Technical Briefing: 

Reducing Carbon Dioxide 

Emissions from Canada’s 

Electricity Sector

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

March 27, 2015
Page 2 – March 23, 2015

Electricity Sector Policies & Regulations

Type Name Description

GHG

• CO2regulations for coal-fired 

electricity (published 2012)

Emission intensity standards applied to new and 

existing (end-of-life) units 

• 420 tonnes CO2 per gigawatt hour (t/GWh)

• End-of-life generally defined as 50 years

• CO2regulations for natural gasfired electricity (proposed)Emission intensity standards for new natural gas-fired 

turbines and boilers

• Large turbines (>100MW) – 420 t/GWh

• Small turbines (<100MW) – 450 t/GWh

• Boilers – 420 t/GWh

Air Pollution

• Canada-wide Standards for 

Mercury Emissions from Coal-fired 

Electricity (published 2006)

Provincial caps

• National target based on 60% capture rate

• NOx Guidelines for combustion 

turbines (proposed)

Emission intensity standards applied to new turbines

• 85 – 500 g/GJ 

• depends on size, output, and function

• SO2 and NOx standards for coalfired electricity (proposed)Under development

Chemicals 

Management

Plan

• Pollution Prevention Plan Notice 

for hydrazine (proposed)

Concentration limits

• 2.6 x 10-3 mg/L for freshwater 

• 0.2 × 10-3 mg/L for sea water
Page 3 – March 23, 2015

Coal-Fired Electricity CO2 Regulations

• The Government of Canada published the Reduction of Carbon 

Dioxide Emissions from Coal-fired Generation of Electricity 

Regulations (the regulations) in Canada Gazette, Part II in 

September 2012

• These regulations:

– Are projected to reduce GHG emissions in Canada’s overall 

electricity sector by 46% from 2005 levels in 2030

– Will result in significant environmental and health benefits that 

outweigh associated costs

▪ Canadians will be better off by $7.3 billion over 21 years

• The federal regulations will take effect July 1, 2015 

• An equivalency agreement based on achieving an equivalent 

environmental outcome was signed with Nova Scotia in 2014
Page 4 – March 23, 2015

Scope of the Regulations(1)

• A coal-fired electricity generating unit is a unit that burns coal, 

exclusively or in combination with other fuels, for the purpose of 

producing electricity for sale to the grid

– Coal includes petroleum coke and fuels derived from coal 

(syngas)

• New and old coal-fired electricity generation units must meet the 

performance standard

– A new unit is a unit that starts producing electricity commercially 

on or after July 1st, 2015

– An old unit is a unit that has reached its end of useful life

• An existing unit does not need to meet the performance standard

– An existing unit is a unit that is neither old nor new
Page 5 – March 23, 2015

Scope of the Regulations(2)

• The useful life of a unit is, in general, 50 years after starting to 

produce electricity commercially. However:

– Units commissioned before 1975 will reach their end-of-life 

after 50 years of operation or at the end of 2019, whichever 

comes earlier

– Units commissioned in or after 1975 but before 1986 will 

reach their end-of-life after 50 years of operation or at the 

end of 2029, whichever comes earlier

• For units that began to produce electricity with a fuel other than 

coal, and switched to coal prior to June 23, 2010, 18 months is 

added to their useful life
Page 6 – March 23, 2015

Performance Standard Requirements

• The performance standard is set at 420 tonnes of CO2for each 

gigawatt hour (GWh) of electricity produced during a calendar year

• Included in the performance standard are CO2 emissions from:

– the combustion of other fossil fuels

– sorbents used to control sulfur dioxide

– the gasification of coal (or petcoke) used for electricity if the 

system has a responsible person in common with the unit

• Excluded from the performance standard are:

– CO2 emissions from the combustion of biomass 

– Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. N2O, CH4)

– CO2 emissions captured, transported and stored in 

accordance with applicable laws
Page 7 – March 23, 2015

Flexibilities are Available

• The regulations contain flexibilities to maintain the integrity of 

the electricity system while still achieving the environmental 

objective of emission reductions

• These flexibilities include:

– Substitution

– Emergency circumstances

– Standby units

– Carbon capture and storage (CCS) temporary exemption

– Twenty-four month exemption for early deployment of CCS
Page 8 – March 23, 2015

From Coal to Natural Gas-Fired 

Electricity Production

• An approach for GHG emissions from natural gas-fired 

electricity is being developed to:

– Compliment the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide 

Emissions from Coal-Fired Generation of 

Electricity Regulations

– Ensure that new natural gas-fired equipment is 

installed efficiently; and

– Respond to industry requests for regulatory certainty 
Page 9 – March 23, 2015

Types of Equipment that use Natural Gas to 

Generate Electricity 

• Turbines

– Simple-Cycle: Responsive “quick start” 

units used to meet peak electricity demand

– Combined-Cycle: Efficient units; typically 

used for base load generation

• Boilers

– Less efficient, older technology; some 

units can ‘co-fire’ using both natural gas 

and heavy fuel oil

• Both can be used in cogeneration
Page 10 – March 23, 2015

Key Elements of the Proposed Framework

• New combustion turbine and boiler units 

• ≥ 25 MW capacity per unit

• ≥10% natural gas (heating value) used 

• Produce a material amount of electricity for sale or 

distribution to the grid, across all industrial sectors

– Turbines: > 33% of potential electric output to the grid 

– Boilers: > 9% of potential electric output to the grid

▪ Units ≤ 9% exempt until 2035

• Monitoring based on annual average emissions

• Performance standard requirements:

– Turbines: 

▪ ≤100 MW: 450 t CO2/GWh; 

▪ >100 MW: 420 t CO2/GWh; 

– Boilers: 420 t CO2/GWh;
Page 11 – March 23, 2015

Industrial Cogeneration Systems Under the 

Proposed Approach

• Focus is on new combustion 

turbine-based cogeneration units 

• Boiler-based cogeneration units 

excluded

• Systems are subject to the same 

electricity performance standards 

set out previously
Page 12 – March 23, 2015

Standard Applied at Unit Level: Linked 

Systems are Considered One Unit

= 1 Unit
Page 13 – March 23, 2015

Emissions Attributed to the Unit are 

Used to Apportion Electricity Production
Page 14 – March 23, 2015

Steam Energy is Included When 

Calculating Emission Intensity

• Emissions intensity calculated using emissions and 

energy output

• For cogeneration systems emissions from both steam 

and electricity production are included

• Technical analysis is underway to understand the 

impacts of the use of a discount factor for steam portion 

of the equation 

• Proportions of steam and electricity generation would 

need to be assessed in order to apply discount factor

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Page 15 – March 23, 2015

Opportunities to Work Together

Information exchange on:

• Existing and proposed regulations

• Impacts of operating conditions on electricity 

generation performance

• Costs and reductions associated with emissions 

abatement technologies

• Emissions impacts from electricity production by 

technology or fuel type
Page 16 – March 23, 2015

Thank you

Questions? 
Page 17 – March 23, 2015

For more information...

Contact Information:

Kimberly Curran, P. Eng, MASc

Manager – Technical Group

Electricity and Combustion Division

Telephone: 819-420-7943

e-mail: kimberly.curran@ec.gc.ca