It’s Official in Atikokan! Plant Switching to Bio

The Provincial Government is turning off coal and switching to biomass at the Atikokan Generating Station.
The announcement came Thursday, with Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro calling it a bright day for the community.
The conversion will create up to 200-construction jobs and help protect jobs at the plant.
It will also support roughly 25-jobs related to the production of wood pellets and sustain other jobs in the forestry sector.
The project is expected to take up to 3-years to complete.
Once the Atikokan station is converted, its expected to generate 150-million kilowatt-hours of renewable power, enough power for 15,000 homes.
Mauro says the next step is the development of a power purchase agreement with Ontario Power Generation and the Ontario power commission.
Mauro adds he hopes that a wood pellet facility could be built in the Northwest to supply the station with fuel.