The federal government put a push on the Canadian electrical power generating industries on Monday with Catherine McKenna, the minister of the environment and climate change, announcing an acceleration of the transition from traditional coal fueled power to clean energy alternatives by 2030.
The accelerated removal of coal to produce electrical power, does not include carbon capture and storage to trap and sequester carbon dioxide since this is a non-traditional exercise and is currently being used in Saskatchewan to eliminate carbon dioxide on an industrial scale.
The edict, however, will probably place pressure on the province to hurry their impending decision on extending the carbon capture model to include other current coal-fired power production in the province, or seek other options. Saskatchewan currently receives about 40 per cent of its required electrical production from coal-fired plants such as Boundary Dam, Shand and Poplar River Power Stations.
The federal government will support the transition by using the Canada Infrastructure Bank to finance projects such as commercially viable clean energy among all provinces.
The mandate is to reach a 90 per cent target of non-emitting sources by 2030.
“Taking traditional coal power out of our energy mix and replacing it with cleaner technologies and significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, improve the health of Canadians and benefit generations for years to come, sends a clear signal to the world that Canada is a great place to invest in clean energy,” said McKenna.
Coal fired electricity is responsible for about eight per cent of Canada’s total green house gas (GHG) emissions.
Shortly after the announcement, the Pembina Institute issued a media release applauding the federal government for the “timely and necessary commitment to phase out coal-fired power across Canada by 2030.”
They also added there was a need to reduce coal as well as gas-fired electrical power generation.
That fact that some flexibility is being offered by the federal ministries, would probably be welcomed by Saskatchewan where about $1.5 billion has been invested in clean coal technology attached to one 115 megawatt power production unit at the Boundary Dam Power Station near this city.
The announcement was made in anticipation of the upcoming first ministers’ meeting next month when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to conclude a pan-Canadian climate accord.
McKenna said she could not give an estimate on what the move will cost consumers but said that Ottawa would work with the provinces to find and invest the most affordable options.
The regulation regarding the elimination of traditional coal-fired power plants, is speeding up the timetable that was crafted by the previous Conservative government in 2012 – for the four provinces that still burn coal for electricity to either adopt technology to capture carbon, such as in Saskatchewan, or shut down the plants that use it.
Government sources indicated that provinces need to seek some flexibility within the federal government to negotiate agreements that would allow some plants to stay open as long as equivalent emission reductions are achieved elsewhere. That flexibility may be applied to the more recently built coal-fueled plants, as one example of where this allowance may be implemented.
The federal government has already agreed to negotiate a deal with Nova Scotia that will allow it to burn some coal post 2030 during the high-demand winter months when it reaches for deep emissions reductions in the electricity sector, some government sources have said. A Nova Scotia official noted that will allow the province to go from coal to clean without having to rely on a natural gas alternative.
Speculation was that Saskatchewan had some coal-fired units that could be expected to remain in operation until 2040 without a carbon-capture capability, but the federal plan for a carbon tax or levy as early as 2018 has come in for harsh criticism from the provincial government. Nova Scotia also expressed major concerns with the federal plan.
In the meantime, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has vowed to resurrect the coal industry in that country by rolling back environmental regulations that punished that sector.
