A $170-million retrofit at Atikokan Generating Station in Atikokan, Ontario, is transforming a 28-year- old coal plant to burn 100% biomass and represents a major trend in North American power engineering and construction efforts. "The Ontario Power Authority mandated that this facility be off coal by December 31, 2014," says Brent Boyko, Atikokan station manager. "The biomass fuel source cuts emissions but retains the plant's ability to generate 205 MW of electrical power."
Policy regulations and legal actions are causing similar construction efforts to pick up pace in the U.S. Armed with a $50-million donation from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R), the Sierra Club said its "Beyond Coal" campaign is more than halfway to its goal of retiring 30% of the U.S. coal fleet by 2020. The Sierra Club, the largest U.S. environmental advocacy group, has filed more than a dozen lawsuits in the past year against coal plants for violating the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act, first signed by President Richard Nixon (R) in 1970. More than 142 U.S. coal-fired powerplants have closed during its campaign against the fossil fuel, representing 105 GW of electrical capacity, the Sierra Club said.