Coal in Canada

Coal reserves in Canada rank thirteenth largest in the world (following the former Soviet Union, the United States, the People's Republic of China and Australia) at approximately 10 billion tons, 0.6% of the world total.[1] This represents more energy than all of the oil and gas in the country combined. The coal industry generates CDN$5 billion annually.[2] Most of Canada's coal mining occurs in the West of the country.[3] British Columbia operates 9 coal mines[4], Alberta 9, Saskatchewan 3 and New Brunswick one. Nova Scotia operates several small-scale mines, Westray having closed following the 1992 disaster there.[5]

Electricity generation
in Canada

In 2005, Canada produced 67.3 million tons of coal and its consumption was 60 million tons. Of this 56 million tons were used for electricity generation. The remaining 4 million tons was used in the steel, concrete and other industries.[5] The largest consumers of coal in Canada were Alberta and Ontario. In 1997, Alberta accounted for 47% of Canada's coal consumption at 26.2 million tons, and Ontario accounted for 25% at 13.8 million tons. Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick also use coal to generate electricity to varying degrees.[6]

Economic impact
Coal production in Canada, 1940-2012

In 2012, Pricewaterhouse Coopers released an economic impact analysis of Canada's coal mining industry. According to the report, coal mining made an economic contribution of $5.2 billion to Canada's GDP, including $3.2 billion in direct impacts and $2 billion of indirect impacts, between 2001 and 2010. In 2010, more than 42,000 people were directly and indirectly employed by the coal industry. In 2010 the coal sector accounted for 14% of total mining employment. Average coal industry salaries are more than double the average national wage. Between 2001 and 2010, the value of the coal sector's output grew an average of 14.6 percent each year, and between 2001 and 2011 capital investment in the industry increased at an average rate of 19.3 percent annually. Coal production reached a value of $7 billion in 2011, an increase from $1.6 billion in 2001.[7]

Transition to natural gas and renewables

In 2003, the McGuinty government of Ontario set a goal of closing all coal-fired power stations, to be replaced with healthier and more environmentally-friendly energy sources, as it was determined that the long-term health problems caused by coal made it twice as expensive as wind energy.[8][9] The final coal plant in Ontario, Thunder Bay Generating Station, stopped burning coal in April 2014.[10]

In 2016, the Government of Alberta announced the elimination of all coal-fired power stations in the province by 2030.[11] The Government of New Brunswick made the same announcement the following year.[12] However in 2016, the government of Canada announced the goal of phasing out the use of coal-fired power stations across the country in favour of less polluting alternatives for electricity generation by 2030.[13] In response, companies such as TransAlta and Capital Power began planning the conversion of their coal-fired power stations to burning natural gas.[14][15]

List of coal-fired power stations
Lingan Generating Station, the largest coal-fired power station in Eastern Canada.

This is a list of all operational coal-fired power stations in Canada. Only 14 power stations remain as of February 2020.

Name Province Coordinates Capacity
(MW)		 Owner Fuel Type Retirement Ref
Battle River  Alberta 52°28′08″N 112°08′02″W 540 ATCO Power Coal (50%)
Natural gas (50%)		 [note 1]
Belledune  New Brunswick 47°54′21″N 65°51′48″W 458 NB Power Coal 2030 [17]
Boundary Dam  Saskatchewan 49°5′47″N 103°1′49″W 824 SaskPower Lignite TBD [note 2]
Genesee  Alberta 53°20′35″N 114°18′11″W 1,286 Capital Power (83.3%)
TransAlta (16.7%)		 Coal (81%)
Natural gas (19%)		 [note 3]
H.R. Milner  Alberta 54°00′26″N 119°06′12″W 150 Maxim Power Coal (50%)
Natural gas (50%)		 [note 4]
Keephills  Alberta 53°26′54″N 114°27′02″W 1,240 TransAlta (83.3%)
Capital Power (16.7%)		 Coal [note 5]
Lingan  Nova Scotia 46°14′12″N 60°2′14″W 620 Nova Scotia Power Coal TBD
Point Aconi  Nova Scotia 46°19′18″N 60°19′48″W 165 Nova Scotia Power Coke (53%)
Coal (47%)		 TBD
Point Tupper  Nova Scotia 45°35′13″N 61°20′53″W 148 Nova Scotia Power Coal TBD
Poplar River  Saskatchewan 49°3′27″N 105°28′59″W 582 SaskPower Lignite 2030 [21]
Shand  Saskatchewan 49°5′16″N 102°51′49″W 276 SaskPower Coal 2030 [note 6]
Sheerness  Alberta 51°26′32″N 111°47′32″W 780 ATCO Power (75%)
TransAlta (25%)		 Coal [note 7]
Sundance  Alberta 53°30′27″N 114°33′26″W 1,861 TransAlta Coal [note 8]
Trenton  Nova Scotia 45°37′13″N 62°38′53″W 305 Nova Scotia Power Coal TBD

