December 19, 2012 – Caterpillar says it will develop a turnkey power plant utilizing 10 Cat G16CM34 natural gas gensets for Alberta Newsprint Co. (ANC) in Whitecourt. The gensets will provide the company with 65MW of total output capacity, making it Caterpillar’s largest power plant installation in Canada.

“ANC is committed to being the lowest-cost paper producer in North America, while at the same time managing our mill operations in the most environmentally efficient manner possible,” said Mike Putzke, ANC mill manager. “The Caterpillar natural gas-fired power plant will enable us to accomplish both, while further enhancing our ability to deliver a high-quality product to the market.”

The construction of the power plant is necessary to provide ANC with power during peak hours, says Caterpillar; ANC’s mill and processing plant operate 24-hours per day and require 125MW of power to produce about 824 tons of newsprint rolled products daily. Any excess energy produced can be sold back to the grid.