Officials involved with a regional renewable fuel operation are now waiting for contracts before moving ahead.
Atikokan Renewable Fuels president Ed Fukushima said the wood pellet facility will delay its opening by up to six month while contracts are finalized.
Fukushima said on top of waiting for a contract to supply Ontario Power Generation with 90,000 tonnes of pellets for its Atikokan generating station, there are contracts with European utility companies for up to an additional 500,000 tonnes per year.
The machinery used in the facility, expected to employ 125 people, depends on those contracts.
“We can’t install the machinery until we find out exactly who the end user is,” Fukushima said Wednesday.
The contracts range between five and 10 years. Construction will begin as early as late 2012 for two other plants near Sand Point and White Sand First Nations.
