Atikokan's multi-million dollar research centre?

If Mayor Dennis Brown has his way, the town of Atikokan will one day take its place on the world stage as one of the global leaders in the burgeoning field of bioenergy development.

A multi-million dollar research facility to be located in Atikokan is currently in the early planning stages, and while its exact mandate is still unclear, its general purpose will be to investigate and research the potential role of sustainable biomass, such as wood waste and peat, in the field of power generation.

"We figure there's an opportunity for Ontario to possibly market the knowledge that they gain here to other countries and possibly other provinces," says Brown. "The knowledge that's generated at the research station in Atikokan can well become valuable, marketable and intellectual capital that can be sold to India, China and elsewhere to assist them with their thermal generating challenges."

The idea for the facility was sparked when the McGuinty government announced that it was going to close all remaining coal-fired plants in an effort towards cleaner energy production, leaving the town of Atikokan with the possibility of losing one of its primary employers. In the hopes of saving its plant, Atikokan began to consider ways of using biomass as an acceptable alternative or additive to coal, thus enabling the town's primary employer to keep its doors open and preserve its 90 jobs.

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However, the provincial government recently announced that Ontario's constant energy demands have led to the reversal of its intentions to close certain coal-fired plants, thus giving the Atikokan facility a reprieve.

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Plans for the bioenergy research centre have gone ahead regardless, due in no small part to the $4 million that was set aside last year. Additional investments stemming from various agencies and levels of government are expected, potentially increasing the size and scope of the project.

"We're hoping the federal government and other groups will contribute so that the $4 million can be built, hopefully up to $12 million," says Brown.

While there are little to no specifics regarding the exact intentions, location and use of the facility, details are being developed between the Atikokan community and the provincial Ministry of Energy (MOE), which has the responsibility for flushing out details surrounding the centre's institutional and physical arrangements.

"We've been working with other ministries and various Ontario Centres of Excellence, who are engaged more in research," says Tony Rockingham, assistant deputy minister, conservation and Strategic Policy at the (MOE.

"We're trying to get some idea on what would be the best institutional arrangement."

"Even the exact focus of the research conducted at the centre is undetermined.

While the proposed centre could have been located in a number of different cities, the town of Atikokan seemed optimal, given a variety of prevailing factors. This includes the smaller size of the boiler at the generating station, which stands to be particularly helpful for research purposes. As Rockingham points out, it's not as key to the reliability of the power system and will thus prove to be less disruptive when it needs to be taken offline for experiments.

This size difference, combined with transportation connections and the abundance of biomass in the region, made Atikokan a prime location for the research centre.

To determine the potential that various types of biomass might have in research, the MOE is building upon an April 2006 study that was commissioned by Forest BioProducts Inc. to find a sustainable, biomass-based replacement for coal at the Atikokan generating station.

Dr. Luc Duchesne, president of Forest BioProducts Inc., says that the major question involved in this particular discussion needs to be how biomass can be used more, provided that the research is properly conducted and implemented.

While other countries such as Finland and certain segments within the forestry industry already use biomass as part of their energy solutions, it is practically unheard of within the realm of energy production for the Canadian public.

"In our current supply mix, biomass contributes a very small fraction of the total provincial energy use," says Duchesne, adding that the majority of its use is mainly in-house within pulp and paper mills.

The issue of biomass is also tied with the issue of sustainability and ecological research, which is where the use of certain select resources enters the picture. These include the likes of wood products and peat, the latter being largely unspoken for and plentiful in northwestern Ontario.

By NICK STEWART

Northern Ontario Business