United States delegation to tour Boundary Dam 3 project
By Kerry Benjoe, Leader-Post,
Saskatchewan’s carbon capture and storage technology has attracted a delegation from the United States including a presidential hopeful.
On Wednesday, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination will be in the province to tour SaskPower’s Boundary Dam 3 project.
Also joining Graham for the tour are Senator Sheldon Whitehouse a Democrat from Rhode Island and Republican Congressman Tom Rice from South Carolina.
Premier Brad Wall said the province extended an invite to the U.S. because it is a country that relies on coal for 39 per cent of its electricity. It is estimated that by 2040 its reliance on coal will decrease by only four or five per cent.
“Coal is going to be used in India, China, the United States and here, (but) in Saskatchewan we have an answer to that, we have cleaned it up,” Wall said. “At this facility operating right now, we have energy being produced from coal that is three times cleaner than natural gas, which is significant.
We are capturing 90 per cent of the CO2 and the CO2 has a 99 per cent purity so we can turn around and market that to energy companies.”
He believes this is the kind of technology that could be used globally.
“I frankly think you are going to see more interest in the project in the months ahead,” he said. “We are hoping the United States Department of Energy considers coming in as a partner in our consortium. In other words, investing in the knowledge that we have built perhaps for application there.
We are grateful the senators and congressman will be here.”
Wall said the taxpayers have invested in the project and now that results of the project are available then now is the time to begin marketing Saskatchewan’s expertise in this area.
“The more interest we can build among decision makers in the United States on Capitol Hill, the better,” he said.
The travel costs for the delegation’s tour is covered by the U.S. federal government.
