SaskPower's Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) facility at Boundary Dam Power Station Unit 3 in Estevan continues its strong performance as the facility passes 10 years of operation.
Since startup, the CCS facility has captured and prevented over 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from being emitted into the atmosphere.
"SaskPower's CCS facility has made Boundary Dam Unit 3 the cleanest-burning coal power unit on Earth and has turned Saskatchewan into an international expert for the development of CCS projects in a wide range of industries," said Jeremy Harrison, Minister Responsible for SaskPower. "By capturing CO2 before it enters the atmosphere, SaskPower's CCS facility has also saved SaskPower customers over $160 million in carbon taxes since 2019 and enabled new innovations in fields like enhanced oil recovery."
When operations began in fall 2014, Boundary Dam became the first power plant in the world to successfully use CCS technology. During the past decade, the CCS facility overcame challenges associated with being the first of its kind and is now achieving record capture rates. In the 12-month period between August 2023 and 2024, the CCS facility captured more than 900,000 tonnes of CO2 and achieved a peak daily capture rate of 3,047 tonnes. In the same timeframe, Boundary Dam Unit 3 maintained an average emissions intensity of 348 tonnes of CO2 per gigawatt-hour, well below the carbon tax threshold of 549 tonnes.
"Boundary Dam Unit 3 remains an important part of our generating fleet, producing enough lower-carbon baseload power for 110,000 Saskatchewan homes," said Rupen Pandya, SaskPower President and CEO. "With stable operations achieved, we can focus on maintaining a low emissions intensity in the years to come."
Visit SaskPower's blog to view quarterly updates on CCS's performance.
At a glance...
- SaskPower's CCS facility has captured 6.5 million tonnes of CO2 since 2014
- CCS is now achieving record capture rates
- Quarterly CCS performance updates are published on SaskPower's blog
