OPG Ontario Nanticoke coal unit shut

Ontario Power Generation’s 490-megawatt Unit 5 at the Nanticoke coal-fired power station in Ontario shut by early Friday, the Independent Electricity System Operator said in a report.

The 3,920 MW Nanticoke station, which entered service between 1972 and 1978, is located on the north shore of Lake Erie in the town of Nanticoke, about 80 miles southwest of Toronto. There are eight 490 MW units at Nanticoke.

Unit 1 shut by September 18 and will likely return in late September.

Unit 2 shut by September 5 and will likely return by early October.

All of the other units were available for service.

One MW powers 800 homes.

Separately, the Ontario government wants to shut all of the coal-fired generation in the province for health reasons.

OPG, the province-owned generating company, owns about 6,400 MW of coal-fired generation at four stations. The company plans to shut three of the stations (Thunder Bay, Atikokan and Lambton) by the end of 2007.

The company also plans to shut the eight units at Nanticoke in 2008-2009.

The IESO, which operates the province’s power grid, has said, however, that some of the coal units would likely need to remain available after the planned shutdown dates for reliability reasons.

The government asked the Ontario Power Authority, responsible for ensuring an adequate, long-term supply of electricity in the province, to determine when the coal units can shut.

OPG owns and operates about 22,000 MW of generating capacity and markets power to utilities in Ontario and neighboring U.S. and Canadian electricity markets.