A major Canadian electricity producer is successfully off coal power in this country, nine years ahead of a government deadline.

Calgary-based Trans-Alta Corp. announced Wednesday it has finished its planned transition from coal to natural gas in its Canadian power generation.

The company said the recently completed conversion of the Keephills Unit 3 power plant west of Edmonton was the last of three coal-to-gas conversions at its Alberta thermal power generation facilities.

In a news release, TransAlta president and chief executive John Kousinioris said the company has achieved a significant milestone well ahead of the federal mandate that will require the full phaseout of coal-fired electricity generation in Canada by 2030.

"We are pleased to have completed this important step, nine years ahead of the government target," Kousinioris said. "Our coal transition is among the most meaningful carbon emissions reduction achievements in Canadian history."

Since 2019, TransAlta says it has invested $295 million into its coal-to-gas program, which also included the conversion of Sundance Unit 6 and Keephills Unit 2 near Wabuman, Alta., and Sheerness Units 1 and 2 near Hanna, Alta., plus the construction of new high-volume gas delivery infrastructure.

Converting to natural gas from coal maintains the company's current generation capacity while at the same time reducing carbon dioxide emissions by almost 50 per cent, the company said.

As of Friday, TransAlta will also close its Highvale thermal coal mine, which is the largest in Canada and has been in operation on the south shore of Wabamun Lake west of Edmonton, since 1970.

TransAlta's move away from coal is a major milestone in Alberta, which has been working to reduce its reliance on coal for power generation.

#TransAlta completes conversion from #coal to natural gas power in #Canada. #ClimateAction #Alberta

In 2014, 55 per cent of Alberta's electricity was produced from coal. The province, under then-premier Rachel Notley, announced in 2015 — three years ahead of the federal government's own coal mandate — that it would eliminate emissions from coal-powered generation by 2030.

In addition to TransAlta, other Alberta-based companies have also made major utility conversion commitments. Edmonton-based Capital Power Corp. has said it will spend nearly $1 billion to switch two coal-fired power units west of Edmonton to natural gas, and will stop using coal entirely by 2023.

TransAlta said that overall, it has retired 3,794 megawatts of coal-fired generation since 2018. The company still operates the Centralia coal-fired power plant in Washington State, which is set to shut down at the end of 2025.

TransAlta said that it is on track to reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent, or 19.7 million tonnes, by 2030 over 2015 levels and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2021.

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Driven more by available cheap gas than virtue, of course.

Alas, coal-to-gas conversions improve things by about 17%.

If it could be sourced, processed, and transported perfectly without loss, then it would be about 40%, with gas producing 60% the CO2e of coal-burning. (It would be 50% if coal were pure carbon, but even coal has some methane/ethane trapped in it.)

MIT ran some models for a 100-year time frame, adding up the damage done in the troposphere at first, then the stratosphere later, and worked out that if 4% of methane leaks out from field to furnace, it does just as much climate damage as burning coal for the same heat energy. The industry, of course, claims only a fraction of a percent. Independent surveys figure the overall industry figure is 2.3%.

It's not perfect to assume linear relationships, but, just roughly, figure each 1% of methane lost adds 10% to the 60% climate damage done by the CO2 alone, so that 4% would come to 100% total. Well. the 2.3% lets us add 23% to the 60%, making electricity from gas about 83% climate-damaging as electricity from coal.

17% improvement! I'll take it, but it's really minor.