The provincial government is planning to look at refurbishing coal-fired power units in a commitment to coal power, according to SaskPower Minister Jeremy Harrison.
He toured around the Poplar River, Boundary Dam, and Shand power stations this week, discussing the news with employees before announcing that to the public.
Harrison says that the move comes from the lessons learned over the provincial election by the Saskatchewan Party.
"Really what I communicated with our staff, and I wanted them to hear it first before it was out in the public domain, is that the direction that I and the government have given to SaskPower is that as we move forward into the future, we're going to have two focuses and this really comes out of what we heard during the election campaign, what people are concerned about is affordability and when it comes to power, it's about reliability and those are the lenses that that the people of this province are looking through and what our power future is going to be."
Earlier, the province announced that they would operate their coal-fired power units until the end of viability, which in some cases would be up until 2042.
With this new announcement, Harrison says that the policy will look to see what new actions the province can take for coal power.
"What is different is that we are now going to be taking a very, very hard look at what we can do and whether there is viability in refurbishing our existing coal-fired power units. That would include Boundary Dam 4, 5, and 6, and that would include both of the units of Poplar River as well as Coronach. So we are going through that process right now."
With the announcement, Harrison stated that this would be going forward regardless of the federal government, which stated its intent to phase out coal-fired power units by 2030.
"We are very committed to making sure that we are looking at this and looking at it through the lens of what makes the most sense for this province regardless as to what the federal government had to say about any of it, and I've been very clear, but this is an area where the federal government have no constitutional jurisdiction. In fact, electricity generation is specifically allocated to the provinces and we are going to be very, very diligent and assertive about making sure that that is the top of mind."
Even with the increased investment in those units, Harrison says that the province won't step away from diversification of energy sources.
"Diversification is always a positive thing. We as government have worked really hard on that over the course of the last decade and a half, as far as diversifying our export markets as an example. That's why we have engaged around the world and finding new markets for our product. So I always encourage our municipalities to move down that path as much as they can as well."
Harrison says that they'll also keep up their work with nuclear sources of energy in the province.
"That work will continue, irrespective of where we go on this particular file. Another part of the catalyst for this, another part of the thinking behind this, we are very committed to nuclear. I'm from northern Saskatchewan, a very large number of my constituents work in the uranium mining industry. We are committed to getting there, but you know that that's going to take time and we have to make sure that we are bridging to nuclear in, in a responsible fashion."
The increased investment into coal-fired power units may detract from federal investment into coal transition communities, but Harrison says that the overall investment wasn't worth it from the federal government.
"There's been very little from the federal government, by the way, the federal government have talked a game of providing what they characterize as coal transition money. I've seen very little of it, the funds that have been allocated to these communities have come from the provincial government, even projects that the communities have put forward with provincial governments support to the federal government have been ignored. So I have no faith in this in this federal government at all, I'm glad to see them on the way out, It can't come soon enough, frankly."