A solution for coal plant for peat sake.

In late June, Peat Resources Ltd. held a public meeting in Upsala, 130 kilometres west of Thunder Bay, to seek commentary from local residents and other stakeholders on their proposal to develop the region's high quality peat fuel, for power generation.

Peat fuel is a renewable source of bio-energy that has a long history of use in Ireland, Finland, Russia and other Eastern European countries.

Peter Telford, CEO of Peat Resources said, "The public meeting gave us an opportunity to update the local communities, including the Lac Des Milles Lacs First Nation Reserve 22A1, on the economic potential of our project and "the eventual reclamation plans for the harvested peat-lands and their long-term future use there was a tremendously positive community response to our proposal.

He went on to say that the recent announcement to keep Ontario's coal-power plants open represents a great opportunity to use peat bio-fuel in combination with coal to lower mercury pollution. Analytical tests have shown that the Upsala peat deposits contain virtually no mercury and have significantly less sulphur emissions than coal.

Before the GTA's Lakeview plant closed last year, Ontario's five coal-fired stations produced about 527 kilograms of mercury which was almost one third of all mercury emissions in the province.

In many facilities in Finland, peat fuel is co-fired with coal and wood waste to reduce mercury and sulphur emissions.

Finland is the largest global user of peat fuel for electricity and heat, yet the country only contains about 10 million hectares of peatlands compared to the 31 million hectares in Ontario.

Ireland, another major user of peat fuel, has even less peatlands--1.2 million hectares. Ireland, nicknamed the celtic tiger for its booming economy, opened two new peat-fired power plants in 2005 at a cost of $572 million (US).

Ontario Hydro Research concluded "an upgraded fuel peat can be effectively co-fired with propane or coal without any serious adverse affects."

In April 2006, the Ministry of Energy released a pre-feasibility report that examined various bio-mass alternatives for Northwestern Ontario's Atikokan coal-fired station. The study was carried out by Forest Bioproducts Inc., a Sault Ste. Marie based consultancy with international expertise in the field of biomass energy. The potential bio-fuels included peat, wood waste, forest harvest residues and Toronto garbage.

These alternatives were reviewed from the perspectives of environmental and social impact, availability, cost and conversion requirements.

The report concluded that Peat Resources Ltd's proposal to supply the Atikokan facility with peat fuel at 20 to 25 per cent moisture content, from the company's properties centered on the town of Upsala, would be the best option.

Using peat bio-fuel would allow the Atikokan plant to operate at its current rating of 215 megawatts and would only require a nominal $5 million in capital costs to modify the facility for peat use. The data shows that there is sufficient fuel-grade peat in the region to meet the entire demand of the station for more than 50 years.

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The full report is on the following Ministry of Energy web site: http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/english/pdf/electricity/atikokan_report_2006.pdf

Mark Jaccard is a professor in the school of resource and environmental management at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University, where he directs the Energy and Materials Research Group. He is a recent winner of the 2006 Donner Prize for the Top Canadian Book in public policy titled "Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Usual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy."

In an email interview from Vancouver, professor Jaccard says, "The key issue is economics. It is looking like we can get energy from coal without greenhouse gas emissions and without mercury emissions. Peat could also be a viable alternative."

Peat Resources estimates about 200 direct jobs would be established with the main project to supply Atikokan with peat fuel.

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant who writes extensively on mining issues.

He can be reached by email to [e-mail]