Nova Scotia's main energy regulator has given a $208 million biomass project the green light.
Nova Scotia Power and NewPage Port Hawkesbury had asked the board to approve a plan to burn 650,000 tonnes of wood a year to fire a steam generator at a paper mill in Cape Breton.
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Boardhas now said that the project can proceed, but it outlined several conditions in an effort to protect customers from footing the bill for any overrunning costs or a plant failure.
Nova Scotia Power plans to burn wood waste—bark, chips and scrub logs—to fire the steam boiler at the NewPage paper mill in Port Hawkesbury.
The utility company argued that it needs the biomass plant to meet the province's requirement that 10 per cent of its energy supply comes from renewable sources by 2013, and 25 per cent by 2015.
The project is expected to produce about 60 megawatts of power—about three per cent of the province's total electricity needs, or enough to supply energy for about 50,000 homes—while meeting the mill's needs at the same time.
Conservationists have warned that there might not be enough resource to supply the plant for the life of the project, which could lead to unsustainable harvesting. However, the board said it was persuaded by the applicants that there is a sufficient supply of wood in the province.
Nova Scotia Power, a private company, will spend $200 million towards the project, while NewPage will construct and operate it, and supply the fuel.
Headquartered in Miamisburg, Ohio, NewPage Corporation is the largest coated paper manufacturer in North America, based on production capacity, with $3.1 billion in net sales for the year ended December 31, 2009.
Halifax-based Nova Scotia Power provides more than 95 per cent of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to 483,000 customers in Nova Scotia.
