Coal power plant remains best option

A letter to the Editor: Regina Leader Post Wed Dec 05/07 by John R. McClement

Coal power plant remains best option

Re: the article, "Wall will look to cut costs", Leader-Post Nov 30".

At the top of his list should be a review of the NDP's generation expansion plans for SaskPower.
SaskPower isn't an engine of the economy; its role has been, and should be, to fuel the economy with reliable, competitively priced electrical energy.
The industrial and commercial sectors now account for about 70 per cent of the province's electrical energy consumption and, with recently announced expansion in mining, the oilpatch and manufacturing, demands on the system will continue to grow.
The NDP, before its dismissal, announced plans to add an additional 400MW of gas-fired generating capacity and 100MW of wind. The additional gas capacity would result in 34 per cent of the generating capacity available to SaskPower being dependent on the vagaries of gas pricing as well as adding additional greenhouse gas emissions.
The NDP's strategy of creating wind farms, adding more gas-fired capacity and buying power from the private sector has, and will continue to, drive up the cost of electricity. It's time to return the utility to its historical role: providing electricity at the lowest possible cost.
Clean-coal technology has not yet been technically demonstrated as a viable option.
Nuclear generation is a proven technology and meets the green criteria. However, the economic unit size isn't a good fit with SaskPower's current generation-capacity mix.
And with a pricetag in excess of $3 billion, it would place a significant financial burden on the province.
The lowest-cost alternative would be to add a conventional 450MW coal-fired unit at Shand, one equipped with the latest emission controls. This unit, combined with stronger ties with Manitoba Hydro, would make nuclear a viable option when the next base load unit is required.
With China and the United States having around 600,000 MW of coal-fired capacity and combined emission of 5.5 billion tons of CO2 annually, the emission from a 450MW unit would go totally unnoticed. Let's not forget that Saskatchewan consumers can take credit for their part in the expansion of coal-fired capacity in China and India.
The realty is that Saskatchewan isn't going to determine the world's, or its own, climatic future, so let's grow the economy as China is doing -- by using our vast coal reserves.
John R. McClement
Regina The Leader-Post (Regina) Wed 05 Dec 2007 Page: B9 Section: Letters Byline: John R. McClement Source: The Leader-Post