This content is from the Natural gas electricity plant in St. Clair Township looks to expand | The Sarnia Observer article originally published by Paul Morden in The Sarnia Observer. All rights belong to the original publisher.
A company with a natural gas electricity generating site in St. Clair Township says its exploring adding another turbine to boost production.
The St. Clair Energy Centre, located on Petrolia line near Highway 40, has operated since 2009 and is owned by U.S.-based Invenergy which told township council recently its exploring applying to the Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) for an additional contract to supply the provincial grid with as much as 245 MW of electricity.
“We’re looking at exploring an additional turbine on site,” said Bryce Nunley, the company’s senior director for thermal asset management.
The “standalone unit” would be built on existing land at the energy centre site and “able to be operated independently of the existing facility,” he said.
Ontario says electricity demand is expected to climb 75 per cent by 2050 and the IESO has put out a call for new generation. The earliest “window” to submit bids is in December, said Shoshana Pasternak, Invenergy’s manager of government affairs.
“The size we’re looking at right now is on the order of 245 MW,” which is about half of the existing facility’s capacity, Nunley said.
“We’re only going to run it when it’s needed to be run,” he said.
If the project is selected by IESO for a 20-year contract through 2050, construction would begin in 2027 with a target to be finished in 2030, Nunley said.
St. Clair Township is home to two other natural gas-fired electricity plants and Atura Power, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, said recently it’s considering submitted a bid that would see a natural gas generation facility constructed at the site of the former Lambton Generating Station near Courtright.
Township council voted to approve a municipal support resolution for the Invenergy project. The resolution is required for the IESO bid.
“We thank you guys for considering us for investment,” said Coun. Brad Langstaff.
A public open house for the project could be held in the fall, Nunley said.
“We look forward to being an ongoing good neighbour in the community,” he said.
Nunley said an estimate of the construction cost hasn’t been determined yet.
“We’re still working through which option we’re going to consider, as well as what the gas infrastructure costs would be,” he said.
The St. Clair Energy Centre currently has 26 employees, “with the potential to add more,” Nunley said.
“There would be synergies we would look to leverage from the existing staff,” he said.
Construction, at its peak, is expected to employ 50 to 60 construction workers, the company said.
Nunley said work on cost estimates and schedules for the project will continue in the coming months, “to ensure we can have the best bid.”
The IESO is expected to announce in 2026 which bids in the current round are successful, the company said.
“We think we have a pretty good shot,” Nunley said. “We have a very successful existing site to help support us.”
Pasternak also updated council on a project already approved to boost the existing plant’s capacity by 68.5 MW and extend its current contract with the IESO to 2035.
That work, expected to be completed in November 2025, will increase the plant’s capacity to about 654 MW, she said.
“That’s a substantial amount of power that it’s pumping into the Ontario grid,” Pasternak said.
From Natural gas electricity plant in St. Clair Township looks to expand | The Sarnia Observer
