Mayor plans to demand energy minister make decision on generating station

Mayor Keith Hobbs says the Ontario Power Authority’s continued delay about the future of the Thunder Bay Power Generating Station’s future is nothing more than a stalling tactic.

Hobbs it’s time for the city to have its voice heard once and for all.

“It’s very irritating when our Energy Task Force has done its homework and they’ve proven loud and clear to the OPA that their load numbers are totally out to lunch. Now they’re trying to say that they can get power from Minnesota and Manitoba and there’s none available and they’re committed right up to 2025,” Hobbs said Monday, after learning the latest update from ETF chairman Iain Angus.

“I think this is stalling at its best and now we need to get political and send a message to (Energy) Minister (Bob) Chiarelli that that plant needs to be kept open and converted. It’s that simple.”

Last year then Energy Minister Chris Bentley announced the planned conversion of the plant from coal to natural gas would be put on hold indefinitely, while the OPA sought out more cost-efficient measures to delivering power to Ontario’s northwest.
At the time Bentley said he’d been told the alternatives could save upward of $400 million.

The OPA also disputed the ETF’s projections of energy needs in the region, which Angus said could reach 1,600 megawatts by decades end. The OPA countered with a 700 megawatt figure.

Angus, who met with OPA officials at the beginning of the month, said it’s not all bad news. OPA officials have finally started to understand the power projections presented by the ETF are more than pipe dreams, and the mining operations that will require the added energy are a reality.

“Fundamentally, that’s the key part. Because if we weren’t able to convince them that the loads are here, it would be even harder to convince them that we needed our own generation such as the Thunder Bay Generating Station,” Angus said.

“So that’s the biggest hurdle we had to cross.”

However, Angus said the next steps are in the hands of lobbying groups, like the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association and Northwestern Ontario Association of Chambers of Commerce.

“Those tend to be the voices of the Northwest and it will be up to them to develop their own strategies around how best to convince Minister Chiarelli and Premier (Kathleen) Wynne as to taking the right steps for Northwestern Ontario.”

While the province is counting on an east-west transmission line to fill much of the power need in the region, Angus isn’t convinced it will be on stream in time.

With coal-fired plants like TBGS scheduled to wean themselves off coal by Dec. 31, 2014, there’s a real concern there won’t be enough power available, he told the city’s intergovernmental affairs committee Monday.

The result could mean rolling brownouts or blackouts at that point, should demand exceed supply.

“Load rejection for us is unacceptable,” Angus said. “That is not an option that should be considered under any circumstance.”

Hobbs said he planned to send a letter to Chiarelli as soon as possible, to see that the issue is put on the government’s front burner.