New Brunswick Power Announces Closure Of Depression-Era Coal Plant When License Expires In 2010

[hatrack]

FREDERICTON, New Brunswick, September 29, 2009 (ENS) - New Brunswick Power announced today that the company will close its coal-fired Grand Lake generating station when its operating license expires in June 2010. During the early years of the Great Depression, New Brunswick Power built the Grand Lake facility, the Atlantic province's first thermal generating station.

As the remaining unit of the power plant is at the end of its operating life, the necessary environmental upgrades would not be economically feasible, the company has decided. Grand Lake units 1-3 were retired in 1993.

Opened in 1931, the Grand Lake Generating Station burns bituminous coal from nearby deposits on the shores of Grand Lake near the towns of Minto and Chipman. A NB Power subsidiary, NB Coal is the only mining company left in the Minto area and performs strip mining. ecause NB Coal's only customer is the Grand Lake Generating Station, the strip mine will close this December.

"These have been strong, reliable assets that have come to the end of their life," David Hay, president and chief executive officer of NB Power, said today. "NB Power has been a part of the community for more than 75 years, and this decision was very carefully considered."

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http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2009/2009-09-29-02.asp