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.

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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[1]
Unit 2 operating coal - bituminous 158.2 subcritical 1980 2026[2]
Unit 3 operating coal - bituminous 158.2 subcritical 1983 2029[1]
Unit 4 operating coal - bituminous 158.2 subcritical 1984 2029[1]

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)[3] 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.[4]

Retirement

In December 2018 the Canadian federal government finalized regulations requiring all coal-fired plants to be retired by December 31, 2029.[5] 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.[6][7]

Unit 3 was scheduled to be retired once the Muskrat Hydro project comes online.[8] That project is currently expected to be operational by September 2021.[9] As of January 2018, there is no timeline to retire the other three units, which have an end life ranging from 2024 to 2029.[10]

In August 2022, Nova Scotia Power announced that Unit 2 would be placed on cold reserve in October 2022.[11] 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.[12]

In their 10-year system outlook published in June 2023, NS Power listed that Unit 2 was projected to retire in 2025–2026.[13]

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."[13][14][15]

Articles and Resources

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20240125141824/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-power-plans-to-burn-heavy-fuel-oil-1.6895930. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20221222183416/https://www.nspower.ca/docs/default-source/monthly-reports/10-year-system-outlook-report.pdf?sfvrsn=d39bca29_60. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. NPRI Data Search, Government of Canada, accessed 2011
  4. Lingan Plant Province's Top Polluter, Cape Breton Post September 24, 2003 (via Safe cleanup.com)
  5. Canada’s coal power phase-out reaches another milestone, Government of Canada, Dec. 12, 2018
  6. Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Legislation in Nova Scotia, Osler, Dec. 2020
  7. Canada-Nova Scotia equivalency agreement consultation: carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired generation of electricity, Government of Canada, Mar. 29, 2019
  8. Swapping coal for natural gas not a solution, warns Ecology Action Centre, CBC, Dec. 14, 2018
  9. Muskrat Falls Timeline Pushed to Fall 2021 as Costs Continue to Climb VOCM, September 28, 2020
  10. Chris Shannon, That Dam Project - The Carbon Question, Saltwire, Jan. 22, 2018.
  11. Nova Scotia Power to shut down 1 coal generator at Lingan station this fall, CBC News, Aug. 17, 2022
  12. Muskrat Falls power delays will lead to very high rate increases in Nova Scotia, Halifax Examiner, Nov. 8, 2022
  13. 13.0 13.1 "2023 10-Year System Outlook," Nova Scotia Power, June 30, 2023
  14. "Nova Scotia Power plans to burn heavy fuel oil at phased-out coal plants," CBC News, July 4, 2023
  15. "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.