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.

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.

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."