Shand chosen for clean coal plant

Oct 03, 2007 13:10:45

Proposed huge $1.5 billion SaskPower project for Estevan By NORM PARK of The Mercury It has been the biggest economic news to hit Estevan and area since the announcement of the multi-million dollar Shand Power Station and the Rafferty Dam construction plans were revealed in the late 1980s. Son of Shand, a huge $1.5 billion undertaking by SaskPower, moved a lot closer to becoming a reality on Monday afternoon. The corporation revealed that its major clean-coal power generation plant, if it is going to be built, will be attached to the Shand power plant located just a few kilometres south and east of the Energy City. The alternative site is around the Poplar River plant near Coronach. Max Ball, project manager for the plant, which is expected to generate 450 megawatts of power, spoke to The Mercury on Tuesday morning to explain what is going to happen next. The plant will require about 150 megawatts of the total power output to capture carbon dioxide, leaving it with 300 megawatts to deliver to SaskPower customers by late 2011 or early 2012. Ball said the ultimate decision to move forward with the project is still expected to be made in mid-2007, and will probably come from the corporation's board of directors. He said the company's pre-commitment budget of $20 million is on schedule. The corporation has already entered into agreements with Neill and Gunter, based in Regina, Marubeni Canada, Hitachi, Babcock and Wilcox and Air Liquide in relation to the project. The plant's cost, which is estimated to come with the $1.5 billion price tag, could balloon somewhat due to increases in labour and materials. But competing bids for power generation projects that would entice SaskPower away from the Estevan project will also be facing similar problems, said Ball, adding that he hoped the plan and project he is working on will get the final green light from SaskPower administration. Delivering carbon dioxide to local oil fields at a competitive price for enhanced oil recovery programs, is still on. "But it's never a done deal until the documents are signed. I believe though, we can get environmental approval with a fairly quick review because of the nature of the project," Ball said. The project and resulting plant will most likely attract a large segment of the world-wide scientific community and environmental advocates since it will be the first major commercial enterprise using thermal (coal fired) energy to captured practically all noxious gases including CO2. Local spokesmen for Prairie Mines and Royalty, the existing supplier of coal for Shand, Boundary and Poplar River plants, have indicated they are prepared to meet the new challenges. "I'm pretty optimistic we can put a strong proposal forward to bring it in for mid-2007," said Ball speaking from his Regina office. The plant, with all its economic, power and environmental components, will be a major event both locally and internationally once the work begins. It could involve more than 1,000 construction workers during peak periods of the three and a half year building phase. Upon completion, it is expected that the facility will require about 60 full time employees for operations. The decision to put the plant at Shand was made following a thorough assessment of both potential locations, said SaskPower president and chief executive officer, Pat Youzwa. Some of those assessments included local coal characteristics, mining costs, carbon dioxide transportation, transmission system interconnections, cooling water, provision for existing coal supply agreements and lifecycle cost savings as well as community infrastructure requirements, said corporate officials. The final decision to place the plant at Shand is still pending successful negotiations with key stakeholders in Estevan and area and Poplar River will be reconsidered if problems occur with the development of the Estevan site. "SaskPower recognizes that host communities play an important role in ensuring successful operation of all our facilities," said Youzwa, noting that a rebuilding program had been completed at the Coronach area plant just recently and future plans call for a rebuilding of Unit 1 there in the near future. Source: Estevan Mercury