THUNDER BAY -- The viability of Thunder Bay’s malting plant now appears to be stable.
The Canada Malting Company’s local facility was the company’s most expensive to run, which put its future into question.
As the last Canada Malting Company plant in Ontario, and one of only three across the country, the company invested in a $7.1 million combined heat and power co-generation facility.
That investment will allow Canada Malting to generate electricity and heat simultaneously, leading to an expected savings of more than $960,000 annually. This will make Canada Malting’s most expensive plant its most cost effective operation.
“This is a game changer for this site,” said plant manager Jim Desaulniers, adding that previous production costs were too high.
“We pay the highest water, highest electric, highest taxes than any of our (Canadian) plants. With this project we are moving to the forefront of low cost production."
Since the installation, the electricity costs have dropped from 13 cents per kilowatt hour to 4.5 cents. This has cut the company’s electrical costs by more than 60 per cent.
The combined heat and power facility consists of a large natural gas engine that turns the generator to produce two megawatts of power, which will be used in place of power normally purchased from the grid.
Desaulniers said the project isn’t going to reduce electrical use, but it’s a different source of electrical use that allows the company to decrease the amount of gas used to heat the kilns.
“There’s never a guarantee in industry but our competitiveness, I think, has been locked in for the next five-to-10 years.”
The Canadian Malting Company is looking into combined heat and power possibilities for its Montreal and Calgary operations.
The company has engineering directors coming to town later this week to review the project and see how it could be applicable to the other jurisdictions.
Ontario’s Minister of Energy Glenn Thibeault wants to ensure that the Conservation First program roles out across Ontario.
The program places conservation at the forefront of the province’s energy planning process to reduce the use of electricity consumption.
“When you can conserve energy like this, it just goes to show when you save energy you save money,” Thibeault said.
He added that over the long-run conservation will save all rate payers money because there will be no need to build new infrastructure to provide more power.
