Atikokan mayor Dennis Brown remains hopeful another postponement of the McGuinty government’s goal to eliminate all coal-fired generating stations will buy time for the 200 megawatt plant in his northwestern Ontario community.
In November Premier Dalton McGuinty accepted responsibility for his government’s ambitious plans to close all coal-fired plants by 2007, blaming it on bad advice from his experts.
That admission stemmed from an Ontario Power Authority (OPA) supply report recommending Ontario’s coal-fired plants stay operating until 2014. The authority said 3,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation must remain operational until 2014 as “insurance” against any delays in acquiring other sources of power.
But Energy minister Dwight Duncan insists Ontario will cut their coal consumption in half by 2011.
“I don’t know if that’s realistic,” says Brown, whose town of 3,400 stands to lose more than 100 well-paying Ontario Power Generation jobs if the station shuts down.
The provincial Liberals haven’t given any date when they will fully eliminate the coal plants, or when the Atikokan Generating Station is slated for closure.
“The longer it goes the better it is in our eyes,” says Brown who considers the 20-year-old plant an efficient-burning public asset operation that’s only midway through its designed operating life. “It’s the newest of all the five coal-fired plants.”
Drought conditions this fall in Manitoba, resulted in low water levels, has significantly reduced Manitoba Hydro’s ability to generate hydroelectricity.
Brown says Ontario was exporting power, some of which was produced at Atikokan, on the grid to Manitoba.
“I think it’s important to have that (plant) out here in northwestern Ontario, because I don’t think the situation is going to improve much.”
Brown says the province should consider adopting and installing clean coal technology to reduce emissions as outlined in the OPA supply resources report. “That’s what we said all along if they were really concerned. Don’t just walk away and close a $750-million asset.”
He argues Atikokan GS burns a low sulphur lignite coal from Saskatchewan and there’s been few environmental concerns over the years.
Ontario is also exploring transmission line projects to allow power to be imported from Manitoba and Labrador.
Four routes across Northern Ontario are currently being studied. They would connect with a large hydroelectric project being proposed for northern Manitoba.
The Province of Manitoba wants to build the Conawapa Generating Station, a $5 billion, 1250-megawatt, hydroelectric generation station on the Nelson River, 90 kilometres downstream from Gillam.
Currently, there’s not enough extra transmission capacity across Northern Ontario to send Manitoba power to southern Ontario.
Brown wants a route option from Conawapa directed through Atikokan to Thunder Bay, and then south. But that route isn’t being considered by the Ministry of Energy’s consultants.
However one carrot Queen’s Park is tossing Atikokan’s way is the possibility of converting the plant from burning coal to forest biomass. It is still in the discussion stage and much work needs to be done before the feasibility of this option is known.
The $4 million study, announced in last spring’s provincial budget, is examining the possibility of using wood waste and peat as a cleaner source of fuel.
A private consulting firm is studying the availability, economics and environmental implications of using this raw material.
If feasible, Brown says the biomass centre would “breath new life” into the community, “because that was our No. 1 goal to keep that plant operating for the economy and tax base of Atikokan.”
