Council voting unanimously to look at the feasibility of once again using Boulevard Lake Dam to produce power.
The conversation was started by At-Large Councillor Mark Bentz, who was looking for a high level overview from administration.
“This would be the first of probably two checkpoints for council to consider this,” Bentz told the group Monday. “It would give us a little bit more information before asking for a more thorough analysis maybe by a consultant. Administration in my discussions with them, some of the infrastructure is there, some of it is no longer there. There’s different pricing regimes in place for power purchase.”
Bentz went on to say if council eventually agrees to follow through with the project, there could be collaboration with Synergy North.
“I’ve been speaking with Tim Wilson there, and he’s willing to liaise with our staff as required to talk about feasibility, and pricing, and how it all works,” Bentz noted. “This is just keep in mind a high level overview, I’m not looking for anything super detailed at this point.”
Current River Ward Councillor Andrew Foulds has been heavily involved in the reconstruction of Boulevard Lake Dam, set to be completed October 31.
“I wanted to publicly thank Councillor Bentz for putting this forward,” says Foulds. “It is clear to me that he has spent quite a bit of time, and remember colleagues that he does sit on the Synergy North board so he does have some insight there which I think we all really appreciate. I really appreciate the tactics he has deployed in terms of this is the first step, maybe we stop after this step but maybe we continue after this.”
The discussion turned to what exactly the power produced from the dam be used for, and whether it would be sold.
Director of Engineering and Operations Kayla Dixon said this would be determined in the future, but shared some possibilities.
“My understanding is that the power can be used for either,” explains Dixon. “We could power something locally ourselves or sell the power to the grid, but that would be something that we would look for council’s direction after this preliminary report is acquired.”
Other discussions saw the potential project praised, especially since it would fall in line with Thunder Bay’s net zero strategy and community goals of greener energy.
The dam previously had an operating power project, though it was ended in 2019.
