TORONTO - Ontario Power Generation is looking into replacing coal with biomass at a power-generating plant in a move the province's energy minister says could keep such plants from being torn down.
OPG plans to convert a power plant near Thunder Bay to burn wood pellets by 2012 and possibly convert three other coal-fired plants as well.
Energy Minister George Smitherman says the results he has seen so far are encouraging.
The shift would allow the province to use an environmentally friendly energy source at the plants when it shifts away from coal in 2014.
But Smitherman says there's still a lot of work still to be done to see if biomass would allow for a stable, reliable supply.
Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield has also said she's looking for ways such as biomass to turn available wood from Ontario's Crown forests into new investments and jobs.
Biomass is a clean energy that uses agricultural and forest waste.
