SaskPower has announced that Units 4 and 5 at the Boundary Dam Power Station will be retired in a few years, rather than receive a carbon capture and storage (CCS) retrofit.听
鈥淐oal will remain an important part of the power grid in the future and so will CCS as we work on opportunities for other facilities,鈥� said Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskPower. 鈥淐CS is vital to achieving climate change goals here in Canada and around the world.鈥�
鈥淯nits 4 and 5 at Boundary Dam are smaller units in our fleet that are rapidly approaching the end of their useful lives,鈥� said SaskPower president and CEO Mike Marsh. 鈥淔ederal regulations on existing coal plants mandate that we either retrofit Units 4 and 5 with CCS, or retire them at the end of 2021 and 2024, respectively, with an equivalency agreement from the federal government.
鈥淲ith the current low price of natural gas, we had to make this decision in the best interest of our customers. For now, we have a clear plan to achieve our emission reduction targets by 2030, and CCS technology will be a part of that. We will continue to evaluate the viability of retrofitting our larger units with CCS in the coming years.鈥�
CCS technology will continue to be used at Unit 3 at Boundary Dam. SaskPower states Unit 3 has demonstrated how conventional coal can be replaced with this low-emission process that makes Unit 3 one of the world鈥檚 cleanest-burning coal power units.
SaskPower is also currently supporting the Saskatchewan Ministry of the Environment to secure an equivalency agreement from the federal government, expected this year. This would allow the company to manage its emissions fleet-wide, rather than on a unit-by-unit basis. An agreement would allow SaskPower to operate Unit 4 until 2021 and Unit 5 until 2024.
The eventual retirement of the units is not anticipated to include any layoffs for the approximately 40 positions involved.
A high-level CCS feasibility study is 小蓝视频 prepared for the Shand Power Station east of Estevan.
鈥淏alancing cost, reliability and sustainability will continue to mean a mix of power sources, and CCS coal will be a part of that for some time to come,鈥� added Marsh. 鈥淭he pioneering work done here in Saskatchewan will continue, on CCS, but also on higher-efficiency natural gas, and as we bring our capacity to up to 50 per cent renewable by 2030. It鈥檚 about giving our children and grandchildren a provincial power grid that meets their needs, supports the economy and has a sustainable impact on the environment.鈥�
This week's edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.听
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