| Goodbye Coal, Hello Biomass |
| Friday, 10 September 2010 18:16 | |||
 Toronto, Ontario, September 2010 — Ontario is turning off coal and switching on biomass at its Atikokan Generation Station - a move that will support jobs in the community and takes the province another step closer to eliminating all coal-fired generation by the end of 2014.
“This announcement is a major milestone for our Atikokan biomass project. Atikokan can provide Ontario with a new source of renewable energy and Northwestern Ontario with economic benefits for years to come. This is good news for OPG, Northwestern Ontario and the province." The conversion will create up to 200 construction jobs and help protect jobs at the plant. It will also support an estimated 20 to 25 jobs in Ontario related to the production of wood pellets and sustain other jobs in the forestry sector. The project is expected to take up to three years to complete. Once converted, the plant is expected to generate 150 million kilowatt-hours of renewable power, enough to power 15,000 homes each year. This initiative supports the province's five-year Open Ontario Plan to create new opportunities for jobs and growth, as well as investing in infrastructure and clean energy. "The Ontario government is building a strong, reliable and clean energy system that Ontarians can count on to power their homes and businesses. We are planning for a coal free future by converting Atikokan to biomass so that Northwestern Ontario will have a stable and clean supply of energy to fuel their economy," said Brad Duguid, minister of energy. "This announcement is a major milestone for our Atikokan biomass project. Atikokan can provide Ontario with a new source of renewable energy and Northwestern Ontario with economic benefits for years to come. This is good news for OPG, Northwestern Ontario and the province," said Frank Chiarotto, Senior Vice President, Thermal, OPG. Ontario has directed the Ontario Power Authority to negotiate an agreement to buy the biomass power generated at Atikokan from Ontario Power Generation, the plant's owner, a critical next step in the process of converting the plant to biomass. In 2009, generation by Ontario's coal plants was at its lowest level in 45 years, and down more than 70 percent from 2003. Biomass generation is a very flexible fuel which makes it a good backup source of power for this particular region, which has variable hydroelectric conditions. Annual fuel requirements for the plant, made up of dried wood pellets, are estimated to amount to less than one percent of the total allowable forest harvest in Ontario each year. SOURCE: Atikokan Biomass Project (Visual courtesy cleanbreak.ca)
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