Calstock

The Calstock Facility is a power generation facility that uses steam turbines to produce electricity. It is located on the north side of Highway 11 on lots 26, 27, and 28, Concession 4, in the Township of Stoddart, in the District of Cochrane, Ontario. It is located approximately 30 km west of Hearst, Ontario. The site on which the Facility is located, is 31 hectares, with the developed area of the site accounting for approximately 23 hectares. Atlantic Power indirectly owns 100% of the facility.  Calstock sells 100% of its output to the Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation (OEFC) under a power purchase agreement that expires in 2020.

The Facility uses wood waste from the surrounding region and waste heat from TransCanada's nearby compressor station. Power is generated using one 41 megawatt (MW) Alstom steam turbine-driven generator. The wood waste is burned in a Foster Wheeler wood waste boiler with the flue gases from the boiler treated in a cyclone separator and an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) that removes the majority of the unburned carbon and particulates before the gases enter the atmosphere. The Facility uses a cooling tower to condense process steam for reuse in the power generation cycle. Calstock has a maximum processing capacity of 320,000 GMT/yr of wood waste. The power plant occupies 1.9 hectares of the Calstock site.

Residual wood ash from the Facility is disposed of in a dedicated ash landfill comprised of 3 separate cells and is located on the eastern portion of the property. Cells 1 and 2 have been filled and closed in accordance with the requirements of the existing Certificate of Approval (C of A). Cell 3 was constructed in the fall of 2006 and is currently operational. In 2010, the estimated wood ash production at the Facility was 16,923 tonnes.

In January 2010, a topographic survey of the waste pile was completed and using a third party consultant's digital terrain model, the remaining capacity of Cell 3 was calculated to be 79,000 m3. Current estimates of the remaining service life for the site, considering the potential for in-situ ash densities of approximately 0.9 tonnes per cubic metre and assuming that ash production remain at 2010 levels, is calculated to be in the order of 4 years, thus Cell 3 would reach capacity in 2015.

Additional disposal capacity will be required to manage wood ash beyond 2015.  Atlantic Power is initiating an Environmental Screening to expand the capacity of the ash landfill by adding a new landfill cell with a capacity of up to, but not to exceed, 100,000 m3.

Atlantic Power operates and manages the facility.  The project joined Atlantic Power in our acquisition of Capital Power Income, LP in November 2011.

Environmental Screening Report for Calstock Ash Landfill Expansion Pt. 2