NewPage and Nova Scotia Power Develop Biomass Project

On November 3, 2010, NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp., a subsidiary of the Ohio-based NewPage Corporation, and Nova Scotia Power Inc., Nova Scotia's electrical public utility, completed an asset sale transaction worth $80,000,000, an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the construction of a $90,000,000 steam/turbine generator set and long-term biomass supply, steam supply, and project management, operations and maintenance agreements.
The sale to NSPI included a power boiler, fuel-handling equipment and real property located within NewPage's paper mill property at Point Tupper, Nova Scotia.

Reciprocal easements allow the biomass project and the existing paper mill to share existing and future support systems.

NewPage will construct the new facilities and operate the entire biomass-fuelled electricity generating plant on behalf of NSPI.

Completion of the biomass project is scheduled for the end of December 2012.
The project will have a nameplate capacity of 62 megawatts.

The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board approved NSPI's capital cost application for the biomass project on October 14, 2010.

This deal enables NSPI to generate renewable power and help meet the renewable energy standards set by the Province of Nova Scotia.

This deal enables NewPage to maximize the value of its power boiler and related assets and create new and stable employment opportunities in the Point Tupper area.

McInnes Cooper acted as counsel for NewPage. The McInnes Cooper team for the biomass project included David MacDougall, George Cooper, QC, and Matthew Clarke on the regulatory side, and Van Penick, Harvey Morrison, QC, George Monroe and Jessie Irving on the transaction side.

René Gallant, in-house counsel with NSPI, led the regulatory effort on behalf of the public utility, while Heidi Leslie, in-house counsel with NSPI's parent company, Emera Inc., led the NSPI transaction team with support from Wickwire Holm's Michael Kennedy and Stephen Campbell.