New St. Clair Township natural gas-fired electricity plant will be ‘hydrogen-ready’

The president of the company set to build a second natural gas-fired electricity generation plant at the Greenfield South Power site in St. Clair Township says it will be designed to switch to hydrogen once the fuel source is commercially available.

Gregory Vogt, president of Toronto-based Eastern Power, said he hopes construction at the site on Oil Springs Line can begin “in very short order.

“We’ve been speaking with St. Clair Township and other authorities so we can get under construction as quickly as possible.”

Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator announced this week that expansions at Eastern Power’s site St. Clair Township site, and a Capital Power Corporation site in Windsor, were selected as part of its latest procurement of additional electricity capacity for the province.

Greenfield South Power’s existing 289-MW natural gas-fired electricity plant began operating in 2017. It’s one of three natural gas-fired plants currently operating in the township.

“We’re excited to assist Ontario, providing support as we go to a low-carbon future, and as a hydrogen-ready project we’re excited to be part of that,” Vogt said.

“When it’s commercially available we will have the equipment to utilize it.”

Ontario’s Energy Ministry asked the IESO last year to investigate options for integrating low-carbon hydrogen technologies into the electricity grid and the Sarnia area has positioned itself as a hydrogen hub.

The IESO, which oversees Ontario’s electricity markets, also announced an additional 739 MW of capacity from seven new battery projects.

Enbridge has proposed building three battery storage projects in St. Clair Township but they weren’t included in the projects the IESO announced this week.

“While Enbridge was not named as a recipient in this first announcement, we remain committed to developing our battery projects in St. Clair Township, which includes the potential to participate in the next round” in November, Enbridge spokesperson Mandy Dinning said by e- mail.

“We cannot share further detail about our projects as the competitive procurement process with IESO is ongoing.”

The company said previously it was proposing projects on Ladysmith Road near Corunna, Tecumseh Road near Courtright and Petrolia Line near Corunna.

“Battery energy storage systems charge at night when energy demand is low, and are available during the day and evening when demand is high to help maximize the benefits of existing electricity generation in Ontario and keep electricity costs lower,” Dinning said.

“Electricity demand in Ontario is set to increase significantly in the next two decades as the economy grows and many fossil fuel-dependent processes switch to electricity,” the IESO said in a news release.

It said electricity demand is forecast to grow two per cent annually over the next 20 years.

“Natural gas currently plays a pivotal role in supporting grid reliability — with the ability to respond to changing system needs in ways other forms of supply can’t,” the IESO said.

The agency said it has “identified the potential to eliminate emissions from Ontario’s electricity system, but only after a transition that sees natural gas generation maintain reliability until nuclear refurbishments are complete and new non-emitting technologies such as storage mature.”

Some Ontario municipalities have spoken out against expanding gas-fired electricity generation and the group Environmental Defense said in a statement it is “irresponsible” for the IESO “to be procuring new polluting gas plants in the midst of a climate crisis.”

“Ramping up ‘natural’ gas — a fossil fuel — to generate electricity across Southern Ontario will come at a high cost to both the public and the environment, especially when there are cheaper and cleaner alternatives available,” it said.

Vogt said the electricity generation capacity of the new plant will be “a little bit smaller” than the existing plant at the site.

The new plant will be built behind the existing one, he said.

Vogt said construction is expected to take two to three years but declined to say what the new plant is expected to cost.

When the first plant was being built, it’s cost was estimated at $360 million.

The new plant will be contracted to supply electricity to the province through 2040, Vogt said.

St. Clair Township Mayor Jeff Agar said he supports the expansion at the Greenfield South Power site.

“Gas, it seems, has been a safe way” and jobs expected with the expansion are “welcome,” he said.

Agar said there was “some controversy” in the township with Enbridge’s proposals for the battery plants, with some residents questioning their safety.

If the battery projects are successful in the future, the township and company will negotiate site plan and host agreements, Agar said.

“That’s all I want to see if anything ever happens, is it’s done right and it is safe,” he said.

Eastern Power’s plant has also been a source of past controversy.

The company was allowed to build in St. Clair Township after the province called a halt in 2011 to construction of a gas plant the company had initially been contracted to build in Mississauga.

Pressure from voters in Mississauga and Oakville led to the canceling of natural gas plant projects in those communities at a cost to the province of about $1.1 billion, according to Ontario’s auditor general.

The Mississauga project continued to attract controversy after it moved to St. Clair Township when picket lines were set up by unionized construction workers complaining about safety on the job site.

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