It will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 30 years.
This, said Harvie Campbell, director of Western BioEnergy Inc. is the outlook for the Ditni Yoh Green Energy project proposed to be located 26 kilometres east of Burns Lake off Hwy. 16.
The information was given to members of the public during an open house held in Burns Lake last week.
Currently the Ditni Yoh project is waiting for final approval after being short listed as a preferred proponent in the BC Hydro phase two call for bioenergy.
Campbell said the group is eagerly awaiting BC Hydro's final announcement which will come in July this year.
If approved, the project will have financing in place by the end of 2011, followed by an 18-24 month construction phase and will be ready for commercial operation in early 2014.
The project is a partnership between Western BioEnegry Inc., who is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of Dalkia Canada, and six local First Nations groups collectively called the Lakes District Native Economic Development Corporation.
The six First Nations include; the Burns Lake Band, Lake Babine Nation, Skin Tyee Nation, Nee Tahi Buhn Band and the Stellat'en First Nation.
Ditni Yoh is one of three B.C. BioEnergy Network 33 megawatt biomass fired, electricity generating stations currently being undertaken by Western BioEnergy Inc. and according to Campbell they are all going to be using the same design and the same technology.
The other two stations are proposed to be located near Fort St. James and Merritt.
"It is cookie cutter technology, there is no science involved and is something that we have done before," he said.
It is tried and true technology," agreed Fred Scott, vice president of business development for Western BioEnergy Inc.
Once up and running, the proposed plant will produce enough energy to supply power to 33,000 homes.
"It is more power than Burns Lake requires from a residential stand point so some of it will go to the grid," Campbell said.
The plant will have a small footprint spanning a total of five acres and will use a dry cooling process, which means that water usage is very minimal.
"There will be plenty of room to have a log yard and the flexibility to have a grinding operation [on site]," Campbell said.
Emissions will also be very limited.
"It is as close to zero emissions as you can get," said Campbell. The proposed plant will emit one per cent of the emissions of a standard beehive burner.
Scott explained that the emissions are cut down due to the use of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). "The ESP takes out the particulates and is mandated by the Ministry of Environment," he said.
"The plant will be barely visible from the highway and you certainly will not have clouds of white smoke belching from the stacks," Campbell added.
Scott went on to say that the proposed plant has twin boilers that use wood residue to produce steam. A steam turbine is then used to produce electricity. Dry cooling is also used to condense the steam and minimize water consumption.
"It is a simple design that is reliable," Scott said, adding that there are low operation and maintenance costs attached to the fully automated operation.
The company also plans to pave the site so as to reduce the amount of dust that will be disturbed during its operations.
"Paving reduces maintenance and helps by not creating huge clouds of dust around the plant," Scott said.
Fibre will be stored in a fully enclosed building reducing the impact on the fibre from snow and rain and reducing the possible of any air borne fibre due to wind.
The project will capitalize on the available fibre in the area by using beetle killed timber, sawmill waste, roadside slash and fibre from forest thinning.
Local residents will also be able to bring in loads of fibre from yard clearing for disposal however, Scott said there are restrictions on what can be burnt to maintain the plant's 'clean and green' status.
We could not accept anything that had been coated or painted," he said.
"Burns Lake is situated in a great fibre basket with close fibre available," Campbell added.
The power plant will use about 200,000 dry tonnes of forest residue per year to create clean, renewable bioenergy.
"It is a 30 year project and we realize that over time fuel [options] are going to change. For 10 to 20 years we will be fine, we are planning for fibre for the last 10 years. We are also looking at potentially growing crops to be harvested for the plant," said Roger Prosser, vice president of business and infrastructure development for Dalkia Canada.
He went on to say that the company will look at setting up private contracts for fibre supply as well as contemplate market purchases.
"We are all very excited about the project," Prosser added.
According to Prosser, Dalkia is all about reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
He went on to say that Dalkia Canada is a large company that has a $10 billion [Canadian dollar] annual turnover and a lot of expertise in power generation from renewable energy sources.
"We are happy and pleased to bring this experience to British Columbia and to Burns Lake."
The plant has a $140 million capital cost price tag attached to it and according to Campbell a lot of the money will be spent in the region.
There will potentially be 80 constructions jobs available and the plant will be serviced by 16 full time staff during operations.
Fibre sourcing for the plant will also create between 20-60 full time local jobs.
"It will stabilize the forestry sector and [once approved] the plant will run regardless of the U.S. housing market and the European pellet market," Campbell said.
For now though the group are awaiting approval from their phase two bid submission to BC Hydro.
If awarded a total of 24 permits, approvals and certificates required for plant construction and operation will be completed and submitted and the plant is expected to be up and running by the spring of 2014.