The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association wants answers and it looks like Ontario Power Authority is prepared to give them.
Members of NOMA had a conference call with OPA CEO Colin Andersen Friday afternoon about the stalled natural gas conversion of the Thunder Bay’s Ontario Power Generation plant. Speaking at a Thunder Bay District Municipal League meeting Saturday morning, NOMA president Ron Nelson said he and others pushed Andersen hard to release the OPA’s information that led to the suspension.
“We need to see that data,” Nelson, who earlier called the decision a blunder, said.
The OPA and NOMA will be meeting face-to-face in Thunder Bay sometime soon to discuss the suspension and go over the numbers Nelson said.
“There’s a very big grey area now,” he said. “We have our figures. We’ve never seen theirs.”
According to figures supplied the city, the region presently produces about 680 MW of the 702 MW it needs each year through hydro-electric power.
That’s assuming perfect weather. If a drought hits, 306 MW is needed from the generating station, with an additional 20 MW funneled through Atikokan and 150 MW through the East-West tie line, which the province has promised to expand.
By 2016 the projected energy load is 1,065 MW, with 304 MW coming from either the Thunder Bay generating station or the East-West tie-line. Beyond 2016 the demand jumps to 1,323 MW, which without a local generating station would mean about 700 MW of power would need to be imported, likely from Minnesota or Manitoba as well as southern Ontario.
Coun. Larry Hebert, who is also president of the TBDML, said as mining companies look to set up in the region they’re going to need more power. Any money put into generating more power should be seen as an investment not an outright cost he said.
“This is something they’ve got to be looking at. This is going to be the economic engine for the province,” he said.
