January 29, 2010

This an article I found in today's Windsor Star regarding a new power plant in Windsor.  Just something else to show how Windsor is becoming more diversified.

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Designed to help Ontario industries be more efficient and competitive, the first urban cogeneration plant in Ontario was officially opened today.

Located behind the Ford Motor Co. power plant on Riverside Drive East, the $212-million East Windsor Cogeneration Centre has been producing steam for Ford and feeding electricity into the provincial power grid since it went online in November.

"It's a quick response plant which means it can fire up quickly and feed power into the grid at peak times," said Jeff Myers, president of Pristine Power, which developed the plant in a partnership with Fort Chicago Energy Partners.

"It's a small piece of the Ontario energy puzzle, but a very important one," he said of the 92-megawatt plant.

Provincial finance minister Dwight Duncan, who was energy minister when the project began, said the new plant will help secure the sustainability of Ford operations in Windsor by making them more competitive.

"It's cleaner, produces less pollution and it's virtually silent, which is good news for the neighbourhood," said Duncan.

"The plant uses natural gas to produce both electricity and steam, and through the utilization of advanced combustion control technology, minimizes emissions to levels significantly below coal and older oil and gas-fired power plants," said Myers, who helped build the West Windsor power plant in Brighton Beach 15 years ago.

Construction of the project began in the fall of 2007 and the plant was fired up in November of last year to begin supplying steam to Ford and power to about 90,000 Ontario home through the province's power grid.

Power from the plant will be fed into the grid when Ontario power demand peaks under a 20-year agreement reached in Oct. 2006.

Pristine Power, which owns 25 per cent of the plant, also has a five-year deal with Ford to supply steam for one-year terms up to a maximum of 30 years.

The investment also included a $335,000 donation split between the Ford City Redevelopment Committee and the Children's Wish Foundation.