July 2, 2013 – Nova Scotia Power says its newest power plant—a biomass facility in Port Hawkesbury—has begun operations, producing both electricity and steam.

“We are proud to be increasing our presence in the community of Port Hawkesbury. We want to thank our various community partners—including Port Hawkesbury Paper, the Mayor and Council and local residents—for their support, and we look forward to working with them,” said Port Hawkesbury Biomass plant manager Jeff Campbell.

The plant is capable of producing up to 60MW of energy, and has created new operations jobs at the plant, says NS Power, in addition to the economic activity created during the construction phase. It will also create new jobs in biomass fuel procurement, including positions in sustainable forest harvesting, trucking, chipping, fuel handling, forest management and silviculture (growing and cultivation of trees).

“We have a great new team onsite and a fuel procurement strategy designed to keep costs as low as possible for customers while ensuring the biomass supply is sustainable and contributes to our province’s economy,” said NS Power vice-president for Power Generation and Delivery, Mark Sidebottom. “Accordingly, most of the biomass is being sourced from within Nova Scotia. A small percentage of the fuel will be sourced from outside of the province because of existing opportunities to procure biomass at attractive pricing on behalf of customers.”

Photo shows steam turbine generator for the Port Hawkesbury biomass plant manufactured by Mitsubishi Japan.