Lingan power station
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Lingan power station is an operating power station of at least 632-megawatts (MW) in New Waterford, Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Lingan power station | New Waterford, Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada | 46.23557, -60.038285 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4: 46.23557, -60.038285
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | operating | coal - bituminous | 158.2 | subcritical | 1979 | 2029 (planned) |
| Unit 2 | operating | coal - bituminous | 158.2 | subcritical | 1980 | 2026 (planned) |
| Unit 3 | operating | coal - bituminous | 158.2 | subcritical | 1983 | 2029 (planned) |
| Unit 4 | operating | coal - bituminous | 158.2 | subcritical | 1984 | 2029 (planned) |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner |
|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Nova Scotia Power Inc [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Nova Scotia Power Inc [100.0%] |
| Unit 3 | Nova Scotia Power Inc [100.0%] |
| Unit 4 | Nova Scotia Power Inc [100.0%] |
Project-level coal details
- Coal source(s): Donkin coal mine
Background
The plant burns coal and features four boilers and two 152 m (500 ft)[1] chimneys. The plant consumes 1.5 million tonnes of coal per year and currently generates approximately twenty-five percent of the province's electricity, while producing roughly fifty percent of the province's air pollution, including hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid, hexachlorobenzene and mercury.[2]
Retirement
In December 2018 the Canadian federal government finalized regulations requiring all coal-fired plants to be retired by December 31, 2029.[3] However, Nova Scotia has an equivalency agreement that allows coal to be used beyond that date as long as equivalent emissions cuts are made in other sectors.[4][5]
Unit 3 was scheduled to be retired once the Muskrat Hydro project comes online.[6] That project is currently expected to be operational by September 2021.[7] As of January 2018, there is no timeline to retire the other three units, which have an end life ranging from 2024 to 2029.[8]
In August 2022, Nova Scotia Power announced that Unit 2 would be placed on cold reserve in October 2022.[9] In November 2022, the unit remained in operation. Delays on the Muskrat Hydro project kept Unit 2 online for almost a year longer than initially planned.[10]
In their 10-year system outlook published in June 2023, NS Power listed that Unit 2 was projected to retire in 2025–2026.[11]
Conversion to heavy fuel oil
In July 2023, documents filed by Nova Scotia Power indicated that the company planned to convert coal-fired units 1, 3, and 4 at Lingan to heavy fuel oil in 2030 when federal coal phaseout requirements take effect. The heavy fuel oil units would be operated until 2050, allegedly only during "peak demand periods, about 5 to 10% of the time."[11][12][13]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ NPRI Data Search, Government of Canada, accessed 2011
- ↑ Lingan Plant Province's Top Polluter, Cape Breton Post September 24, 2003 (via Safe cleanup.com)
- ↑ Canada’s coal power phase-out reaches another milestone, Government of Canada, Dec. 12, 2018
- ↑ Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Legislation in Nova Scotia, Osler, Dec. 2020
- ↑ Canada-Nova Scotia equivalency agreement consultation: carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired generation of electricity, Government of Canada, Mar. 29, 2019
- ↑ Swapping coal for natural gas not a solution, warns Ecology Action Centre, CBC, Dec. 14, 2018
- ↑ Muskrat Falls Timeline Pushed to Fall 2021 as Costs Continue to Climb VOCM, September 28, 2020
- ↑ Chris Shannon, That Dam Project - The Carbon Question, Saltwire, Jan. 22, 2018.
- ↑ Nova Scotia Power to shut down 1 coal generator at Lingan station this fall, CBC News, Aug. 17, 2022
- ↑ Muskrat Falls power delays will lead to very high rate increases in Nova Scotia, Halifax Examiner, Nov. 8, 2022
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "2023 10-Year System Outlook," Nova Scotia Power, June 30, 2023
- ↑ "Nova Scotia Power plans to burn heavy fuel oil at phased-out coal plants," CBC News, July 4, 2023
- ↑ "Will Canada’s coal phaseout trade one fossil fuel for another?," National Observer, July 17, 2023
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
