Biomass
Ontario’s forests and farms represent vast, renewable supplies of carbon neutral biomass fuel-wood wastes, agricultural residues and purpose grown crops.
This domestic fuel could be used at the Thunder Bay Generating Station and the idle Lambton Generating Station could be easily converted to biomass and natural gas to generate electricity when needed.
Apart from recycling these existing provincially-owned generation and transmission assets and reducing GHG emissions, domestically-sourced biomass fuel would improve our province’s energy security, create thousands of jobs in forestry, agriculture and transportation and help stimulate Ontario’s emerging bio-economy.
A Canadian Success Story!
Ontario’s Atikokan GS is the largest 100% biomass fuelled station in North America and the Thunder Bay GS conversion to advanced biomass is the first in the world.
- The European Union, including member countries like the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Germany are aggressively making biomass a bigger part of their energy mix. Besides creating jobs, GHG emissions are lowered, fossil fuel imports are reduced, and energy security is improved.
- Converting idle generating units at Ontario’s Lambton Generating Station to biomass and natural gas would deliver many social, economic and environmental benefits.
- Recycles valuable, provincially-owned generating stations and transmission lines that are already sited, built and paid for.
- Costs far less than building new natural gas plants and transmission lines.
- Displaces carbon-emitting natural gas generation.
- Reduces Ontario’s natural gas imports and helps improve energy security.
- Provides continuing social and economic benefits for the communities that want to keep these stations operating.
- Supports existing Ontario jobs and small businesses in the forestry, agricultural and transportation sectors.
- Creates thousands more full-time jobs
- Investments in biomass fuel supply chain infrastructure are estimated to create about 3,500 jobs and contribute about $600 million annually to Ontario’s GDP. Source: Pembina – Biomass Sustainability Analysis Summary Report, April 2011.
- Retains economic benefits for Ontarians rather than big, multi-national developers.
