FORT FRANCES — Fort Frances’s mayor says he’s excited about a trio of proposed energy projects in the Northwestern Ontario community and what they could mean for emergency backup power in the area.

Andrew Hallikas says three initiatives are in various stages of development: a solar farm and a battery storage facility both proposed by FirstLight (which also owns the existing Fort Frances Generating Station hydro dam) and a biofuel refinery by a partnership between Highbury Renewables and Wanagekong-Biiwega’iganan Clean Energy Corporation — a consortium of 10 area First Nations.

The latter project is expected to create over 80 jobs, according to press materials released by the partnership in August. Hallikas told Newswatch it would also “position Northwestern Ontario, Fort Frances in par

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