page_title: Tracy Thermal Generating Station
section_title: Retirement and dismantlement
hierarchical_section_title: Tracy Thermal Generating Station / Retirement and dismantlement
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Centrale de Tracy en mars 2015
context_page_description: The Tracy Thermal Generating Station is a retired 660-megawatt heavy fuel oil-fueled thermal power station built from 1962 by the Shawinigan Water & Power Company and completed by Hydro-Québec after the buyout of all private electric utilities by the government of Quebec in 1963. Commissioned between 1964 and 1968, the plant is located on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River in the city of Sorel-Tracy, in the Montérégie Region.
  Mainly used as a peaker plant, the Tracy facility was usually running during cold spells in the winter. It was sometimes operated year-round to supplement hydroelectric generation during low-water years.
  Although it was operated only sporadically, the generating station has been criticized for its contribution to air pollution as it was one of Quebec's major sources of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates. Some commentators have accused Hydro-Québec of unnecessarily operating the Tracy thermal plant to export electricity by taking advantage of low fuel prices at certain times.
  The Tracy Thermal Generating Station was kept as a reserve during the 2010–2011 winter and permanently shut down on March 1, 2011.
context_section_description: With the commissioning of new dams in the James Bay area, the Tracy plant ceased operations prior to the 2010–2011 winter to be kept as a reserve. It was officially retired on March 1, 2011. Dismantlement work is scheduled to begin in January 2013 and will last approximately one year. The C$19 million (£12 million) contract was awarded to US-based firm EDS Decommissioning, a subsidiary of the Silverdell Environmental Group. EDS will be in charge of decommissioning and dismantling the plant, including asbestos removal, tearing down the structures and selling reusable assets. The contractor expects to market "approximately 37,000 tonnes of reusable plant, equipment and metals" for resale.
  Future use of the riverfront property owned by Hydro-Québec has not yet been finalized. At the end of 2011, the Société des traversiers du Québec expressed an interest in moving its Sorel ferry terminal at Bassin Kaskiaik to near the power station as a way to increase traffic. As of October 2012, this scenario is among five options evaluated by a consultant retained by the Quebec government.
caption: The plant, without its smokestacks, during its dismantlement in March 2015.
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