Alberta to pay $1.4 billion to end coal-fired electricity production by 2030

• 7 years ago (2016-11-25)
• David Flin

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The government of the Canadian province of Alberta has announced that it will pay $1.4 billion over the next 14 years to three energy companies, as compensation for ending coal-fired electricity production at six plants in the province.

Currently, 18 coal-fired power plants are operating in Alberta, generating over 50 per cent of electricity in the province. Twelve of these plants will reach the end of their operational life before 2030, but six will not.

The province’s plan will pay about $1.4 billion in compensation to the three companies – TransAlta, Capital Power, and ATCO – that run the six plants, for shutting down those plants on or before 31 December, 2030. The provincial government said that the money for the payments would come from the existing price placed on carbon emitters, and not on the energy bills of power consumers.

Shannon Phillips, Environment Minister for the Alberta Government, said: “This is the way that we take the price on pollution that is charged to the large emitters, not the economy-wide carbon levy, and we recycle it from the electricity system and back into a new electricity system.”

Officials said that the plan is to stop coal-fired power generation, and convert the plants to natural gas, at a cost of around $100 million per plant.