The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board hears the biomass proposal Monday in Halifax. (Craig Paisley/CBC)

Hearings began Monday in Halifax on a proposal to build a biomass-fuelled power generation station in Cape Breton.

Nova Scotia Power Inc. and NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp. are asking the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board for permission to burn 650,000 tonnes of wood a year.

They say it would produce about three per cent of the province's total electricity, or enough to supply 50,000 homes.

NewPage already burns bark and junk logs at its mill in Port Hawkesbury. But this project would require about 50 per cent more wood.

NewPage plans to get 25 per cent from what's left over from the papermaking process at the mill and another 25 per cent from sawmills in the form of bark and chips. The remaining 50 per cent would come from trees growing in the forest, from both private woodlots and Crown land.

Wood shavings can be turned into biomass energy. (CBC)

NSPI and NewPage say the $208-million project will help maintain 550 mill jobs and create 150 new forestry jobs, as well as help in meeting requirements for green energy.

"It helps Nova Scotia meet its renewable energy targets," Bill Stewart, an official with NewPage, said before the start of the hearing.

Some environmentalists and woodlot owners say the project will lead to more clearcutting and they question whether it's sustainable.

Nova Scotia Power dismisses those concerns. The company says more wood, primarily pellets and wood chips, is exported from the province than this project would require.

It will be up to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to decide whether the biomass project will proceed.

With files from The Canadian Press