For the first time in more than 150 years, Alberta’s electricity is coal free
Unit 2 at the Genesee Generating Station west of Edmonton went offline on June 16. It was the last remaining electricity-generation facility in Alberta to rely exclusively on coal. Capital Power
At 10:57 p.m. on Sunday, June 16, Alberta’s last coal plant went offline. An official announcement shortly followed, quietly signalling the end of coal-fired electricity in Alberta.
Many organizations contributed to this successful campaign through advocacy and research. The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, the Lung Association and the Asthma Society of Canada were instrumental in highlighting the health impacts associated with air pollution from coal-fired electricity. The Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based clean-energy think tank, first intervened in a coal plant regulatory process in the late 1990s and, in 2009, published the first major proposal that showed the province could move to an unabated coal-free grid by 2030. Our research was ahead of its time and criticized as idealistic.
Coal accounted for 80 per cent of Alberta’s electricity grid in the early 2000s and it still amounted to 60 per cent just 10 years ago. When phasing out coal was just an idea being batted around, many said it couldn’t be done. This is not dissimilar to the rhetoric today around decarbonizing the grid. But Alberta’s experience phasing out coal shows environmental progress of this magnitude is possible.
