Electricity analyst says Alberta has reasonable deadline to get off coal
Posted Mar 17, 2016 4:07 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The man hired to move Alberta away from coal-fired electricity says while it’s a complex challenge, time is on the side of the province.
Terry Boston says with a deadline of 2030, there’s enough lag time to craft a solution that works best for the industry, keeps rates fair for taxpayers, and keeps the lights on.
As part of its climate change plan, Alberta is shutting down coal-fired electricity generation by 2030 to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
Twelve of Alberta’s 18 coal-fired generating units are already expected to be shut down by then, so the focus of Boston’s work will be on the remaining six.
Boston will be paid up to $600,000 and will deliver a list of options to the government by the fall.
Boston recently retired as the head of PJM Interconnection, which is the second largest centrally dispatched power system in the world.
