Perhaps the most ambitious plan comes from the provincial government in Quebec, which on May 9 proposed a 25-year, C$80 billion ($83.9 billion) initiative to develop 3,500 MW of renewable energy as well as mineral resources in the northern part of the province.
Coal is a major resource in Manitoba and the northern areas of Ontario
In the province of Saskatchewan, SaskPower is planning to rebuild Unit No. 3 of the Boundary Dam coal-fired power plant into a US$1.26 billion carbon capture and storage demonstration with enhanced oil field recovery. The 110 MW unit is expected to be completed by 2014.
“We will use gas to prop up reliability in regional areas that would otherwise need transmission,” Shalaby said. “It’s a reliability and sustainability move as well as a cost-saving move.”
There are currently 18 operating nuclear reactors in three provinces—New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec—that provide around 12,000 MWe of capacity, or 15 percent of the country’s total electricity generation.
In Ontario, half of the electricity is generated from nuclear. There are currently 14,000 MW of nuclear capacity in Ontario and by 2020 that number will be down to 10,000 MW, Shalaby said. Included in that generation are several refurbishment projects at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington and Pickering stations and Bruce Power’s Bruce station.
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