Nova Scotia Power plans to burn heavy fuel oil at phased-out coal plants

Nova Scotia Power plans to burn heavy fuel oil at coal-fired electricity generating units after they close in 2030.

The company intends to convert three coal-fired units at the Lingan Generating Station in Cape Breton to heavy fuel oil in 2030 and keep them operating until 2050, according to documents filed in its latest capital spending application.

The proposal, first reported by Allnovascotia.com, is drawing heat from one environmental group and questions from regulators.

It sounded counterintuitive to Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board member Jennifer Nicholson.

"Looking at some of these conversions, I must say I was a bit surprised that we're getting off coal, but we're going to heavy fuel oil. Doesn't really seem like, you know, it's a lot cleaner," Nicholson said at a recent hearing on Nova Scotia Power's capital spending plan.

Nova Scotia Power's chief operating officer, Dave Pickles, replied that the company is "mandated to be off coal by 2030" by federal regulation.

"And only coal?" asked Nicholson.

"And only coal," he said.

Plants would operate during peak demand

Pickles told the board that emissions from coal and fuel oil are comparable, but the Lingan units would have "really low utilization rates."

Nova Scotia Power said Lingan units using heavy oil would operate during peak demand periods, about five to 10 per cent of the time — mostly during the coldest days of winter when electricity generation needs to be ramped up quickly.

Lingan is Nova Scotia Power's largest electrical power station. It's made up of four coal-burning units, each capable of generating 150 megawatts of electricity. The fourth unit is being held in what Nova Scotia Power calls "cold reserve," meaning it can be restarted in case of an emergency.

"If it's fully retired, we're going to need to build replacement energy at a much higher cost than it would be to transition to oil, because these facilities already have that capability," Pickles said.

"We may need to add some additional tankage or we may need to take it to full capacity on oil. But that transition is relatively straightforward and cost effective."

He said moving to oil is "significantly cheaper" than replacing the existing facilities with new electricity generation capacity.

Lack of ambition

When asked by Nicholson what happens if government decides to ban the use of heavy fuel oils, Pickles said: "We would need to add additional firm capacity to replace that lost generation, so [it] could be natural gas, fast-acting generation, some other form which could also require heavy fuel oil or light fuel oil given the limited nature of natural gas available here in the province."

The Ecology Action Centre, a Halifax-based environmental group, said Nova Scotia Power is demonstrating a lack of ambition when it comes to decarbonization.

"They've sort of done a bait-and-switch in terms of getting around regulations requiring them to phase out coal by 2030," said climate policy coordinator Thomas Arnason McNeil.

He wants to know the cost of retrofitting coal plants so they can run on heavy fuel oil, and how much it will cost ratepayers.

"The idea that heavy fuel oil is the only source of power that can serve that role, I would like to see that substantiated," Arnason McNeil told CBC News on Monday.

Nova Scotia Power declined to provide details on the potential cost of converting its Lingan units to heavy oil.

In a statement, company spokesperson Jacqueline Foster said "natural gas and hydrogen may provide alternative cleaner fuel options for future new fast-acting generation at locations other than Lingan. 

"We are exploring converting certain units to natural gas, where there is proximity to natural gas infrastructure."

In response to questions filed by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board on the utility's capital-plan case, Nova Scotia Power said the 154-megawatt, coal-fired plant at Point Tupper in Richmond County will be converted to natural gas in 2029 and operated until 2049.

The 171-megawatt coal-burning plant at Point Aconi in Cape Breton will be retired in 2029. The two coal-fired units at Trenton, with a combined capacity of 311 megawatts, will be retired in 2028 and 2029.

Nova Scotia Power generates about 2,400 megawatts overall.