OPITCIWAN – The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has closed a $24 million loan to support the Atikamekw of Opitciwan on a renewable energy facility for the remote First Nation community of 2,500 in northern Quebec.
The Onimiskiw Opitciwan Limited Partnership will construct and operate the 4.8-megawatt Centrale de cogénération d’Opitciwan. The facility will generate electricity by burning bark, sawdust and woodchips produced by an adjacent sawmill, explains a release.
Additionally, steam from the new energy plant will power a new wood kiln at the sawmill.
The project will reduce nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide emissions from the current diesel-based energy generation.
The new power plant will support 40 jobs during construction and 15 direct and indirect full-time jobs during operations. It is also being designed to accommodate the capacity to support future housing development.
The Centrale de cogénération d’Opitciwan, along with a new substation and battery energy storage system built by Hydro-Quebec, will improve the stability of community’s independent electrical network, which currently experiences frequent power outages.
The project, along with the CIB’s investment, could serve as a model to support other Indigenous communities in Quebec and across Canada by reducing their reliance on diesel as their primary energy source, through the integration of renewable sources, the release adds.
