By Shawn Jeffords, From www.theobserver.ca The Observer
With the official opening of its expanded St. Clair Ethanol Plant on Friday, Suncor Energy now has the largest biofuels facility in Canada.
The $120-million expansion of the plant on the Rokeby Line doubled the production capacity to 400 million from 200 million litres of ethanol per year.
Suncor CEO Rick George told a crowd of dignitaries and plant workers the expansion fits seamlessly into the company’s energy mandate.
“We really believe in the fact that we should be expanding energy choices to make sure our customers get energy at the cheapest possible price from multiple sources,” he said.
Suncor has been working for a decade to establish a renewable energy business. The expanded ethanol plant and four Canadian wind projects have strengthened that objective, George said.
“It was a little bit scary. (We wondered) if we could actually make money doing this, and can we get it to be both safe and reliable?”
The investments are expected to displace one million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent tailpipe emissions of 200,000 cars a year, company officials say.
George said he’d like to see the plant expand expand one day to include other plant materials as a fuel source, although more research is needed to make that a reality.
The facility is also a win for area farmers supplying its corn feedstock. It now has the capacity to process 100,000 bushels of corn a day and store 600,000 bushels a week.
Lambton Warden and St. Clair Township Mayor Steve Arnold thanked the company for its investment, which created 250 construction jobs and employs 60 people on a permanent basis. He said the commitment to the community helped alleviate fears the plant would foul the local air, a promise the company has kept.
“(We were) trying to make sure that we weren’t going to have the smells associated with some of the other ethanol facilities that are located not far from here,” he said. ” … It’s something that is foreign to this community.”
Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey lauded the workforce that helped build the plant. According to Ministry of Labour statistics, work done locally is 25 times safer than in any other jurisdiction in North America, he said.
The company also donated $25,000 to the Sombra Museum at a ceremony Friday morning.
“It’s a great community with a great safety record, in terms of construction and operations,” George said.
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