Nova Scotia Power is asking government regulators to make a decision by Oct. 1 on its controversial proposal to spend $200 million on a power plant fuelled by burning waste wood in Cape Breton.
The utility says it needs the decision in a timely manner to purchase key equipment for the project and to ensure it meets the in-service date of late 2012, the company states in pre-evidence filed with the Utility and Review Board.
The regulator has scheduled a hearing starting July 26 into the biomass project at the board’s offices in downtown Halifax.
Under the proposed project announced earlier this month, Nova Scotia Power is the key investor and papermaker NewPage Port Hawkesbury will be responsible for the operation and supplying the biomass to the mill for the next 40 years.
Nova Scotia Power says it needs the energy to meet the provincial government’s new regulations to curb pollution.
By 2011, five per cent of Nova Scotia Power’s energy generation must come from renewable sources constructed in the province after 2001, and owned and operated by independent power producers.
In 2013, the requirement increases by an additional five per cent and must come through generation from Nova Scotia Power-owned facilities, the utility says.
This proposed biomass project will comply with the new renewable energy regulations and is the "lower-cost solution for Nova Scotia Power customers," the utility states.
Nova Scotia Power is seeking board approval to purchase land, a boiler and other related assets from NewPage, and installation of a steam generator and other equipment, at a total cost of $208.6 million, it states.
Nova Scotia Power says its analysis has found the "long-term cost" of generation from this source is similar to or less than the cost of comparable wind generation and a lower cost than the previous proposal that was rejected by the board last July.
The board said then it lacked the authority to approve in advance Nova Scotia Power’s plan to buy electricity from NewPage.
This time, Nova Scotia Power is submitting the proposal as a capital expenditure, not a power purchase agreement. The utility requires board approval on any capital expenditures exceeding $25,000.
The new plant will require 650,000 tonnes of biomass a year. Half of the biomass will be harvested, and about half of that will come from Crown land as outlined in a new 25-year deal the Dexter government and NewPage signed to allow the harvest of 170,000 tonnes annually.
Anyone wishing to have formal standing at the hearing to present evidence or cross-examine witnesses must notify the board by April 28.
No comments:
Post a Comment