Two companies submitted alternative biomass power projects that would be "viable and offer good value" to Nova Scotia Power, according to an independent study released Wednesday.
Cape Breton Renewable Energy Inc. and Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corp. submitted bids in April to the power company to sell electricity from burning wood waste, according to a review done by Deloitte & Touche at the request of Nova Scotia Power.
The Cape Breton firm proposed a 15-megawatt stand-alone biomass fuel facility, to be located at Harbourside Commercial Park, Sydney.
Northern Pulp submitted a plan to replace its existing biomass facility with a 48-megawatt co-generating plant at its mill in Abercrombie Point, Pictou County. The facility would use a combined biomass and liquid biofuel source. (Liquid biofuel is extracted from agricultural products like the rapeseed plant or soybeans.)
Until Wednesday, Nova Scotia Power wanted this information kept secret, but government regulators forced the utility to disclose some of the contents of the high-level review done on the alternative projects.
Nova Scotia Power is seeking regulatory approval to build its own 60-megawatt biomass plant, with a price tag of $208 million. NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp. would operate the plant, using an old burner at the plant, valued at $80 million.
Hearings into that proposal resume today in Halifax before regulators.
A hearing into that proposal got underway in July, but was halted by review board chairman Peter Gurnham in order to compare the $208-million biomass project with the other renewable energy proposals the utility had solicited.
Deloitte & Touche does recommend one of the projects over the other, but that was blacked out in the 48-page document.
Most of the report has been blacked out, including the detailed analysis done on each project.
Nova Scotia Power says it needs the proposed $208-million biomass project to meet the province’s 2013 renewable energy standards. The utility is targeting an in-service date of 2012 and must get approval from the review board, which rejected a similar bid last summer.
In July 2009, the board said it lacked the authority to approve in advance Nova Scotia Power’s plan to buy electricity from NewPage under the previous proposal.
This time, the utility is submitting the project as a capital expense, not a power purchase agreement. The utility requires regulatory approval for any expenses exceeding $25,000.
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