth Centre property along the shores of Lake Huron on April 4, 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

The public-private partnership has developed a “green and circular energy park” they believe could be a model for the world.

Products like agricultural waste, cornstalks, and grass are turned into energy, biogas, and hydrogen.

“It’s really about a circular economy, a circular industrial park, where one industry’s processing end product is a feedstock for another one,” said Ginn.

It’s a concept the Danish government is eager to export, having started the process for similar “green and circular energy parks” in parts of the United States.

“We have to start looking at energy in a very serious way, so if we could produce our own and support the agricultural sector, which is the largest sector in our county, there’s a lot of great opportunities,” said Vicki Lass, director of Huron County’s Economic Development Department.

Officials with Danish company GreenLab pitched Central Huron council on the possibility of a “green energy circular energy park” for the former Bluewater Youth Centre property along the shores of Lake Huron on April 4, 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

However, neighbours of the former Bluewater Centre are worried about potential odours and noise from any potential industrial park, green or not.

“There are people that live very, very close by, so this is a major concern for them. If they can’t sit out at night on their deck like they have for 50 years and enjoy the night,” said Bob Szusz, who lives near the Bluewater property and is spokesperson for the Bluewater Concerned Ratepayers Group.

Ginn said the Danish GreenLab model is one of many options they are exploring, but it does check many boxes council wants for the property, which include good jobs, along with agricultural and environmental spin-offs.

“The whole idea of a circular economy is where the world is moving to, I think, so it would be great to be the first site of this kind in Canada,” said Ginn.

At Thursday’s special council meeting, Central Huron council directed staff to look at the cost of a feasibility study into the possible creation of a GreenLab-type site at the former Bluewater Youth Centre property.