The $250-million Mackenzie Green Energy project is "unlikely" to go ahead, says
Pristine Power senior executive Harvie Campbell.
The plant was meant to produce power from wood waste, and provide steam to an adjacent pulp mill. The project received regulatory approval in 2007 and a power contract with B.C. Hydro in 2006. However a downturn in the forest sector, which shut down sawmills and the plant's source of fibre, stalled the project.
Campbell said since then, with an increasing interest in biomass for energy and other projects, the price of the wood residues no longer makes the project economically viable.
The plant had been expected to produce enough energy for 50,000 homes. The project was also expected to create 260 construction jobs, and 26 permanent jobs.
Campbell said Pristine Power continues to have an interest in the bio-energy sector, and will be submitting proposals in B.C. Hydro's next bioenergy call this month. Some of those projects are in the northern B.C. region, he said.
Pristine Power is in the midst of a buyout by Fort Chicago Energy Partners, with a price tag of $118 million.
