BC Business
In exceeding his company's Power Smart commitment, CPLP Executive Vice President Brett Robinson is saving enough energy to power thousands of B.C. homes.
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Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership is gung-ho about following BC Hydro’s PSP Industrial program, and the results have exceeded expectations.
In exceeding his company’s Power Smart commitment, CPLP Executive Vice President Brett Robinson is saving enough energy to power thousands of B.C. homes.
Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership (CPLP) of Prince George is participating in BC Hydro’s PSP Industrial program at the highest level: the Sustainable Energy Management Planning Initiative is an undertaking that involves three CPLP pulp and paper plants: Northwood Pulp Mill, Prince George Pulp and Paper Mill, and Intercontinental Pulp Mill.
By integrating this initiative into its capital planning cycle, CPLP has actively engaged their employees at each mill in energy savings projects, and the results to date are 30 gigawatt hours per year of identified potential energy savings. In addition, 15 gigawatt hours of energy conservation have already been achieved, enough to power approximately 1,600 B.C. homes annually. It’s an enviable record, considering the CPLP/Power Smart initiative began only two years ago. “We’re exceeding Power Smart’s expectations,” says CPLP Manager of Strategic Capital and Energy Sotirios Korogonas. “Originally, we were expecting to deliver energy conservation of 10 gigawatt hours per year.”
The savings were achieved by modifying operations and installing higher efficiency equipment, including one project to reconfigure the paper machine vacuum systems and eliminate some vacuum pumps. “There’s still room for improvements,” says Korogonas. “We continue to develop projects in different parts of our mills that will create more energy conservation and further enhance performance.”
CPLP has proven that meaningful energy savings can occur if a company embraces energy management best practices and integrates them into its business process. “We enjoy a tremendous working relationship with BC Hydro, and in addition to our focus on energy conservation, we are developing projects to build our generation capacity,” says Korogonas. “The Power Smart industrial programs not only benefit our mills and the environment, but B.C. ratepayers and the province as well.”