Atco To Convert All Coal Plants By 2020

[flamesfan1297]

http://calgaryherald.com/business/en...al-gas-by-2020

“We’re actually looking at greening them by 2020, not 2030,” ATCO president and CEO Nancy Southern said Wednesday of the company’s coal-fired power plants and the NDP government’s 2030 deadline to phase them out.

“Our belief is that it makes sense to move to gasification of those coal plants now,” she said.

ATCO operates the Battle River and Sheerness coal-fired generating stations in the province, which produce a combined 1,469 megawatts of electricity, and the company would be among the first in the province to convert its coal plants.

Sounds like all of Atco coal plants will be converted by 2020 to Natural Gas. There will be alot of jobs lost when the coal mines close.

[red sky]

Similar to TransAlta

http://business.financialpost.com/ne...s-to-gas-early

This is great news for Montney gas producers as it should help narrow the AECO basis differential.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

I worked at Battle River Generating Station out of High School, my father worked as an electrician at the Diplomat and PaintEarth Mines for 35 years, my grandfather was the Plant Manager at Battle River until his retirement in the early 80's.

The town where I grew up will most likely become most ghost-town like, than it already is. Le sad...

[flamesfan1297]

Originally Posted by GreatWhiteEbola

I worked at Battle River Generating Station out of High School, my father worked as an electrician at the Diplomat and PaintEarth Mines for 35 years, my grandfather was the Plant Manager at Battle River until his retirement in the early 80's.

The town where I grew up will most likely become most ghost-town like, than it already is. Le sad...

Same with Hanna Ab, Will likely become a ghost mine unfortunately. Me and my dad both work at one of the mines that will be closed.

[4X4]

I can't imagine owning a house in one of these towns. What a crappy situation.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I can't imagine owning a house in one of these towns. What a crappy situation.

Imagine owning 3... 2 of which are rent to own with stable (for now) tenants and one is going to be a demo, and sell the lot. (Probably for less than forecast now)

I would consider a 30-50% population decrease when the mine closes.

Forestburg is a unique town and there has been some grassroots support for luring other industries to town, but it might not be enough to sustain the infrastructure. There is talk of large-scale greenhouses...

Challenge 2017: What’s next for forgotten coal towns like Alberta’s Forestburg as plug pulled on industry

[Azure]

Always thought it was weird that we still had coal plants going given our easy access to natural gas and how much we want to develop that industry.

Sure you feel bad for the coal workers, but there is plenty of opportunity for work in renewable energy sources especially if you are in the trades.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Azure

Always thought it was weird that we still had coal plants going given our easy access to natural gas and how much we want to develop that industry.

Natural gas wasn't always so cheap and coal is easily stored, useful to avoid winter bottlenecks when you might not have enough NG to generate electricity and heat homes at the same time, as happens in New England or in Southern California, where the blowout of Aliso Canyon means that it is having grid reliability issues and will have major issues if the upcoming summer is warmer than normal or winter is colder than normal.

https://www.rtoinsider.com/caiso-gri...-demand-42802/

Sure you feel bad for the coal workers, but there is plenty of opportunity for work in renewable energy sources especially if you are in the trades.

Indeed, given how many solar jobs its takes to match the energy productivity of one coal worker.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by accord1999

Indeed, given how many solar jobs its takes to match the energy productivity of one coal worker.

Hey can you post that one terrible infographic here that doesnt account for exisitng infrastructure? I need a good laugh today.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Azure

Always thought it was weird that we still had coal plants going given our easy access to natural gas and how much we want to develop that industry.

Sure you feel bad for the coal workers, but there is plenty of opportunity for work in renewable energy sources especially if you are in the trades.

Lol.

[ernie]

This is what I said in some other threads over the past month or so. Coal mining and plants will not be saved...not even in the states. North American utilities are moving to cleaner and non-carbon technologies no matter what a current government may or may not say. They believe climate change and environmental damage and feel it is best for their business to move in those directions. These changes are being riven by consumer desires and company ethics.

[Leeman4Gilmour]

This won't instantly kill the mines. Still export (China) and the world will still require metallurgical coal

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Leeman4Gilmour

This won't instantly kill the mines. Still export (China) and the world will still require metallurgical coal

It may not kill the metallurgical mines but it will kill the mines that produce thermal coal.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Hey can you post that one terrible infographic here that doesnt account for exisitng infrastructure? I need a good laugh today.

You mean this one:


Sure it may be misleading but then the solar industry seems perfectly fine with this comparison when they talk about how many more jobs they have versus coal (while ignoring how much more electricity coal produces).

[octothorp]

I'm curious: with a setup like Sheerness where there's a coal mine and generating station, how many jobs are in the mine and how many in the generating station, by comparison? I found a stat that the mine there employs about 110 people, but I couldn't find a number for the generating station.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by accord1999

You mean this one:


Sure it may be misleading but then the solar industry seems perfectly fine with this comparison when they talk about how many more jobs they have versus coal (while ignoring how much more electricity coal produces).

So businesses that create jobs are bad, got it.

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

So businesses that create jobs are bad, got it.

No, but businesses that are so inefficient that they require many times more labor than a competing one is more expensive. And when that's in the business of energy which goes into everything in the economy, that just makes everything more expensive.

Would going back to manual and animal labor agriculture vs modern farming with motorized vehicles be better? How many more "jobs" would that create?

[PsYcNeT]

Why do you want to drive the livelihoods of horse and buggy salesmen into the dirt?

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

[Locke]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

So businesses that create jobs are bad, got it.

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

Consuming more resources and expending more effort to achieve the same goal (or in the case of solar - not even) is stupid.

I understand that we have to start curtailing Global Warming but pulling the plug on Coal while renewable energies are nowhere near ready to step in and shoulder the load that...is stupid.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Locke

Consuming more resources and expending more effort to achieve the same goal (or in the case of solar - not even) is stupid.

The thing with coal (or oil or natural gas) is that a large part of the effort/resources to achieve the energy is hidden or unaccounted for. Millions of years of absorbing solar energy is a lot more effort than building a solar collector, it's just with one a large part of that effort isn't taken into account because it's invisible where the other one has to.

The comparison doesn't seem meaningful IMO.

In the same way that arguing against automation based only on the number of jobs isn't meaningful.