By Stephanie Froese

SaskPower welcomes mill power

Mar 9, 2011 | 5:31 AM

The Prince Albert pulp mill re-opening would produce more than just pulp.

As contingent to an agreement going through, surplus energy produced at the mill site would be sold to SaskPower.

Robert Watson, president and CEO of SaskPower, said while it’s not a hugely significant contribution to the province’s overall power consumption “every little bit helps.”

The mill is expected to produce up to 80 megawatts to sell back the crown corporation. At the moment Saskatchewan consumes on average 2,800 megawatts and has peaked at 3,100 megawatts.

Watson said as the province is in a growth sprit, the need for power is going to double in the next 10 to 15 years.

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Right now, SaskPower has the capacity to go to 4,000 megawatts if required.

Watson said they are taking a balanced approach to grow that power. In addition to extending life at the Queen Elizabeth plant and getting the Boundary Dam plant carbon-capture ready, SaskPower has contracts out for more gas generation and are reviewing long-term projects for hydro regeneration.

Watson said now they are looking to add biomass to their power sources.

“If they run the pulp mill they’re going to have fiber, which is wood chips and stuff like that left over, and they burn that and then they can produce power from that. It’s a good idea because it becomes carbon neutral because you’re burning the waste and it’s considered green energy… so it helps us with our green initiative,” said Watson.

SaskPower needs to produce a certain level of base power as part of the regulations of being hooked up to the North American power grid. One of the reasons an agreement with the Prince Albert pulp mill is so welcomed, is because biomass is considered to be like a base power.

Watson said Saskatchewan is going to need some big facilities in the future, but having many purchasing agreements with independent parties, like the Prince Albert mill, in the meantime will be a benefit.

“They’ve agreed to produce power and when they produce power we’ve agreed to take it from them. It’s quite a simple agreement and it’s a good one. It’s a model for moving forward with.”

sfroese@panow.com