Emissions action likely to drive up prices

EDMONTON, ALBERTA - The cost of generating electricity will jump by 50 per cent if the province orders Alberta coal-fired power stations to stop venting carbon dioxide too quickly, a senior greenhouse-gas cleanup specialist predicted.

Gradual action to install new equipment and replace old plants will be needed to keep energy prices reasonable by giving industry time to achieve emissions reduction targets, said Bill Gunter, the Alberta Research Council's principal carbon capture and storage scientist.

"It's something we have to deal with - it won't go away," he told teachers and professors attending a chemistry conference in Edmonton.

Oilsands development and other industrial expansion, population growth and relying on coal-fired plants to produce more than half its electricity supply have pushed Alberta's carbon-dioxide emissions to 224 million tonnes a year. Ontario is the second leading emitter in Canada at 206 million tonnes a year.

Carbon dioxide emissions from oilsands could triple to 65,000 tonnes a day by 2015 if all current projects are built, Gunter said.

Separating carbon dioxide by adding collection equipment to existing operations would cost $30 to $50 per tonne of emissions cut while compressing greenhouse-gas waste into a form fit for shipping would be eight to 10 cents per tonne, he said.

Pipeline delivery to disposal sites is expected to cost 70 cents to $4 per tonne of compressed carbon dioxide. Another $2 to $8 a tonne would cover injections into permanent underground storage, Gunter said.

New coal-fired power stations could cut the cost of the emission reductions by building in "gasification" processes which extract clean fuel gas from coal instead of burning it as a solid, he said.

The next bitumen upgrader plants, led by the near-complete Long Lake project, could reduce emissions by replacing natural gas with fuel taken out of leftover petroleum coke and asphalt, he said.

Gunter noted that the forecast of surging electricity costs if rapid environmental cleanup is mandated by the province wasn't a precise prediction of monthly consumer bills. Retail power prices also include long-distance transmission charges, local distribution expenses and service fees.

But his expectations for electricity prices echoed warnings by Epcor Utilities president Don Lowry and TransAlta Corp. CEO Steve Snyder.

Lowry warned that there are economic risks to employing environmental policies that demand the rapid use of untried greenhouse-gas capture and storage systems.

"It's not like shooting for the moon. It's like shooting for Mars," said Lowry, who is a member of a provincial carbon capture and storage development council.

Related News

Puerto Rico power workers

Electricity restored to 75 percent of customers in Puerto Rico

PUERTO RICO - Nearly six months after Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico, the island's electricity has been restored to 75 percent capacity, according to its utility company.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said Sunday that 75.35 percent of customers now have electricity. It added that 90.8 percent of the electrical grid, already anemic even before the Sept. 20 storm barrelled through the island, is generating power again.

Thousands of power restoration personnel made up of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), industry workers from the mainland, and the Army Corps of Engineers have made…

READ MORE

Cryptocurrency firm in Plattsburgh fights $1 million electric charge

READ MORE

Hydro-Quebec shocks cottage owner with $5,300 in retroactive charges

READ MORE

Ontario Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault

Ontario Energy minister downplays dispute between auditor, electricity regulator

READ MORE

atlantic power lines

Atlantica - Regulatory Reform To Bring Greener Power To Atlantic Canada

READ MORE