From: Michael Monea [mailto:MMonea@saskpower.com] 

Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 5:49 PM 

To: Hutson, Nick <Hutson.Nick@epa.gov> 

Cc: Sandra Beingessner <SBeingessner@saskpower.com> 

Subject: RE: follow up conversation on BD3 

Nick, here are a few points, very general, I will keep digging... 

Mike 

Thank you for your interest in our carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Here at SaskPower, our mission is to provide reliable, cost-effective and sustainable power for our 

province. Coal has long been a reliable and affordable part of our fleet, and CCS has been a way for 

SaskPower to also make it a more sustainable option. 

The CCS project at our Boundary Dam Power Station is the world’s first such project that is fully 

integrated to a coal-fired power plant using post-combustion technology. As such, we had anticipated 

challenges in our first year of operation, and indeed we’ve addressed many. We captured more than 

400,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in the first year of operation. 

In fall 2015, we brought the system down to address several important technical and mechanical issues,

and brought it back online in early November. The facility has operated well since. We captured more in 

November than in any previous month of operation, and beat that total again in January 2016, capturing

85,000 tonnes. We also recently completed nameplate testing, where we successfully tested the capture 

limits of our facility. This means that 3,240 tonnes were captured per day for three consecutive days,

representing 90% of CO2 emissions. So far, we’ve captured 540,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide since 

October 2014. 

We are now operating the facility in a way that meets Canadian federal emission regulations, and 

satisfies the volume needs of our carbon dioxide buyer, which involves capturing approximately 2,700 

tonnes per day. The designed and demonstrated maximum capacity of the process can reduce carbon 

dioxide by 90%, or one million tonnes a year. We will operate at various levels to be mindful of costs and 

long-term system performance, and plan on capturing 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2016. 

The captured carbon dioxide is either sold for enhanced oil recovery in nearby oilfields or sent to 

SaskPower’s Carbon Storage Research Centre. This facility hosts the Aquistore project’s deep injection

well. This is where carbon dioxide can be stored safely, miles below the earth in a saline aquifer and

sealed in permanently. Aquistore is administered and monitored continuously by the Petroleum 

Technology Research Centre at the University of Regina. We have used it to successfully and safely store 

more than 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide at this point. 

We have received much interest at home and abroad about the performance of our CCS process. We 

have begun posting performance updates on our website at saskpower.com for the public to keep 

appraised of our progress. We plan on continuing these updates throughout the year. 

Last summer, we were also very pleased to launch our carbon capture test facility. It is a unique facility 

in that it is connected to an active coal-fired power plant, allowing technology developers and vendors 
to use actual flue gas to test the next generation of CCS technologies. Mitsubishi-Hitachi Power Systems 

are currently using the facility until 2017, when we will make it available for another vendor. 

Thank you for your continued interest and support of SaskPower’s carbon capture and storage 

initiatives. Saskatchewan has demonstrated a commitment to the environment and to its residents by 

investing and innovating in this technology. As you know, this investment has the potential to benefit

not just Saskatchewan, but numerous jurisdictions that will continue to burn coal as a source of power

for the foreseeable future. 

It would be an honour to host representatives for a visit of the facility in Estevan, Saskatchewan, 

Canada, if you would ever like to witness the project first-hand. 

Sincerely, 

Mike Monea 

President 

SaskPower Carbon Capture and Storage Initiatives 

Michael J. Monea, P.Eng., P.Geo., ICD.D

SaskPower| President, Carbon Capture & Storage Initiatives 

p. 306-566-3132 |email (mmonea@saskpower.com) | saskpowerccs.com

twitter.com/saskpowerccs | youtube.com/saskpowerccs

Head Office, 12C, 2025 Victoria Avenue 

Regina, SK S4P 0S1