Plug Pulled on MacKenzie Green Energy Centre

Friday, October 15, 2010 02:21 PM

Prince George, B.C.- The Green Energy Centre that had been planned for Mackenzie is not likely to happen.

That from Pristine Power’s Executive Vice President Strategy and Development, Harvie Campbell. He says the project was developed with using free wood waste as the fuel . “Now there are a lot of different companies competing for the wood waste, the contract just doesn’t work”

He says the company worked with the Provincial Government to try and find a way to make it viable, even to the point of giving them a fibre licence but he says the costs attached were too prohibitive.

The initial project involved working with the former Pope and Talbot pulp mill to provide the mill with an economic source of steam through co-generation and the creation of green electricity for up to 50 thousand homes per year.

It was a $225 million dollar project that was expected to create 200 jobs during the two year construction phase, and 28 permanent jobs once the facility was up and running.

The Pope and Talbot mill has since changed hands twice and it is now owned by a subsidiary of Sinar Mas. Campbell says the change in ownership is not directly related to Pristine’s decision, nor is the decision linked to the recently announced friendly buy out of Pristine by it’s partner Fort Chicago Energy Partners .

Fort Chicago had already owned 12.2 % of Pristine before working a deal worth $314 million for Pristine Power Inc. That deal includes $118.4 million for outstanding shares, and assuming $195 million in debt.

Campbell says Pristine and its partners in the Mackenzie Green Energy Centre (Harbert Power and Balanced Power Engineering)had already invested about $3 million in that project.

That doesn’t mean Pristine is out of the green power business. There are plans to make submissions in the upcoming BC Hydro call for projects. Campbell says there are a couple of tentative projects in the works, one would be in this region. This time, the project costs will be much higher though as the proposals account for the rising cost of biomass.

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Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 02:21 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: seamutt on October 15 2010 2:31 PM

Public funding must have been removed. What is green?

Posted by: Andyfreeze on October 15 2010 2:41 PM

Never been quite sure exactly what this whole green' concept is?
It always seems to involve money.
One thing is for sure...if it involves Gordon Campbell and his puppet show,...it really IS about money,or in this case,a lack of!

Posted by: gus on October 16 2010 10:05 AM

From my point of view there is nothing "green" about power generation that uses biomass without sequestering the carbon.

What this shows, however, is what the saner people have been saying all along is that energy extracted from fibre in trees is economical as long as there is waste which cannot be used for other purposes. Once that material becomes a sought after commodity rather than being considered a waste, energy production costs will rise at a very fast rate.

The question really becomes, what happens to the feedstock cost calculations used in the PG community energy system. Are the taxpayers of this community going to be subsidizing an expensive venture?

Posted by: cougs78 on October 16 2010 10:40 AM

Very few of these projects work on their own merit! They are getting breaks through government grants and other programs. Any business plans I have seen are based on the easiest and cheapest fibre available with assistance from government. After the easy money and easy fibre is gone which is in the first 5 years they will become uneconomical. Oh! We ( the taxpayer) don't get paid back in case you were wondering!

Posted by: cougs78 on October 16 2010 10:47 AM

Mackenzie Green Energy was always about promises with no substance. Smoke and Mirrors from the start!$3,000,000.00 spent!!!! Huh