Clean coal plant in Saskatchewan?
SaskPower, the government-owned power producer in Saskatchewan, has partned with Hitachi Canadian Industries to study the feasibility of a clean coal plant in the province that would sequester C02 emissions to aging oil fields located nearby. I love the spin in the local newspaper, The Star Phoenix, which says the planned plant could be “the first place in the world” to produce electricity this way. Doubt it. The paper says the plant would likely cost $1.5 billion and not likely open until 2010. Also doubt it.
I’m skeptical because this “feasibility” study has been going on for years and we’ve seen nothing come of it. SaskPower has been a member of the Canadian Clean Power Coalition, and I’m assuming this announcement is connected with that membership. So far, activities of the commission have been stalled beacuse of lack of government funding for the proposed facility. It’s possible Ottawa will kick in some money, but that could create a stink in other provinces where sequestration isn’t practical or possible, or in Ontario where the federal government so far has refused to provide financial support for the province’s nuclear buildout plan.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
