In late August, 2011 Environment Minister Peter Kent confirmed the federal government’s intention to regulate GHG emissions from the coal-fired electricity sector. The proposed regulations are expected to apply performance standards on new coal-fired electricity generation units and facilities which have reached the end of their useful life.

Industry leaders have been vocal in response to the regulations, with both positive and negative reactions. For example, Brian Vaasjo, President and CEO of Capital Power balanced a desire for additional stakeholder engagement with the belief that the regulations will ultimately be “win-win-win.”

Recently attention has been drawn to a potential regulatory “loophole” whereby companies may accelerate development to have facilities operating before the July 2015 compliance goal. In response, Minister Kent reiterated his department’s commitment to the measures while emphasizing that changes may still occur – including to close potential gaps.

The draft regulations themselves were published in the Canada Gazette on August 27 and are in the midst of a 60-day public comment period.

Some highlights of the proposed regulations include:

• Performance standards will be based on parity with the emissions performance of high-efficiency natural gas combined cycle generation, fixed at 375 tonnes CO₂/GWh.
• Emissions from the combustion of coal, coal derivatives (e.g. syngas), petroleum coke and all fuels burned in conjunction with coal (except for biomass) will be addressed by the standard.
• Facilities with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies will receive a temporary deferral from the compliance requirements until 2025.
• As an early action credit, existing units with CCS and who capture at least 30% of their CO₂ for 5 years prior to the performance standard’s adoption will receive an 18-month compliance deferral.

The final regulations are proposed to be published in 2012.

By Cheryl Johnson, cjohnson@delphi.ca