Author: Brian Zinchuk

Spinny things don’t work for over 200 hours a month, says retired engineer from Alberta

Little Known Facts 21 Comments

From Pipeline Online: Letter to Editor: No matter how many wind farms are built, there will always be over 200 hours of zero wind power, says retired engineer

Perhaps of most concern is that there were 257 hrs (over 10 days in total) when the wind power output was zero – and the months of most ZERO hours are the coldest months when freezing temperatures are happening.  So the 2017 data confirms the earlier 2012 data – meaning that no matter how many wind farms are built, there will always be over 200 hours of ZERO wind power.  From an atmospheric viewpoint, whenever there are recurring periods of prolonged stable high pressure (such as frigid winter weather or summer heat waves) when there is also next to no wind – leading to no (or very low) wind power.

Ivan Purdy, P.eng, (retired)

Without coal, the lights would have gone out in Saskatchewan this week. The spinny things only put out 6% of their capacity

youmightbeinsaskatchewan 23 Comments
Boundary Dam Power Station

For months, Pipeline Online has been pointing out that Alberta puts out detailed data on its power grid, but SaskPower did not. Apparently others have been asking for the same information as well. Now, @SaskPower has responded. What does a day of power production look like in SK? Wind put out 6% of its capacity, and 2% of total generation. Coal provided 42% of total  power

REGINA – While it’s not the same minute-by-minute data provided by the Alberta Electric System Operator for their grid, SaskPower has begun breaking down where its power is coming from on a daily basis. And the data from Oct. 3 and 4 showed wind generated an average of just 7.3 per cent and 6 per cent of its rated capacity of 615 megawatts. And while the Crown corporation often points out that “conventional coal accounts for approximately 24 per cent of SaskPower’s total generation capacity,” on those days, coal was providing an average of 42 per cent of the power in this province.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 29 times, shame on me. We don’t need these spinny things

Climate Cult 37 Comments

Alberta has now built 29 wind farms connected to its grid, and on Saturday, they were collectively putting out 8 megawatts out of a total of 2,734 megawatts capacity.

One of the arguments for wind has been if it’s not blowing here, it’s got to be blowing somewhere. We just need to spread it out of a large enough area.

Well, the area of southern Alberta populated by wind farms is larger than the area of the BENELUX countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) combined. Alternatively, it’s about the size of all of Austria.

So apparently, Alberta is not spread out enough.

The saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

What happens when you get fooled 29 times?

Because that’s what’s happening in Alberta. The denominator in the wind power equation has grown as well, as another wind farm was added onto the grid. The new total is now 29, an increase of one from the previous week. (You have to be sharp about this, because new facilities are continually being added.)

That was Saturday. And today, on Monday, for the third day in a row, and four days out of the last six, Alberta’s wind turbines crapped out again. At noon, their total output dropped to just 6 megawatts. Only one wind farm was contributing to the grid, out of hundreds of wind turbines.

Who’s next? First it was fossil fuels that were demonized, now is it agriculture?

youmightbeinsaskatchewan 54 Comments

U of R professor Jim Warren: Who’s next? First it was fossil fuels that were demonized, now is it agriculture?

They say misery loves company. But having company is probably small comfort for people working in western Canada’s energy industry. That being said, it is becoming clear that the fossil fuel industry is no longer the only major economic sector in the west to find itself targeted for abuse under federal environmental policy. Just a few weeks ago, farmers and ranchers were singled out for special treatment on behalf of climate change mitigation and environmental protection.

And bonus points for this:

Each bovine would have to fertilize 23 acres – a big job given that over a third of them are young calves. The effort would require the production and distribution of bullsh!t on a hitherto unimagined scale.

Nuclear power is Estevan’s to lose, if Saskatchewan goes ahead with small modular reactors

youmightbeinsaskatchewan 37 Comments

There’s a pretty obvious choice for where nuclear power development should go in Saskatchewan.

And it’s not Elbow.

On Sept. 20, SaskPower announced they were considering two areas as possible sites for Saskatchewan’s first two nuclear reactors. One is at Lake Diefenbaker, near Elbow, and the other is Estevan, with three nearby reservoirs under consideration.

When it comes to choosing between Estevan and Elbow for future nuclear power development, Estevan would have to try really hard to lose.

Really, really hard.

Remember when the NDP hated nuclear? Now that talk has changed

Uncategorized 39 Comments
Aleana Young

NDP SaskPower critic Aleana Young says small modular reactors can play a role in our energy future.

