The Prince Albert Pulp Mill, now under the ownership of Paper Excellence is set to fire up the first stages of its new iteration by mid-May.

Mill general manager Dave Patterson said by May 15, the site should be ready to turn on the first of its biofuel power generators.

They’ll be testing its operation for a few weeks and, if everything goes well, they’ll hook up to the SaskPower grid to begin selling back that power.

“May 15 we’ll fire up and do a lot of check outs and by May 27th we’ll synchronize with the Saskatchewan power grid,” he said.

Once that happens, the plant will begin producing and selling 10 mWs of power.

Patterson said 45 employees had been hired to operate the generation efforts of the plant.

Working towards full operation
Patterson said the expected date of opening the mill for the production of dissolving pulp was still in the third quarter of 2013.

“We’re working the technical end to ensure that the right equipment will be installed.”

adesouza@panow.com