SaskPower may have abandoned the thought of establishing a new and firm target date for the start-up of the carbon dioxide capture, sequestration and distribution system at Boundary Dam's Unit 3, but they have released news regarding the signing of an agreement to exchange carbon capture knowledge with a Swedish-based power company.
SaskPower officials are not saying when BD3 will begin capturing the CO2 at the Unit 3 110-120 megawatt generator. The company failed to meet their original April 1 deadline for startup of the $1.3 billion project, saying at the time they expected to have the system on stream by mid-summer. Now they are saying BD3 will be underway by the end of this year.
In the meantime, Vattenfall, the Swedish power company with significant operations in Germany, has signed an agreement with SaskPower on carbon capture and knowledge.
The signing of the memorandum of understanding took place in Berlin. The agreement sets out the intentions of the two companies to explore opportunities for collaboration in order to advance common interests concerning carbon capture and storage (CCS).
This will be done through technical exchange, informing and guiding the overall development of CCS infrastructure and sharing CCS developments relating to health, safety and environment.
"SaskPower's carbon capture and storage project at Boundary Dam Power Station will be the first commercial post-combustion carbon capture system in the world. The project has created a unique opportunity to share practical yet groundbreaking knowledge with the global energy community," said Robert Watson, SaskPower's president and CEO. "We're very happy to have a partner like Vattenfall join us in building from this innovative work."
The companies did not state whether the agreement included any monetary considerations.
Tyler Hopson, a spokesman for SaskPower said interest in the BD3 project near Estevan continues to grow with a delegation from California scheduled to visit the site soon. He said the team would consist of a mixture of technicians, engineers and politicians, similar to previous delegations from North America and elsewhere around the globe.
In response to a question regarding the changing of the start-up date, Hopson could only say that there are over 400 regulatory tests to complete at the site, and commissioning work continues.
"In fact, there will be a big steam blow or blast from Unit 3 this week. It's meant to test the stack, and it's one more piece to the puzzle. It will be noisy, so we don't want to alarm local residents, just assure them that the blow is part of the readiness process."
"We see a need for CCS in the future, and we are very proud of the research results from our CCS pilot plant, Schwarze Pumpe, will contribute to the further development of the technology," said Hubertus Altmann, managing director of power plants at Vattenfall. "SaskPower and Vattenfall are convinced that carbon capture and storage is an important technology to reduce global CO2 emissions to acceptable levels."
Vattenfall has gained previous experience in CCS technologies on a pilot project scale through several demonstration sites in Germany, the Netherlands and United Kingdom.
The MOU that was signed on April 8, was organized with help from the Canadian Embassy in Berlin and will remain in effect for five years.
