Nov 18 2010
St. Marys Paper has signed a 10 year accord with Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to sell the power generated from its proposed biomass fuel plant. It has created a subsidiary company called St. Marys Renewable Energy to build a biomass co-generation plant which can concurrently work with the functioning of St. Marys Paper. The new plant will allow St. Marys Paper to move into bio-economy.
The proposed biomass plant will utilize bark and waste wood as fuel. For assuring a regular supply of biomass to run the plant without interruption, the company has managed a commitment from the Algoma and Northshore Crown Forests to supply 400,000 tons of biomass every year. For meeting the environmental requirements of the Ontario Ministry, the company has chosen the bubbling fluidized bed boiler technology, which can lessen the emission levels. The old boiler installed at the mill will be removed before installing the new boiler to control the emissions. The heat generated by the biomass plant will be utilized for the production process of the mill and the surplus electricity generated will be transferred to the grid of OPA. As per the agreement with OPA, the company will provide 30 MW of electric power. The new plant will offer a total of 555 direct and indirect employments and is expected to commence its commercial production from 2014.
Dennis Bunnell, St. Marys Paper’s ’ CEO, thanked those who were associated with all the processes of approval. He added that the funding for the project will be finalized shortly and the construction of the plant will begin in 2011.