Excess steam produced at the Zellstoff Celgar mill in Castlegar is now being used to generate large amounts of electricity for BC Hydro.
The Crown corporation has signed a 10-year agreement to purchase power from the mill's cogeneration facility, which is capable of producing 238 gigawatt-hours of electricity each year.
That's enough to power roughly 20,000 homes.
"I believe that renewable energy like this, its generation and the technology and knowledge around it, is a key to a prosperous future for British Columbia," said provincial Energy Minister Bill Bennett, who visited the mill last week for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the generating facility.
The steam turbine has actually been up and running since late September, said Al Hitzroth, managing director of operations at Celgar, when it was deemed fit to start sending power to the BC Hydro grid.
Hitzroth said the pulp mill's normal operations produce steam, much of which used to be simply vented, but now that excess energy is being put to good use.
"The excess can be used to drive a turbine and make electricity," he said.
The process begins when wood chips are brought into the plant and dissolved in a giant "digester," Hitzroth said. Some of the digested material ends up as pulp and some ends up as a fuel known as "black liquor."
That fuel is burned in a "recovery boiler," so named because it recovers two things: inorganic chemicals (which can be used later for making paper) and energy.
The energy is used to power the plant but more power is produced than the mill needs, so BC Hydro was happy to purchase the excess electricity.
"We are committed to powering BC with clean, reliable electricity and projects like Zellstoff Celgar's will help us deliver on our goals for generations," said BC Hydro president and CEO Dave Cobb.
"Clean energy projects also support economic development opportunities throughout B.C. and we commend Zellstof Celgar on their upgrades which support both business viability and the local community."
The generating capabilities and the Celgar mill were made possible by a series of upgrades to the facility, paid for by $40 million in funding from Natural Resources Canada's "Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program" and $17 million from Celgar's parent company, Mercer International.