The Nova Scotia Power Corporation, a subsidiary of Emera Corporation operates the electricity generating facility at Tufts Cove on the east side of Halifax harbour. The plant is located on The Narrows, directly opposite "Ground Zero" - site of the 1917 Halifax Explosion.
The plant has been built in stages since 1965 and now consists of three large steam turbines and three gas combustion turbines. The orginal unit, built in 1965 could burn coal or oil, and subsequent units built in 1972 and 1976 were built for oil only. In 2000 the facility was reconfigured to burn oil or natural gas. Gas comes to the plant via the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, originating in Dracut Massachusetts, where it connects to the North American natural gas grid. In 2003 and 2004 two gas combustion turbines were installed and in 2011 a sixth unit, a combustion-cycle generator was added. The total nominal generating capacity is now 500 MW. Each of the gas /oil burning plants has a 152 m (500 ft) tall chimney, painted red and white for aircraft warning.
Although the facility uses natural gas primarily it does use oil from time to time and stockpiles oil on site in case of a disruption in gas supply. This morning, March 2, the tanker Larvik arrived from Houston with a cargo of heavy oil.
The Larvik was built in 2006 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering (SHME) in Yokosuka. It is classed as a crude oil / product tanker of 35,711 gt, 61,213 dwt. Presumably that means that the ship has heating coils to keep black oil flowing for offloading.
The ship's commercial management is in the hands of Polyar Tankers AS of Oslo, hence the Norwegian name, but its technical operation is handled by World Tankers Management Pte of Singapore. Both those companies are in fact arms of the Cypriot Greek ship owner Polys Haji-Iannou, whose father Loucas was one of the world's largest tanker owners at one time. The family has since branched out into airlines and other businesses and now owns about twenty tankers.
The tugs Atlantic Willow (foreward) and Atlantic Oak (aft) bring the ship alongside the Tufts Cove jetty. Not seen is Connors Diving's boat Eastcom taking lines to mooring buoys. The ship's 213.4m (700 ft) length contrasts with the 152m (500 ft) stacks.