Regional leaders have changed the minds of the Ontario Power Authority on the number of mines expected in Northwestern Ontario.
A 700 Megawatt gap once divided the OPA and regional leaders on what energy demand could look like in the next decade. But after a meeting last month, both sides agree there could be 19 mines.
“They’ve really moved up in terms of those numbers to within a couple of hundred megawatts of our projections,” Coun. Iain Angus said Monday after a meeting with the city’s intergovernmental affairs committee. “That’s really good news.”
But now the issue is where the power will come from to keep those mines running. Officials in the region want the Thunder Bay Generating Station converted to natural gas to help with the increased demand.
The OPA argues that a lot of the demand can be met through buying power from places like Manitoba and Minnesota.
“We’re still not convinced that there’s going to be enough power,” Angus said.
And not enough power can be costly. Angus points to a 37 hour power disruption at Goldcorp that cost the mine nearly $6 million. Some mines have suggested diesel generators or trucking liquefied natural gas to fill the gap. None of those alternatives are better than keeping the local station open Angus said.
“There’s no sense in investing multi millions of dollars on developing a mine site and not have the power there,” he said.
Still Angus is optimistic that the two sides can reach an agreement when they meet in Thunder Bay next month. If not, they can always plead their case to energy minister Bob Chiarelli in June. That decision would be political as the minister would need cabinet’s approval.
“It’s not something he can arbitrarily do on his own behalf,” Angus said.
As for the generating station, even if conversion were to begin today it wouldn’t be ready for the end of coal in 2014. Biomass will be tested at the plant but Angus said he doesn’t think coal would be given an extension there.
“We don’t see it as realistic to even suggest it,” he said.
