SaskPower provided a lot more detail on where the first two small modular reactors (SMRs) might be built in Saskatchewan.
You Might Be In Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan things… pic.twitter.com/GubRZLJrib
— World Hockey Report (@worldhockeyrpt) January 30, 2023
And How Was Your Day?
Taken south of town today, on HWY 45.
Carbon capture, utilization and storage coming to the fore
Three stories on carbon capture and storage (CCUS): On Wednesday, the feds announced an intake for projects related to CCUS.
And the Petroleum Technology Research Centre announced recently they were including a CCUS summit in this spring’s Williston Basin Petroleum Conference.
And then there’s the oilsands efforts in CCUS. Bonus points for the Canadian Press story including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Who is your favorite Rancher or Butcher?
If you’re rurally located like we are and source your meat direct from the producer, this is a thread for you to help others to bypass the grocer prices. Share your general location and your source in the comments, and include enough information for readers to find them (website, facebook page) but make sure the contact info is publicly available.
For those of you new to this: some of these producers have client lists, so don’t call up expecting to buy on demand. Be prepared to place an order.
Here’s our beef supplier, for readers in SE Saskatchewan. Tell Lucas I sent you. (I can also line you up with lamb in the Saskatoon area, just drop me an email about that).
Two days in a row, wind power was negative in Sask
The fog and calm winds have not gone away. Four days in a row, wind power in Saskatchewan was either negligible or negative. Two of those days were negative.
And remember that SaskPower is beefing up its interconnect to North Dakota and the Southwest Power Pool, from 150 to 650 megawatts? Well, as of 12:15 a.m., SPP’s power was 45% coal. So we will give up coal power here, and have option to buy coal power from the US. Because that’s what they rely on when the wind decides not to blow there, either.
Wind power production in Saskatchewan went into negative territory
Turns out there’s a new development out of the story that took place on Monday.
Justin Trudeau on Monday didn’t think much of Saskatchewan’s clean energy projects.
On that very day, characterized by fog throughout much of southern Saskatchewan (where the wind turbines are located), SaskPower’s total wind power generation fell to “-1 megawatt,” as in negative one megawatt, according to the Crown corporation’s Where Does Your Power Come From web page. This is the lowest number Pipeline Online has seen since the page went online in September, 2022. It’s also an average throughout the entire day, not just at a particular moment.
According to SaskPower, “The turbines were iced up and unable to produce. The -1 megawatt was load to service the facilities.”
Saskatchewan has 617 megawatts of installed grid-scale wind power generation.
Also, SaskPower is now paying people extra just to stay in Coronach instead of walking away early from the doomed coal plant.
What more can Saskatchewan do to keep the lights on?
On Sunday, 42% of our power came from natural gas, and 41% came from coal. Another 12% came from hydro.
1% came from wind
Ottawa, we have a problem.
Wind in Sask produced an average of 1.3% of its capacity on Wednesday
It turns out that the same day Alberta’s wind power flatlined, so did Saskatchewan’s. SaskPower delays its data reporting two days, which is why it took until Friday to find this out. Note that the 1.3 per cent output was the average for the entire day, meaning that it was even lower for part of the day.
Giant fans didn’t spin too much on Tuesday in the land of living skies
On Tuesday, we didn’t get much in the way of wind power generation, again.
I Amuse Myself
"Hey Martha, how much ancient pragmashitism do we need to fertilize 12 million acres of canola?"
— #Saskatchewan https://t.co/tbAf4RbHDP
— Katewerk (@katewerk) January 11, 2023
Virtue signalling gone mad? SaskEnergy finances soap making from CO2 capture at Regina Airport
SaskEnergy announced on Jan. 10 it is financing the installation of a small-scale, really micro-scale, carbon capture device at the Regina Airport. The final product? Soap trade show giveaways. Really.
And How Was Your Vacation?
Year End with Premier Scott Moe, Part 4: Lithium, helium, rare earth elements, oil
Lithium and rare earth elements may be a big deal in Saskatchewan over the next ten years, according to Premier Scott Moe.
Year End with Premier Scott Moe, Part 3: Investment reluctance, LNG and Germany, nuclear
Remember the “no business case for LNG” that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in front of a German chancellor desperate for LNG? Premier Scott Moe talks about that, as well as making a decision on whether to go ahead with nuclear sooner than later. Right now, Saskatchewan is not planning on deciding to go nuclear until 2029.
Year End with Premier Scott Moe, Part 2: oil prices, differentials, federal issues, pipelines and immigration
Premier Scott Moe thinks the reason we didn’t see a spike in drilling when oil prices spiked is a federal government scaring off investment. Part 2 talks about oil prices, differentials, federal issues, pipelines and immigration
Year end with Premier Scott Moe, Part 1: energy security, war, wind, solar and coal
There’s no fluff questions in this year-end interview with Premier Scott Moe. Part one focuses on energy security, the war in Ukraine, wind, solar and coal power.
There are four parts to this interview, to be published this week. Watch for them.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans
Those giant stinking fans failed Saskatchewan, again, on Tuesday
SaskPower delays its reporting of power output by two days. But it turns out that on Tuesday, Dec. 13, wind power production in Saskatchewan all but collapsed. Again. You’d think in winter, having reliable power might be a thing? But we are intent on building more, a lot more, wind and solar.
He Was Turning His Life Around
The robber can be seen heading around to the back of the counter when the staff comes back…