Ontario Power Generation announced April 15 that, having burned the last piece of coal at its Thunder Bay Generating Station, the station will now prepare to run on advanced biomass. Thunder Bay was the final power plant OPG operated using coal as fuel.
“OPG’s cleaner energy mix will play a key role in powering the province’s economic future and protecting the environment,” said Tom Mitchell, OPG’s President and CEO. “Close to 100 per cent of the electricity we produce will come from our nuclear and hydroelectric facilities that are virtually free of climate change or smog causing emissions.”
Starting in 2015, the Thunder Bay station will produce power from dispatchable advanced biomass fuel. OPG said it was seeking suppliers for the fuel and is negotiating a power purchase agreement with the Ontario Power Authority.
“This is a new beginning for the Thunder Bay station that puts OPG at the forefront of an exciting new area of the electricity industry. Our biomass conversions will also allow us to develop expertise than can be exported worldwide,” Mitchell added.
Northwestern Ontario’s Atikokan Generating Station will soon become North America’s largest 100 per cent biomass-fuelled power plant using a more traditional biomass fuel.