The carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility at SaskPower鈥檚 Boundary Dam Power Station has received a lot of attention and prominent visitors since it opened in 2014, but this week it received a visit from one of its top delegations yet.
Visiting members of a COP24 delegation were at Boundary Dam on Thursday to tour Unit 3 and the CCS facility.
Micha艂 Kurtyka, COP24 president and State Secretary in the Ministry of Environment of Poland, and Pawe艂 Leszczy艅ski, and Pawe艂 Leszczy艅ski, the director of the COP24 Presidency Bureau and Ministry of Environment of Poland, toured the project.
鈥淪askatchewan has become a leader in carbon capture and sequestration technology, and we are pleased to share our knowledge and progress on this technology with the world,鈥� Saskatchewan Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said.
鈥淕lobally, CCS provides an important opportunity to reduce emissions and tackle climate change in a meaningful way. Saskatchewan is working hard to do its part and has a goal of reducing emissions in the electricity sector by 40 per cent of the 2005 levels and CCS is a part of that goal.鈥�
Internationally, there is recognition that definitive action is needed to support the world鈥檚 ability to tackle climate change. BD3 has the world鈥檚 first commercial-scale CCS process and sharing CCS technology with the rest of the world, who wants to produce environmentally sustainable coal power, is part of global action on climate change.
鈥淎s we continue our work in building resilience to the climatic, economic and policy implications of a changing climate, it is important we build new capacities in innovative technologies like carbon capture and storage that will contribute to economic growth, and at the same time, care for the natural environment.鈥� Kurtyka said.
The delegates from Poland are also joined on their visit by COP24 presidency spokesperson Magda Smokowska, Polish Mining Group chairman of the board Tomasz Rogala, Polish Mining Group Management Board attorney Adam Milczarczyk, Polish Mining Group director for Innovation and New Technologies Rafa艂 G膮sior, Central Mining Institute scientific cecretary professor Adam Smoli艅ski and Central Mining Institute head professor Stanis艂aw Prusek.
The International CCS Knowledge Centre was involved with welcoming and hosting the delegates in Saskatchewan.聽 During their day in Saskatchewan, members of the delegation were also briefed about SaskPower鈥檚 carbon capture test facility.
鈥淭he International CCS Knowledge Centre is pleased to bring the world to Saskatchewan to share our proven and experience-based know-how in carbon capture and storage,鈥� International CCS Knowledge Centre president and CEO Mike Monea said.
鈥淎s a pioneer, the BD3 CCS facility, provides critical lessons for accelerated deployment. Our visitors are a testament to how this Saskatchewan-first technology is sought after to meet world emission reduction targets under the Paris Agreement.鈥�
SaskPower鈥檚 Boundary Dam 3 (BD3) facility is the first commercial power plant in the world to be equipped with a fully-integrated, post-combustion carbon capture system. Since start-up, the facility has captured more than 2.5 million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of taking more than 640,000 cars off Saskatchewan roads.
Next week's edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.聽
