Toronto Star article:
Sand, Sun — and Smokestacks?
Patty Winsa Urban Affairs
Published On Sun Jul 10 2011
Sunbathers at Sugar Beach could soon have a power plant in their sights.
A Toronto-based power company is proposing to build a gas-fired cogeneration plant at Redpath Sugar on its 4.25-hectare industrial site in the heart of the city’s newly revitalized waterfront.
The 45-megawatt facility would generate enough power to supply 36,000 homes with electricity when operating at full capacity, which amounts to about 5 per cent of Toronto Hydro’s 700,000 customers.
“This is truly a neighbourhood-sized facility,†said Scott Stevens of Northland Power Inc. He says the emissions will be a fraction of those produced by large electricity generators such as the 550-megawatt Portlands Energy Centre.
The $100-million proposed facility — a two-storey rectangular building with an emissions stack — would replace an unused warehouse at the Redpath refinery, which is on the water at the foot of Jarvis St.
Northland would sell the electricity to the grid and Redpath would purchase steam generated by the heat — the by-product of electricity generation — to process its sugar.
“It is a classic application for cogeneration,†says Stevens. “It’s a big steam consumer in an area where you need power.†Redpath uses about 60,000 kilograms of steam an hour...
....Northland would connect to the grid with an underground cable that runs below Queens Quay and up Sherbourne St. to the Esplanade substation.
The power company says a detailed design for the powerhouse will be determined at a later stage. The company is holding a public open house at the Novotel Toronto Centre on July 20 from noon to 8 p.m.
Northland will submit a formal bid to OPA in September and says the company should know by mid-October if the proposal has been approved.
Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1022769--sand-sun-and-smokestacks
