Capital Power must continue to offset coal plant emissions as promised: regulator
You may recall my post from last October criticizing Albertan power generator Capital Power for trying to back out of an obligation to offset emissions from its 495 Genesee 3 coal-fired generating station by 50 per cent, giving it an emissions profile roughly equivalent to a natural gas plant. It agreed to this offset back in 2001 so it could get permission from the regulator to build the plant. When the plant was approved, it was made a condition of the project, and a similar condition was imposed on TransAlta’s Keephills 3 coal plant that followed, which is rated 450 MW. TransAlta is half owner of Genesee 3. Capital Power says the condition is unfair and that it should be let off the hook.
Today, the Alberta Utilities Commission rejected Capital Power’s application to have the condition removed, as the Edmonton Journal explains here. This is good news in a province far too dependent on coal-fired electricity.
Tags: Capital Power, Genesee 3, Keephill, TransAlta
Tyler Hamilton is associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and former business columnist for the Toronto Star. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005.
January 28th, 2011 at 11:52 pm
Good news indeed. Alberta needs to reduce its GHGs. It is doing this in the Oil Sands with new technology.
The province needs nuclear too. This would help displace the use of NG in the Oil Sands and the use of coal for power.
Alberta is building more wind farms all the time but should add geothermal and solar (it is very sunny in southern Alberta).