by Miriam Trevis
The Record
Mar. 14, 2007
A standing room only crowd gathered in Meeting Room 2 at the Aquatic Center in Gold River on March 10 to hear a presentation from Green Island Energy.
Posted as an Open House and Job Fair, the meeting was hosted by Green Island's Vice President, Sean Ebnet who was accompanied by David Lindquist, Project Manager for SNC-Lavalin Construcion Inc., the company in charge of the construction phase of the project. Also in attendance were Rod Christian, Director of Operations for North America Green Energy Projects on behalf of DTE Energy, an affiliate of Detroit Energy and the company chosen to run the power project, and Kyle Roblee, also from DTE, who is Director of Business Development.
Currently Green Island Energy is awaiting approval from financial institutions as they conduct "due diligence" in order to establish the worthiness of the project. Once the banks sign off, the construction phase will start. Ebner stated that it can take anything from 60 - 90 days to receive approval from the banks giving an estimated start time of mid-June if all goes according to plan.
When work is in full progress, there will be 200 jobs in the construction phase with an anticipated time frame of 26 months. However in the initial stages these jobs will be phased in over a period of a few months as the need arises.
Both of the boilers will be enhanced and improved with the recovery boiler being adapted to burn Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) while the power boiler will burn wood waste. New fuel handling systems will need to be installed together with major upgrades to the exteriors of the existing buildings on the site. SNC-Lavalin Construction Inc. will design and build the project.
Once the power generation plant is operating, no later than Sept. 2009, there will be between 50 and 60 permanent full-time jobs. Between 30 and 40 of these jobs will be in material handling with crews, working 12hr shifts 365 days a year. Second and third class steam tickets will be required for boiler operation and there will be a maintenance crew of approximately 15 workers.
The sub-contractors who have already been contacted by SNC-Lavalin Construction Inc. are almost exclusively union shops. However, DTE's operation will be non-union. Lindquist explained that his company believes if you treat people well and pay a good wage and benefit package, there is no need for a union. He stressed that a competitive wage will be paid in all categories.
Some concerns were raised concerning heavy truck traffic using Hwy 28 and assurances were given that wherever possible machinery would be moved in by barge. Roblee pointed out, however, that the costs involved would always be the deciding factor.
MLA Clair Trevena attended the meeting and offered to meet with Green Island Energy and the Minisrty of Highways to discuss Hwy 28 improvements.
Resumes were accepted at the Open House and a further opportunity to submit resumes is now available. For work on the construction phase, resumes should be emailed to construction@greenislandenergy.ca. The Green Island Energy website will show qualifications being sought and full job descriptions as of April 2007.
A further Open House
is planned within the near future and The Record will be pleased
to carry full details of this important event once details are finalized.
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