A U.S. power utility expert is criticizing Nova Scotia Power’s proposal to spend $200 million to generate power in Cape Breton by burning waste wood.
Paul Chernick, president of Resource Insight Inc. of Arlington, Mass., says the power company has rushed to put the biomass project before government regulators, failed to provide critical information about the project and did not consider wind-generated power as an option.
"The company has once again put the (review) board into an awkward situation, proposing a project on a tight time schedule without having done the work necessary to allow the board to make an informed decision," Chernick wrote in pre-filed evidence filed with the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board on Wednesday.
Chernick was hired by John Merrick, Nova Scotia’s consumer advocate, to review the biomass project.
Nova Scotia Power has said it needs the biomass energy project in order to meet the provincial government’s new regulations to curb pollution. The utility wants a quick decision on its biomass proposal so it can purchase key equipment for the project and to ensure it meets the in-service date of late 2012.
It wants board approval to purchase land, a boiler and other related assets from NewPage Port Hawkesbury Ltd. and permission to install a steam generator and other equipment at the paper giant’s site in the Strait.
The cost of the project is estimated to be $208.6 million.
Chernick said cost of the biomass fuel, which will be supplied by Newpage, was "not well defined" in the utility’s proposal nor were other costs associated with the project including property taxes, which Nova Scotia Power assumes to be zero, and sustaining capital expenses.
The new plant will require 650,000 tonnes of biomass a year. Half of that will come from wood waste generated from the paper company’s paper making and sawmilling operations. The other half will be harvested and half of that, about 170,000 tonnes, will be harvested from Crown land as outlined in a 25-year deal reached between the Dexter government and NewPage. The power company has said the project will generate enough electricity to power 50,000 homes annually.
Chernick also said the power company made a "major omission" by failing to solicit wind energy projects in order to meet the government’s 2013 target of using more renewable energy.
The regulator has scheduled a hearing, starting on July 26, into the project at the board’s offices in downtown Halifax.
