Biomass energy plan under scrutiny

An untendered deal between Nova Scotia Power and a Cape Breton mill would mean electricity for 50,000 homes — and account for more than 10 per cent of the annual provincial harvest of wood.

The power corporation and NewPage Port Hawkesbury Ltd. are before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board requesting approval for a 25-year biomass project.

The mill in Point Tupper already burns wood shavings and junk logs to save on its power bill. Since it has more room in the boiler, it's offering to sell electricity from waste wood to the power corporation to help meet its targets for renewable energy.

The deal calls for enough waste wood to generate electricity to run 50,000 homes in Nova Scotia.

NewPage estimates it must increase by 50 per cent the amount of wood it cuts from Crown and private lands. This one project would represent about 11 per cent of  the annual provincial harvest.

The project doesn't need regulatory approval to proceed. But Nova Scotia Power says it would cost about $1 billion over 25 years to buy this biomass energy, and it won't move ahead without the utility and review board's blessing.

Not sustainable: opponent

Neal Livingston, a private woodlot owner, urges the board to reject the deal, saying the project is too big to sustain.

"If you're starting to significantly increase harvesting to get more biomass what happens is you're loading a lot of good wood into the market, such as hardwood, at a time when prices are absolutely the lowest," Livingston said. "Also, you're increasing clearcutting on public lands."

NewPage says the amount it plans to cut is sustainable, and the project would create 150 jobs.

Dalhousie University professor Larry Hughes, an energy researcher, wants the review board to reject the biomass project until the province reviews best practices.

In his written submission to the board, Hughes says converting wood waste into electricity is wasteful. He argues that it is far more efficient to turn the waste into pellets for home heating.

Nova Scotia Power must increase the amount of renewable energy it produces to meet targets imposed by the provincial government. If not, the corporation could face million-dollar fines.

The review board is hearing arguments on Monday and Tuesday in Halifax.