Gas-fired plant to power up in June

A controversial new gas-fired power plant at the foot of Leslie Street Spit is slated to be operational by June. The Portlands Energy Centre will be the only significant source of power within Toronto’s boundaries. The city councillor whose ward encompasses the plant fears that emissions from its gas turbines will only add to the neighbourhood’s air pollution.

For the first year of operation, the plant will vent the exhaust of two gas turbines that spew large volumes of hot gas. Eventually, a network of pipes will feed the exhaust into a heat exchanger to produce steam that will drive another generator.

The plant is a joint partnership of Ontario Power Generation and the TransCanada energy company, and is required to have a community liaison committee. However, several of its members quit earlier this year after a chilly reception from Portlands Energy Centre officials. Former committee member Dennis Findlay said he and the others who walked out wanted independent monitoring of the plant’s emissions and a bird-friendly design. “We felt we were being used as window dressing,” Findlay said.

Rather than assuming that energy demand in the city will continue to rise, Councillor Paula Fletcher says citizens should “ask, demand, beg, cajole and push” the Ontario government to spend an equal amount on conservation and renewable energy.

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