SaskPower restarts Boundary Dam Unit 4 as power demand remains high

Saskatchewan has restarted a seldom used unit at its Boundary Dam Power Plant as demand for electricity across western Canada remains high due to cold weather.

Boundary Dam 4, also known as BD4, was restarted after being put on “standby status” in December of 2021.

According to SaskPower, the designation means the unit is no longer in frequent use but remains operational if needed.

“BD4 is certainly a very useful tool in our tool belt that we have in the event that we do need to reinforce our generating capacity, so that’s sort of where it stands,” spokesperson Scott McGregor explained.

“When the need arises, we have that tool that we can implement.”

Saskatchewan, along with the rest of the country, has been facing extreme cold warnings for the better part of a week.

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It’s winter conditions that saw Alberta issue an emergency alert for residents to cut down on power consumption in order to avoid rolling blackouts.

“Heating buildings is basically what drives demand up. When you have multiple days of extreme cold usually day two, day three, day four – you find that furnaces are having to work a little harder because the cold is starting to ingress in the house,” McGregor said.

“During very, very cold temperatures as they progress, we will see an increase in the demand for power.”

The latest cold snap across Saskatchewan is not the first time BD4 has been called upon to fill the gap.

Last summer, an unplanned outage at SaskPower’s Poplar River Power Plant near Coronach saw BD4 provide power to the grid for months.

“We needed to bring Unit 4 back online just to ensure reliability for our customers during the hottest days of the year,” McGregor said.

Estevan’s Boundary Dam Power Station consists of six coal-fired power plants – three of which are regularly active. Units 1 and 2, built in 1959, were retired from service in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Both Unit 3 and 4 were built in 1970. BD3 was converted to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in 2014 and continues to run frequently.

According to McGregor, restarting BD4 is not a simple or quick operation.

“The conditions have to be right for us to really build a case around it,” he said. “It’s a very long process, it’s an older facility and there’s a lot of manual processes that have to take place to get that unit back online.”

McGregor said the decision to restart BD4 was made by SaskPower on Jan. 14, with the unit producing power by the next day.

“To help Alberta in the situation they were in this past weekend – it just made sense for us to get this unit back online and it certainly helped out these past few hours,” he explained.

Due to a federal mandate, conventional coal-fired power is set to be phased out by 2030.

In a post to X, Premier Scott Moe highlighted the restart of BD4 and reiterated the province’s position on federal net zero targets.

“Net zero by 2035 is not only impossible, it’s irresponsible as it would leave Saskatchewan and Western Canadian families freezing and in the dark,” the post read.

As for SaskPower, McGregor says the provincial Crown is exploring several ways forward in terms of reducing emissions while still producing reliable power.

“Our push to grow our generating capacity and to reduce emissions to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner – that is something we’re actively working on through deploying more wind and solar, increased interconnections and looking at new technologies like nuclear power.”

While extreme cold warnings have lifted in Saskatchewan – McGregor shared some tips for residents looking to reduce their power consumption.

“We recommend customers consider investing in a programmable thermostat or a smart thermostat, that way you’re only heating your house or cooling your house when you’re active.”

Knocking the temperature down a few degrees when you’re sleeping or at work helps conserve energy as well.

Commuters can also remember the maximum benefit of a block heater is realized after four hours.

“So having a block heater timer as well, set to start four hours before you set out that’s going to help chip away at your utility cost,” McGregor said.

Residents can also ensure their furnaces are running at peak efficiency and all windows and doors are closed tight to help keep warm air inside and cold air out.

--With files from Hallee Mandryk.