“Powering the Future” was the title of the power point presentation, “SaskPower’s Plan for Electricity in Saskatchewan”.
Local representatives of municipal government, chamber of commerce and economic development representatives gathered at the Legion Hall in Coronach for a presentation by John Lebersback, Acting Vice-President of the Power Production Business Unit of SaskPower.
SaskPower had an engaged audience who were there to hear how SaskPower’s future plans would affect them and their communities. SaskPower reps began by showcasing SaskPower’s role in the province’s economy, such as their 2600 employees serving 467,000 customers and the management of over $5 billion in generation, transmission and distribution assets.
An interesting fact that was distributed was “SaskPower has 153 employees who work in the Coronach area, contributing total yearly earning of approximately $10,872.037 to the local economy.”
As well, SaskPower made local purchases totalling nearly $1 million.
Lebersback said, “The reason we are doing these dialogues with the community is really it’s a sharing information: where is SaskPower going, what are we doing, how are we going to meet the needs of the electricity industry as we go forward.”
“We are also very interested in feedback. It’s a very much an information exchange building dialogue and communication with the communities.”
According to Lebersback, SaskPower faces challenges with aging infrastructure and a growing population.
“Replacing the old and keeping up with the growth is a huge capital expenditure, big increase in our operating infrastructure so the costs for that are going up dramatically. Like in other industries and like in our own lives, costs are going up dramatically. So we have to figure out how to manage those costs most effectively and try to keep electricity rates reasonable,” he said.
According to Lebersback, electricity rates in Saskatchewan are competitive with other provinces that rely on thermal or coal generated power, such as Alberta. “We are very much competitive with them and we gotta keep the rates down.” said Lebersback.
In a community, like Coronach, where the economy is driven by a coal mine and coal-fired power station, tougher environmental regulations make cause for concern.
Lebersback addressed the regulations that the Federal and Provincial governments warn are coming. “What we’ve been hearing is that next spring we should see the first of what they call gazetting regulations, so it is the first public communication of ‘here’s what the regulations are - that we’re looking at.’”
He explained the process once the regulations are announced, “Public, utilities, customers and industry get to review and comment on the what’s being gazetted. very much it is the process of putting these regu-
lations in place.”
The hand-out listed a number of options for long term power such as additional natural gas generation, the investigation of clean coal, wind and other renewables such as hydro, flare gas, heat recovery and small wind/battery test facility. SPC also encourages consumers to use less electricity to decrease demands and reduce electricity bills.
“Long term, we don’t have any favorites as far as types of generation, we want the low cost so we really look at the low cost to meet the customer’s needs. We don’t have any preferences, if it’s hydro or if we can keep coal in the mix we are very much interested in coal.”
“We can look at all generation technologies and basically minimize our cost of generation, that’s our objective.
Coal has to be economical and competitive with the next alternative so whatever the alternative energies are if we can clean up coal and keep it in the mix, we are very much interested in that.”
“The power station here is an important part of our generation fleet, so it’s very much valuable to us and we look forward to continuing to be in the community and working with the area.” added Lebersback.
In their handout titled, “Mid-term Plan 2016-2023”, along with a photo of SaskPower Poplar River Power Station, the following is listed:
More stringent regulations limiting greenhouse gases are coming;
We must minimize the growth of greenhouse-gas emissions;
We must increase the transmission capability between neighbouring utilities to accommodate economical imports.
“The power station here is an important part of our generation fleet, so it’s very much valuable to us and we look forward to continuing to be in the community and working with the area.” added Lebersback.
It then lists DSM/energy conservation programs, natural gas, carbon capture, wind, imports, biomass and hydro as options considered.
In the “Long-term Plan 2024 and Beyond”, options expand to include additional technologies such as nuclear, large hydro and import contracts.
Lebersback was pleased with the turnout at the meeting and the interest of the group. “It was good, we had a good turnout, lots of good questions. We had some good discussion and we really appreciate their feedback and at the same time we hope we gave them the information that they were looking for.”
The meeting in Coronach was the 15th in a 21-meeting tour around Saskatchewan with a stop in Assiniboia the following day.
Sylvia Nelson, local business owner, town councilor and chamber member was in attendance at the meeting. “I really enjoyed it, I found it very informative. We had a power point display and (these types of meetings) keep us up-to-date with the power generation, the cost effectiveness and environmental issues and I really appreciated them coming out and inviting us today.”
Nelson, along with a majority of the crowd, were interested to hear how Coronach played into the future of SaskPower. Nelson liked what she heard, “I got a real good feeling (about Coronach’s future). It is all about costs, keeping the power rates low, keeping people happy and keeping enough power on the grid.”
“As a corporate citizen they care about Coronach and we’ve got some statistics and the liaisons and the community involvement with the RM Council, town council and economic development.” concluded Nelson.
