When the dust settles from the construction of the downtown district energy system, it will reveal new commercial opportunities in the city centre.
On Monday, IDL Contractors began putting up a peaking back up plant on 2nd Avenue, with city excavation work to install water and sewer lines beginning yesterday.
The back-up plant is a component of the energy system based at Lakeland Mills that will burn sawmill residue and other wood waste from the mill to provide hot water heat for civic facilities downtown, including Four Seasons Pool, City Hall, Coast Inn and Civic Centre.
"It's just boilers in case the mill goes into shutdown mode or for repairs," said City of Prince George utilities division manager Marco Fornari.
Along with this plant, the project will compromise two storeys of office and retail space, he said.
The city awarded IDL Contractors the $2.75-million contract to build this portion of the downtown district energy system in July.
According to Fornari, construction needs to be completed by the end of December, but after the structure is complete, there will still be other work required to hook the plant up to Lakeland Mills.
Construction also began on Tuesday on other parts of the project. This includes the removal of existing road structure and concrete curb gutters, excavation for installation of the piping system from Lakeland Mill to participating buildings, reconstruction of the roads and concrete gutters and reinstating any disturbed landscaped areas.
Depending on the weather, the project is slated to run until November, with work being done Mondays through Fridays.
Street parking may be restricted during the construction.
The city projects the system will turn a $2.8 million profit over 20 years, and reduce fine particulate emissions in the city by 100 tonnes per year - primarily by reducing 300 truck trips per year to haul wood waste material from the mill.
Prior to being finalized, the project earned the city the Canadian District Energy Association's municipal green award for 2010.
