There may be a solution that, apparently, has not yet been thoroughly considered: Biodiesel MAY be a viable replacement fuel for natural gas in the existing Brandon turbines.
Manitoba Hydro’s website indicates these turbines use diesel fuel as a backup. Adapting these turbines to use diesel as their primary fuel is feasible and may be fairly straightforward.
Some adaptation would also be needed to use biodiesel rather than fossil diesel. Because biodiesel gels at roughly 0°C, the biodiesel used in the Brandon plant would need to be warmed during winter. The on-site storage tanks can be insulated, and excess heat captured from the turbines could be used to keep the tanks at the desired temperature.
If this biodiesel was produced from off-grade Manitoba seed oils (such as canola and/or soybeans), this option would provide additional benefits beyond the environmental benefits of replacing a fossil fuel with a renewable fuel:
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- Providing a new, reliable and local revenue stream for Manitoba farmers, who are searching for new markets.
- Further diversifying Manitoba’s agribusiness sector, including the establishment of a biodiesel plant in Manitoba.
A thorough feasibility study is required to determine if this solution is viable. Questions to be answered include:
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- What conversion would be needed for the existing turbines to use biodiesel instead of natural gas?
- What would the capital cost be for temperature-controlled storage tanks and supply piping?
- How much biodiesel would be needed per year?
- How would the estimated future cost of biodiesel compare to that of natural gas?
- What would be the costs and benefits of a Manitoba biodiesel plant?
- Could this option also be viable for Manitoba Hydro’s proposed 500 MW thermal generating plant?
Given the broader economic and environmental implications of this possibility, this study should not be conducted by Manitoba Hydro alone, and its results should be made public. Ideally, this study should be commissioned by the Province of Manitoba.
This is the introduction to the full document, which is available here.