OPG shuts down four coal power units

Oct. 1,
2010 – Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has taken four southern Ontario
coal-fired electricity generators permanently off-line as scheduled. Units 1
and 2 at Lambton Generating Station and Units 3 and 4 at Nanticoke Generating
Station are being placed in a safe, permanent, shutdown state. The shutdown of
the generators was initially announced in September 2009.

“I want
to thank the people at Lambton and Nanticoke who have operated and maintained
these units over the years. They have done a great service to Ontario. To those
who are leaving OPG or moving to other stations, we wish them well,” says OPG president
and CEO Tom Mitchell.

Mitchell
added that the early closure of these units will save ratepayers $200 million
over the next four years as OPG moves to a cleaner energy mix and reduces its
carbon footprint. The company is also investing in clean hydro generation and
planning for nuclear refurbishment and new nuclear.

“We're
making good progress on the conversion of our Atikokan plant to biomass. We are
also assessing the potential for converting some of our other remaining coal
units to cleaner fuels, as we believe making use of these valuable public
assets is a cost-effective option to complement the province's growing solar
and wind generation,” he says.

Brought
into service in the late 1960s and early 1970s, respectively, the four closed
units were capable of producing about 2,000 MW of electricity. Electricity
production from Ontario’s coal-fired generators has declined rapidly as new
generating sources like natural gas and renewables have come on-line. In 2009,
almost 90% of OPG’s generation came from carbon-free nuclear and hydro sources.
Ontario will phase out the use of coal by the end of 2014.