Weyerhaeuser Finds Solution To Electricity Crunch

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Edmonton, AB. -- An 80-megawatt power plant proposed for Weyerhaeuser Co.'s Grande Prairie pulp mill will cut the forest-product firm's electricity bill in half.TransCanada Energy Ltd. will build and own the $80-million facility. With regulatory approval, the plant could be completed by the end of 2002.Weyerhaeuser will operate the Bear Creek power unit and will use roughly 30 megawatts of the electricity and all the steam. Surplus power will be sold through the provincial Power Pool grid."Not only will this highly efficient facility provide lower-cost power to our operations, but it will do so in an environmentally responsible manner," said Weyerhaeuser vice-president Cathy Slater.Some wood waste at the pulp mill is burned in an existing 33-megawatt generating unit. But other bark and sawdust is incinerated in teepee burners.Weyerhaeuser operates eight pulp, wood and oriented-strand-board plants in Alberta, including two in the Grande Prairie region. Spokesperson Xan McCallum said the company's power costs are 2.5 times higher in 2001 than in 2000."It's a significant help," she said. And since Weyerhaeuser already has people trained to operate a power plant, the company will not need to add staff.TransCanada spokesperson Glenn Herchak said the project will require 80 construction workers. No contractor has been selected.The project qualifies for a provincial credit offered last year to developers who build plants in southern Alberta or the Grande Prairie region.Weyerhaeuser produces 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes of bark and sawdust annually. That is enough to fuel only about 18 megawatts of the new plant, Herchak said. Natural gas and high-pressure steam from the pulp mill will make up the difference.The electricity generated in Grande Prairie will supply Weyerhaeuser's two facilities there. Weyerhaeuser will spend $11 million to make the necessary connections to existing operations.Power to the other six Weyerhaeuser plants in the province -- one as far away as Carseland, south of Calgary -- will be supplied by contract through the grid.TransCanada Energy, a division of the better-known pipeline company, owns or manages 1,600 megawatts of power, including plants at Carseland and Redwater, now being built, and a 560-megawatt gas plant in Rhode Island.In last August's provincial auction of wholesale power produced by formerly regulated plants, TransCanada purchased 560 megawatts of electricity generated by TransAlta's Sundance unit.