Natural Resources committee  It's quite true. I wouldn't call it a gap, actually. I'd say it's a system that's developed over decades now. There are probably only a handful of companies that develop large generation facilities. You could count them on one hand: General Electric, Siemens, Alstom, Hitachi, right?

Natural Resources committee  In principle, yes, but I would also say that our company is a strong proponent that, in the long haul, technologies and the economics of those technologies need to stand on their own and need to be sustainable, so we need to be quite careful that we can get things started, but we can't continue to subsidize over the long haul.

Natural Resources committee  If you like second-hand knowledge, from speaking with my colleagues from Nova Scotia Power, I would say it's extremely exciting from our perspective. The Bay of Fundy is essentially world-class in terms of its power capabilities, and we think Nova Scotia Power is doing some great work, particularly with firms in the U.K., looking at developing that technology.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, I do. I want to use as an example something that's happening in Alberta, which I think gets at exactly your question. The Alberta government in 2007 established what they call the Alberta technology fund, which is a fund created by contributions from Alberta industry to offset carbon emissions in the province.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. That's a very insightful question. The answer is yes. In fact, we've looked at using biomass in our coal-fired plants in Alberta. Clearly, the biggest factor is the transportation cost and logistics of moving biomass. We're talking about huge volumes. To give you an example, one coal-fired power plant might look at a volume of 200 or 250 truckloads of biomass to supply approximately 10% to 15% of the daily energy requirements to a typical coal-fired unit.

Natural Resources committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and honourable committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to talk to you today. In addition to speaking on behalf of TransAlta Corporation, I'd also like to speak in a second role that I hold, which is the chair of the Canadian Clean Power Coalition in Canada, an industry-government group focused on developing new technologies for clean use of fossil fuels in the generation of electricity.