mass in Ontario at four OPG coal plants. The study found that production of that volume was sustainable in Ontario and would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions at OPG’s coal-fired power-generation facilities. AWARDING CONTRACTS was given the contract to implement the electrical, mechanical and instrumentation services for the retrofit of the coal-fired ma-chinery for use in biomass combustion. INVESTING IN ONTARIO MOVING FORWARD In August, the first contractor was an-nounced for the project. Aecon Group Inc. signed a contract with OPG that would give Aecon’s Industrial division control of the design and construction work for the storage and handling facilities. The con-tract, valued at approximately $85 million, has involved the use of companies familiar with the area, including Taranis Contract-ing Group of Thunder Bay. “We are very pleased to be part of this project,” said Ryan Jones, president of Ta-ranis. “We are happy to work with Aecon on the construction of such a significant project for the future of energy generation in northern Ontario.” In October, the second component of the conversion project was awarded to U.K-based Doosan Power Systems. The full Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) company One of the primary components of the conversion project is the local sourcing of the biomass that will be provided to OPG Atikokan each year. “Part of our agreement with the provin-cial government is that all of the biomass must be locally sourced,” said Fralick. “All of the pellets provided to OPG Atikokan will come from supply agreements with producers in Ontario.” Previously, the 90,000 tonnes of coal used at the power-generation facility was imported from Western Canada. With this new agree-ment in place, the money spent purchasing the estimated 90,000 tonnes of wood pellets will stay in Ontario. With current cost-per-tonne for pellets sitting at around 130 euros, or $165 Cdn., that equates to $14.85 mil-lion in new revenues for the forestry indus-try in northern Ontario. That’s a strong new revenue source for one of Canada’s most de-pressed wood products markets. On Sept. 11, OPG Atikokan burned its last piece of coal. The plant is now shut down while work begins on the conver-sion of the coal-fired equipment to bio-mass. However, current electricity de-mands in the region should allow OPG to meet both residential and commercial power needs with the Atikokan facility shut down. “The short term demand outlook for power is relatively soft, not near the peaks of the early-to-mid 2000s,” said Fralick. “As a result, OPG Thunder Bay should be able to meet any supply short-fall caused by the temporary shutdown of OPG Atikokan that can’t be met by hydroelectric generation in the region. However, importing power from neigh-bouring jurisdictions is also an option.” Work has begun on the construction of the new storage and handling facilities on the west side of the plant as well as on the conversion inside the plant. OPG currently expects that it could be ready to begin accepting biomass by the end of 2013 or, at worst, the first quarter of 2014. • DEHYDRATION SYSTEMS ROTARY DRUM DRYERS Baker-Rullman Triple-Pass Technology remains the superior dehydration system by optimizing operating costs, efficiency, and end product consistency. n n n n Wood Pellets Ag Products Municipal Waste Bio Mass Call: (920) 261-8107 email: [email protected] www.baker-rullman.com 18 Canadian BIOMASS Baker-Rullman Manufacturing, Inc. 4 East Main Street • P.O. Box 67 Watertown, WI 53094 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
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