Sask. to extend life of all coal-fired power plants despite federal clean electricity regulations

Alexander Quon · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 18, 2025 6:16 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

The Saskatchewan authorities has informed Crown employees it volition widen the beingness of each its coal-fired powerfulness plants, mounting up a imaginable ineligible conflict with the national authorities implicit biology regulations.

Crown Investments Corporation Minister Jeremy Harrison announced the determination successful a missive distributed to each SaskEnergy employees connected Wednesday. It was not announced publicly.

Harrison said the state volition proceed the usage of the ember plants arsenic it moves toward adopting atomic powerfulness procreation for its basal load requirements, and remains committed to the extremity of a net-zero grid by 2050.

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The missive besides tees up a imaginable quality betwixt the state and Ottawa, with Harrison penning that the state does not judge the national authorities has immoderate lasting to unopen down provincial ember plants.

"We person besides been wide that we bash not admit the legitimacy of the national Clean Electricity Regulations," Harrison wrote.

Brett Dolter, a prof of economics astatine the University of Regina, described the determination arsenic an "incredibly disappointing development."

Dolter, who has researched energy options and pathways successful Saskatchewan for much than a decade, said the determination to widen the beingness of the province's coal-fire plants violates national regulations meant to trim c dioxide emission.

"This opens up the doorway for protracted ineligible battles with the national authorities and large uncertainty astatine a clip erstwhile accelerated concern successful our energy strategy is needed, " Dolter said successful an email.

The state announced earlier this twelvemonth that it was mulling this determination over.

At the time, it appeared to alert successful the look of years of enactment connected the coal-fired powerfulness plants. In 2012, then-prime curate Stephen Harper's national authorities passed caller regulations that would spot the extremity of astir coal-fired powerfulness by mid-21st century.

In 2016, Justin Trudeau's authorities passed further regulations requiring each coal-fired powerfulness stations to beryllium closed down aft 50 years of operation, oregon by 2030, whichever comes first. The state has antecedently said it would comply with those rules.

The determination announced contiguous makes it wide that volition nary longer happen.

Saskatchewan adjacent provided financial support for communities arsenic it initially pushed toward ending its usage of coal-fired plants. In 2020, it announced Estevan would person $8 cardinal and Coronach would person $2 million. A further $550,000 was announced for Coronach in 2023.

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Work to "restore" Boundary Dam 4 to work and get it recertified is acceptable to statesman this year, Harrison wrote.

He besides promised to extend the lives of each ember units astatine Poplar River Power Station near Coronach, arsenic good as Shand Power Station and Boundary Dam Power Station adjacent Estevan, in the "years to come."

It's not wide however overmuch that enactment volition cost. The state "isn't releasing outgo estimates astatine this time."

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Dolter said helium believes the outgo volition be significant and that a amended concern would beryllium constructing caller powerfulness plants that tin run beyond 2050 and are resilient to immoderate aboriginal argumentation changes astatine the provincial and national levels.

"Investing successful ember powerfulness plants present is similar Blockbuster Video doubling down connected gathering caller VHS-rental stores successful an epoch of Netflix and different streaming services. It is simply a discarded of Saskatchewan ratepayers' and taxpayers' money," Dolter wrote.

Environment and Climate Change Canada did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.