Letter to the Editor: Without coal now, you would be without power

Jul 31, 2023

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Poplar River Power Station, Coronach, Saskatchewan. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

Do you know how close you are to rolling blackouts? On June 2nd., a dyke broke and the result sent mud, hay and debris flowing down Poplar River right into the Poplar River Power Station water reservoir, shutting down that 582 megawatt station. It is still down as clean up efforts continue.

I for one haven’t heard much at all from the media, or the government. Why? We certainly hear from them when they erect a new wind turbine or a field of solar panels all of which would not, could not help relieve that much of a power shortage 24 – 7 till Poplar is back up and running.

Over in Estevan, Shand and Boundary coal fired power stations have been running hard to provide the power to keep your air conditioning and lights on. The coal miners at Westmoreland are working together providing the fuel needed to keep the electricity on. To help offset the demand our electric draglines idle down during peak daytime hours and into the evening, then ramp back up at night uncovering more coal to haul to the plants. We are doing everything we can to insure a steady baseload power supply.

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Now SaskPower and the government are quick to talk about new small modular nuclear reactors being the answer. But with no chance of one going online for 10 to 15 years and at a cost of $5 to $7 BILLION for just one 300 megawatt reactor this pill is hard to swallow.

That investment could outfit Shand, Poplar River and finish Boundary all with carbon capture and storage with change left over. This way we would provide over three times the megawatts and keep over a thousand people employed in good paying jobs.

So when you turn on the A/C, put something in the microwave or plug in the toaster think of the people running the dozers, coal haulers, draglines, the rest of the equipment and the multitude of support people working diligently so you can rest assured you have power.

Without coal now, you would be without power.

 

David Grass,

Macoun

Editor’s note: Pipeline Online did report on this incident at Poplar River Power Station on June 7. Here’s the story:

Flooding shuts down major coal power station, leaving SaskPower scrambling to backfill its output and shed load internally

 

  • 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
    0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
  • 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click
    0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click
  • 0082 CsHM 2024 Pipeline
    0082 CsHM 2024 Pipeline
  • 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
    0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
  • 0076 Latus only
    0076 Latus only
  • 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
    0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
  • 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
    0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
  • 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
    0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
  • 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
    0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
  • 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
    0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
  • 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
    0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
  • 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
  • 0022 Grimes winter hiring
  • 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
  • 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
  • 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
  • 0011
  • 0006 JK Junior
  • 0002 gilliss casing services
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  • 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
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  • 9001