Sask.'s Boundary Dam carbon capture project underperforming: report

A signature carbon capture and storage project in Saskatchewan continues to miss emissions reduction goals, raising questions about the cost-effectiveness of the technology, according to a report.

A signature carbon capture and storage project in Saskatchewan continues to miss emissions reduction goals, raising questions about the cost-effectiveness of the technology, says a report.

"We don't think carbon capture works as well as industry and promoters claim," said David Schissel, an analyst who wrote the report for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an international non-profit agency.

"We don't think it's a good use of money to keep coal-fired power plants running."

Schissel looked at data from Sask Power's Boundary Dam project, a coal-fired power plant in southeast Saskatchewan that began capturing carbon dioxide emissions in the fall of 2014.

Proponents originally said the plant would capture up to 90 per cent of the plant's carbon emissions. That would amount to about a million tonnes of climate-changing carbon dioxide a year -- the rough equivalent of emissions from 200,000 cars.

That goal has never been reached, said Schissel.

When all the plant's emissions are factored in, including flue gas that is simply vented, the average capture rate is 57 per cent, he said.