BIOMASSupdate PELLETS POWER ATIKOKAN Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is officially switching from coal to biomass at its Atikokan, Ontario, generating station. The conversion will create up to 200 construction jobs, 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 kWh of renewable power, enough to power 15,000 homes each year. The government of On-tario has directed the Ontario Power Authority to negoti-DRYDEN DEVELOPS DISTRICT HEATING ate an agreement to buy the biomass power generated at Atikokan from OPG, which is a critical step in the process of converting the plant to bio-mass. The annual wood pellet requirement for the plant is estimated to amount to less than 1% of the total allowable forest harvest in Ontario each year. Atikokan is located ap-proximately 200 km north-west of Thunder Bay. wo entrepreneurs in Dryden, Ontario, are partnering with German-owned Lambion Energy Solutions to create Far North Biomass. Accord-ing to reports in Northern Ontario Business and the Dryden Observer, Far North Biomass will develop a 2-MW district heating system fuelled by wood pellets and other woody biomass to supply heat to commercial busi-nesses within a 12-km ra-dius. The venture includes a plan to build a wood pellet and briquette plant in Ignace, 100 km east of Dryden, pending the results of the provincial wood supply competition, due this fall. The district heating system, which has an estimated completion date of fall 2011, will sup-ply hot water to commer-cial buildings that modify their heating systems to accommodate the new system. Surveys have been sent to the surrounding businesses to gauge the interest in joining the district heating system. CanadianBIOMASS 5
Canadian Biomass September/October 2010: Page 5
