Canadian coal plant retrofit could be a 'game changer'
A 43-year-old Canadian coal plant is being retrofitted to capture roughly 90 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions and store the gas deep underground, Gates writes. It will be the first commercial-scale power plant equipped with a fully integrated carbon capture and storage system, he adds.
A 43-year-old Canadian coal plant is being retrofitted to capture roughly 90 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions and store the gas deep underground, Gates writes. It will be the first commercial-scale power plant equipped with a fully integrated carbon capture and storage system, he adds.
A recent聽story from E&E聽reported on the progress of Canadian utility SaskPower鈥檚 43-year-old coal plant at its Boundary Dam Power Station. The facility is being retrofitted to capture roughly 90 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions and store the gas deep underground.
The聽Boundary Dam聽Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration Project will see Unit #3 at a coal-fired power plant located at Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada, rebuilt with a fully-integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) system. It will be the first commercial-scale power plant equipped with a fully integrated CCS system. Operations are expected to begin in 2014.
According to the story, 鈥淭he 110-megawatt project may be a game changer in two ways 鈥� it could become the world鈥檚 first commercial demonstration of carbon capture technology on a power plant at large scale. And it differs from other proposals in that it is a retrofit of an older coal plant and the retrofit might later be applied to similar plants.鈥�
The Boundary Dam project will reduce CO2 emissions by approximately one million tons a year 鈥� the equivalent of taking more than 250,000 cars off Saskatchewan roads annually. The CO2 will be sold to resource companies to be used in enhanced oil recovery operations. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) will also be captured and sold.
鈥淏oundary Dam will make the first benchmark. It will define the costs, which is so important,鈥� Mike Monea, SaskPower president of carbon capture and storage initiatives, said at a briefing in Washington, D.C., last week. 鈥淲hoever builds the next one won鈥檛 have to spend as much money as us.鈥�
Globally, more coal is expected to be used to produce electricity in 2017 than now, despite changing dynamics in the United States, according to the聽International Energy Agency.