Notes
  1. Unit 4 potentially transitioning to 100% natural gas by 2021. Unit 5 is currently being converted to burning 50% coal and 50% natural gas, and to burning 100% natural gas by 2030.[16]
  2. Unit 3 will continue to operate as normal as it has carbon capture technology installed. Units 4 and 5 will be retired by 2022 and 2025, respectively. Unit 6 will either have carbon capture technology installed or be decommissioned at an unknown date.[18]
  3. Units 1 and 2 to burn 50% coal and 50% natural gas by spring 2021 and mid-2020, respectively. Unit 3 to burn 60% coal and 40% gas by spring 2020, and to be adjusted to a 50/50 ratio at a later date. The entire power station will burn 100% natural gas by 2030.[19]
  4. The 150 MW coal-fired unit will be replaced with a new 204 MW natural gas-fired unit in April 2020.[16]
  5. To be converted to burning 100% natural gas by 2023.[16][20]
  6. Installation of carbon capture technology by 2024 would allow the power station to operate until its originally planned decommissioning of 2042.[18]
  7. To be converted to burning 50% coal and 50% natural gas by 2022, and to burning 100% natural gas by 2030.[16]
  8. To be converted to burning 100% natural gas by 2023.[16][20]

See also

References
  1. The Canadian Encyclopedia - Coal
  2. Coal in Canada Archived 2008-05-08 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Maps of coal in Canada
  4. British Columbia Geological Survey Information Circular 2020-02 (PDF) (Report). British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. Retrieved 2020-06-01. The Quinsam mine on Vancouver Island ceased operations in June.
  5. National Resources Canada - Coal Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
  6. CBC News on energy in Canada
  7. "Economic impact analysis of the coal mining industry in Canada" (PDF). Coal Association of Canada / Pricewaterhouse Coopers. October 31, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  8. Wilson, Jennifer (25 September 2007), "Ontario's power crunch: What's the answer?", CBC News, retrieved 2010-09-06
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-05-18. Retrieved 2014-05-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. http://www.opg.com/news-and-media/news-releases/Documents/140415TBGSBurnsLastCoal.pdf
  11. "Phasing out coal". www.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  12. "NB Power seeks new fuel source for Belledune Generating Station". www.nbpower.com. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  13. Naidu-Ghelani, Rajeshni (21 May 2019). "Canada a leader among G20 for plan to phase out coal, says report". cbc.ca. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  14. "Coal-to-Gas Conversions Project". TransAlta. 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  15. "Dual-Fuel Flexibility". Capital Power. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  16. "Demand". www.aer.ca. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  17. "NB Power seeks new fuel source for Belledune Generating Station". www.nbpower.com. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  18. "Saskatchewan reaches deal with Ottawa on coal-burning power plants". CBC News. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  19. "Capital Power commits to gas co-firing at Genesee plant". www.spglobal.com. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  20. "Coal-to-Gas". TransAlta. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  21. McElroy, Daniel. "Impending Power Plant Closure Means Trying Times Ahead for Coronach". SwiftCurrentOnline.com. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
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