It’s been more than a month since a powerful thunderstorm swept through Estevan and knocked Boundary Dam offline for several hours.
While the other units at Boundary Dam are now operating again, Unit 3 is still offline. Unit 3 is the unit connected to the power station’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility.
In its monthly update on the CCS facility at Boundary Dam that was released on July 10, SaskPower reiterated previous statements that multiple transmission and distribution power lines and poles went down during the thunderstorm on June 14, which then tripped all four generating units at Boundary Dam.
The damage to Units 4, 5 and 6 was less severe than Unit 3, and power to those units has now been restored, but Unit 3 suffered some damage and remains offline to inspect and repair equipment.
In an email with the Mercury, SaskPower spokesperson Jonathan Tremblay said the storm did damage to a lot of individual turbine pieces, diaphragms and bearings.
“The turbine has been dismantled so we could access individual pieces inside,” said Tremblay. “These parts require precision analysis and repairs so they have been transported to specialized workshops throughout Canada and the U.S.
“Due to summer vacations, it’s taking a bit of time to get a spot in their work queue, but assessment is underway.”
Tremblay expects SaskPower will have more information this week about what work needs to be done on the parts, and a timeline to return them to the power station.
It’s very rare to see such extensive damage and such violent weather directly at a power plant, he said.
The damage sustained to the other infrastructure, including the switching station, at and around the plant has also been repaired. SaskPower has also addressed dozens of damaged poles and lines.
When Unit 3 is offline, it means that the CCS facility is going to be offline. The CCS facility remains ready and available to resume capturing once the power unit is restored.
Prior to the storm, the CCS facility had been online throughout the month, or 39.8 per cent of the time, and captured 21,586 tonnes of carbon dioxide in June, which represents 22.2 per cent of its maximum capacity for the month.
The CCS facility remains ready and available to resume capturing once the power unit is restored.
The one-day peak for carbon dioxide captured at the CCS facility last month was 2,240 tonnes.
A total of 2,190,624 tonnes of CO2 have been captured at Boundary Dam since the project went online in 2014.
The outage at Unit 3 meant that the monthly average for power produced at the unit was around 45 megawatts, well below the average of 104 1/2 megawatts for the previous 12 months.
