During a visit to Estevan on the weekend, Saskatchewan’s Premier Scott Moe addressed the concerns of those in the area in regards to power generation.

He said he has a number of concerns with the federal government's process, not the least of which concerns units four and five at Boundary Dam.

“With respect to units 4 and 5, we continue to engage with the federal government, understanding that it’s a federal initiative to phase coal out of our nation here in the next number of years,” said Moe.

“We have right now the equivalency agreement that we have sent into the federal Minister of Environment’s office and we’re waiting for her signature, we’re waiting for her approval so we can move forward in what is the most affordable manner on behalf of all the people of the province, but also to move forward with respect to understanding that traditionally we’ve had a large part of our power from coal mining,” he explained.

The federal/provincial equivalency agreement aims to provide Saskatchewan with more flexibility in transitioning to additional renewable energy sources.

“We’ve been asking the federal government to approve that agreement,” said Moe. “Most recently, I’ve asked the Prime Minister to approve the equivalency agreement.”

“I’ve talked with Minister LaBlanc, and I’ve asked him to engage in the opportunity to improve that agreement so we can move forward with our plan here in the province to ensure we’re providing affordable power, we’re providing power that is sustainable, but also understanding that we’re not shifting away the methods that we have produced power of the last number of decades,” he added.

"We’re not shifting away the methods that we have produced power of the last number of decades."

He said that the government is working to avoid any job losses that may arise from units 4 and 5.

“SaskPower is actively engaged in ensuring that those are not resulting in layoffs, those are resulting in realignments throughout the company, as there are a number of opportunities both here in Estevan and throughout the province,” said Moe.

“We have the equivalency agreement that we have been working very closely with the federal government on, we want them to sign it so we can extend the use of not only 4 and 5 but some of our other units as well, as we achieve our long-term plans with respect to power generation in the province.”

He said ideally there are carbon capture units in more places throughout the province. In fact, over one billion dollars has been invested in carbon capture and storage.

“It’s an innovation that I think can be part of the future, if we truly want to address the emissions not just within the borders of Saskatchewan, but emissions around the world,” he said. “As we see, coal-fired power is not going away in the near future. In fact, it’s growing in many of the nations that we visited recently.”  

“As we see, coal-fired power is not going away in the near future. In fact, it’s growing in many of the nations that we visited recently.”

“We do need the coal for sure, and we will engage if there are any challenges with supplying that in the future,” said Moe regarding the recent bankruptcy declaration of the U.S. coal producer, Westmoreland.

See Steven Wilson's coverage HERE for more on Westmoreland.

As the province's largest GHG emitter, SaskPower has committed to doubling its renewable energy generation capacity from 25 per cent today, to 50 per cent by 2030.

Learn more on Greenhouse Gas Emissions HERE.