Essar Steel Algoma Inc. is proposing to build a 50-megawatt solar farm at its 1,600-acre Sault steelmaking property.
"Several years ago, we undertook a reclamation program where we brought down over 20 surplus buildings and facilities. So we have a fairly generous portion of land available to use for reclamation," said Brenda Stenta, Algoma's manager of corporate relations.
"We believe that an excellent sustainable project would be a solar farm," Stenta told SooToday.
"At Algoma, we not only have ample vacant land available to us, we also have a pretty substantial power distribution infrastructure throughout the steelworks that we would be able to capitalize on. We'd be looking at upwards of 50 megawatts from that."
The solar farm was one of three sustainable power initiatives disclosed by company officials on Thursday at an environmental open house at the Polish-Canadian Hall at 235 Goulais Ave.
The Sault steelmaker is also proposing to generate 13 megwatts with a new recovery turbine that will recover energy from gas at the top of its #7 blast furnace, as well as an additional eight megawatts from a low-pressure steam turbine at its steelmaking facility.
"With those three initiatives combined, we could generate over 70 megawatts of power ourselves. Our average consumption on a daily basis is about 140 megawatts. That represents half of our power requirements," Stenta told SooToday."Not only are they clean power alternatives, they're also sustainable and it gives us greater independence from the grid."
The Sault's existing solar farms at Black Rd. and Base Line have total capacity of 59.8 megawatts.