Canada announces details for phasing out coal power

• 5 years ago (2019-01-03)
• David Flin

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The Canadian Government has announced details on how it plans to phase out coal power in Canada by 2030. The plan calls for increased investments in interprovincial transmission, which will lead to hydropower-rich provinces such as British Columbia and Manitoba being able to share power with other provinces.

The goal is to have 90 per cent of Canada’s electricity come from non-carbon sources by 2030. British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec are already past the 90 per cent mark, producing close to 100 per cent from hydro and renewables and – in Ontario’s case – nuclear power. As a result, about 80 per cent of Canada’s electricity already comes from zero-carbon sources.

Coal currently supplies only 9 per cent of Canada’s power. According to the new plan, some provinces that currently generate coal-fired power will be able to switch to natural gas.

The plan envisages a mixture of renewable power, natural gas, and an enhanced interprovincial grid to replace coal-fired power in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Atlantic provinces. This, it is estimated, will decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 13 million tonnes annually in 2030.

Blake Shaffer, an environmental and energy expert with the C. D. Howe Institute, said: “The biggest issue that you face with renewables, especially in a northern climate, is seasonal storage. Interday fluctuations is dealt with effectively using batteries and storage technology. It’s expensive now, but it’s getting to the point where multi-hour stuff is OK. Moving solar power in the summer to meet demand in the winter in a northern latitude, where the solar profile changes dramatically by season, is really challenging to do with anything other than a firm resource.”