REGINA – SaskPower says its highly touted carbon capture and storage project at the Boundary Dam power station near Estevan will not be ready on time.
It was supposed to start storing some of the carbon emitted from the coal-fired power plant in April.
The Crown corporation says the carbon capture facility is ready, but there have been some unexpected findings on the power plant side.
The plant is being rebuilt and the utility says there have been some design changes and retrofitting delays.
SaskPower says it’s not an extensive delay, but the Crown corporation won’t give a new date for the opening.
The plan is to capture CO2 emissions from the coal-fired power plant and sell the carbon dioxide to oil and gas companies, which use it to push more oil out of the ground in what’s called enhanced oil recovery.
SaskPower president and CEO Robert Watson said last fall that things had come up that weren’t expected on the $1.3-billion project.
Watson said the project is about $115 million, or nine per cent, over budget. That includes $25 million for steel reinforcement in the building and boiler, $30 million to remove lead paint and asbestos and $35 million for unforeseen engineering changes.