The New Democratic Party has a history of some of its MLAs being voraciously against nuclear power development. In particular, Peter Prebble, who was Corrections and Public Safety Minister from 2003-2006 under Premier Lorne Calvert, threatened to quit cabinet if the province did anything along those lines. In a 2005 CBC article, Prebble was quoted as saying, “I would have to step down from cabinet … in the theoretical event that cabinet was to endorse a reactor or a nuclear waste disposal facility.”

When asked what the current NDP stance was on nuclear power, Young said, “Technology changes, and times change. While I know people had strong opinions on that, I know people are going to have strong opinions today. While I’m not one of them, I know it’s important that we don’t dismiss people who have concerns and ask questions out of hand. But if the question is, for the Saskatchewan NDP, can SMRs play an important role in our energy future in Saskatchewan? Absolutely, they can.”

 

If Estevan is going to lose coal, it better focus on nuclear, says leading local advocate

youmightbeinsaskatchewan 13 Comments

Jim Wilson was one of the people who helped get carbon capture built in Estevan. If the province isn’t going to do more, he thinks Estevan should focus on nuclear.

One of the leading advocates for clean coal in Estevan says the community should turn to nuclear, now that SaskPower may not do more carbon capture

“I was very much involved in trying to get it built. I was proud of what we achieved. Everything was good. I remember hearing (Catherine) McKenna in Paris make the announcement,” he said, adding, “Carbon pricing and all that has changed our world.”

He said, “You know, their decisions were not science-based, or business-based. They were politically-based. They were clearly political. And that’s what (Morgan) answered to you. It’s sad for you and I, and the community that built the first clean coal facility of its type. And it was probably a transition solution more than anything, right?

“That’s the point: they’re ignoring this technology. And it works. And to my knowledge, and we’ve developed it and built the first.”

 

 

When it comes to shutting down coal in Saskatchewan, they need to just stand up and say, ‘No,’ says RM of Estevan Reeve Jason LeBlanc

youmightbeinsaskatchewan 6 Comments
Jason LeBlanc, now reeve of the RM of Estevan, speaking on Parliament Hill in 2019.

In PipelineOnline.ca’s continuing series on the apparent end of additional carbon capture implementation on this province’s coal-fired power plants, leading to the eventual death of the coal industry, today’s story is reaction from the reeve of the RM of Estevan, Jason LeBlanc.

When it comes to shutting down coal in Saskatchewan, they need to just stand up and say, ‘No,’ says RM of Estevan Reeve Jason LeBlanc

Back in 2019, before he became reeve of the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5, Jason LeBlanc was standing in deep snow on Parliament Hill, protesting the carbon tax imposed by the Liberal federal government. And now the largest industry in his RM will likely be largely shut down by the end of this decade, due to that government’s policies against coal-fired power.

And

“The government is knocking on our own people,” he said, speaking of Saskatchewan. “The government is who’s buying into this? And they need to just stand up and say, ‘No.’

“The pendulum always swings. Our ancestors looked for any way to heat the house and to do stuff. And they figured out a way, and it was coal.”

“Other parts of the world are starting to go back. They know it’s not sustainable. It can’t be done. And we have it here. It’s already producing,” he said.

 

Coal will soon be gone, and nuclear is a long ways away for Estevan, and spinny things are not the answer

Saskatchewan Party youmightbeinsaskatchewan 50 Comments

Boundary Dam Power Station. On the left is the carbon capture unit.

 
The reality that coal-fired power in Saskatchewan is being forced to an end, despite the possibility of carbon capture technology, is now weighing heavily on Estevan, as reported by PipelineOnline.ca.

Estevan mayor on coal: “The closer we get without any good answers by 2030, the harder it is for everyone in our community. We deserve some answers”

Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig:

“And we’re not getting any answers. I mean, we’ve been meeting now with the province a few times and we said, ‘Listen, we want to know. We have to start meeting. 2030 is coming very quickly. What are we going to do? We need the federal government involvement. They don’t even answer our emails. We have to get them to the table.

“They want to shut down coal, which is a great baseload power. The only option to that would be close to that would be nuclear. And that won’t be coming (soon). Once we make a decision toward the end of this decade, it probably won’t be built till 2035-2036, something like that.”

And

“It’s weighing on the employees already. We have people saying, ‘You know, I don’t know for sure what’s going to happen, come 2030, so I’m bailing now. I’m going to where the jobs are now.’

“And it’s this sense of frustration, this sense of not knowing, you know, it’s a killer. And the closer we get without any good answers by 2030, the harder it is for everyone in our community. We deserve some answers. And the federal government owes us some answers. And the province, well, we’re starting to talk with them. SaskPower, we have a pretty good relationship with them, but it’s, you know, the final decisions with SaskPower are made by the provincial government, not SaskPower.”

This is a follow up to Further carbon capture on coal “not an option,” according to CIC Minister Don Morgan

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