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The Belledune Generating Station is a 450
MW coal-fired electrical generating station located in the community of
Belledune
Belledune (2011 population: 1,548) is a Canadian village that straddles both Restigouche County and Gloucester County, New Brunswick.
The community of Belledune was created through the amalgamation of Jacquet River, Armstrong Brook, and Bell ...
in
Gloucester County,
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
. It is a thermal generating station owned and operated by provincial
Crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
NB Power
New Brunswick Power Corporation (french: Société d’énergie du Nouveau-Brunswick), operating as NB Power (french: Énergie NB), is the primary electric utility in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. NB Power is a vertically-integrated Cro ...
.
Construction of the plant began in 1991 and it began generating electricity in 1993. At 450 MW, it is designed to burn
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
which is delivered by ship through the
Port of Belledune and occasionally by rail or truck. Coal is mostly sourced in the United States and South America but local sources mined at
Minto, NB and
Sydney, NS
Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...
have been used on occasion.
The Belledune plant is attractive for shipping as it is situated on the shore of
Chaleur Bay
frame, Satellite image of Chaleur Bay (NASA). Chaleur Bay is the large bay in the centre of the image; the Gaspé Peninsula is to the north and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is seen to the east.">Gulf_of_St._Lawrence.html" ;"title="Gaspé Peninsula ...
adjacent to a ship-unloading pier; Terminal II at the Port of Belledune was built in 1991-1992 by the
Canada Ports Corporation The Canada Ports Corporation (also known as Ports Canada) was a port corporation which operated across Canada. An Act of Parliament, which had been promoted by Jean-Luc Pépin, founded it on 24 February 1983, and it was marked as a responsibility of ...
as part of the Belledune Generating Station project. Terminal II has a 307 metre long wharf with a 28 metre wide apron and depth alongside of 15.9 metres, thus capable of handling up to
Capesize
Capesize ships are the largest dry cargo ships with ball mark dimension: about 170,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) capacity, 290 m long, 45 m beam (wide), 18m draught (under water depth). They are too large to transit the Suez Canal ( Suezmax limi ...
vessels of 100,000 DWT. An automated coal continuous ship unloader moves coal at 1750 metric tonnes per hour to stockpiles adjacent to the plant.
As part of the project, the
Belledune River
Belledune (2011 population: 1,548) is a Canadian village that straddles both Restigouche County and Gloucester County, New Brunswick.
The community of Belledune was created through the amalgamation of Jacquet River, Armstrong Brook, and Bell ...
was dammed in the early 1990s to create a reservoir approximately upstream from its discharge point into Chaleur Bay. This reservoir is visible from
New Brunswick Route 11
Route 11 is a provincial highway in northeastern New Brunswick, Canada. The road runs from Moncton to the Quebec border, near Campbellton, at the Matapédia Bridge, following the province's eastern and northern coastlines.
Between Shediac Bri ...
which was built on a new right of way that crosses the southern part of this reservoir, opening in the early 1990s. The construction of the Belledune Generating Station also resulted in the realignment of a section of local road
New Brunswick Route 134
Route 134 is a -long north–south secondary highway in eastern New Brunswick, Canada. The highway is divided by into a northern and southern section by a gap in Northumberland County connected by Route 11 and Route 8.
History
Route 134, for ...
.
The plant itself features a single boiler and a single 169 meter (554 ft) tall smokestack. The plant was the first in Canada to install scrubbers to help reduce
sulphur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activ ...
emissions; it also has an
electrostatic precipitator
An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is a filterless device that removes fine particles, like dust and smoke, from a flowing gas using the force of an induced electrostatic charge minimally impeding the flow of gases through the unit.
In cont ...
that removes over 99% of particles in the
flue gases
Flue gas is the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator. Quite often, the flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produced a ...
, as well as special burners to limit
nitrogen oxide Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds:
Charge-neutral
*Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide
*Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide
* Nitrogen trioxide (), or n ...
emissions. The plant was designed to accommodate construction of a parallel second generating station (phase II) should one be built. An upgrade began in July 2004 which saw a Titan ProAsh facility built to recapture 75% of
fly ash
Fly ash, flue ash, coal ash, or pulverised fuel ash (in the UK) plurale tantum: coal combustion residuals (CCRs)is a coal combustion product that is composed of the particulates (fine particles of burned fuel) that are driven out of coal-fired ...
produced by the generating station. This has resulted in production of a synthetic
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...
byproduct which is sold by NB Power to
J.D. Irving Limited for production into
wallboard
Drywall (also called plasterboard, dry lining, wallboard, sheet rock, gypsum board, buster board, custard board, and gypsum panel) is a panel made of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum), with or without additives, typically extruded between thick ...
.
The plant consumes approximately 1 million tons of coal per year, and currently generates approximately fifteen percent of the province's electricity, while producing roughly thirty percent of the province's air pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...
(among large industrial polluters).
In October 2009 the provincial government announced that it had reached an agreement with
Hydro Quebec
Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning ''water''.
Hydro may also refer to:
Energy technologies
* Water-derived power or energy:
** Hydropower, derived from water
** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form
* "Hydro", AC mains ...
to sell NB Power to that company (see
Proposed sale of NB Power The proposed sale of NB Power was an attempted takeover of New Brunswick's government-owned public utility assets by Hydro-Québec, Canada's largest utility. Announced on October 29, 2009 by premiers Shawn Graham of New Brunswick and Jean Charest ...
). The sale was not completed, however, the initial memorandum of understanding would have seen NB Power transfer all of its generating assets except for the thermal stations at
Dalhousie, Belledune and
Coleson Cove.
The sale of NB Power to Hydro Quebec was canceled in spring 2010, presumably sparing the Belledune Generating Station from any major changes to its operation.
The future of the coal power plant is a topic of ongoing controversy. Canada has committed to phasing out the use of coal for electricity by 2030 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as part of its
Nationally Determined Contribution
A nationally determined contribution (NDC) or intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) is a non-binding national plan highlighting climate change mitigation, including climate-related targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions. These ...
to the
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...
, and the
Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change
Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (PCFCGCC or PCF), Canada's national climate strategy, was released in August 2017 by the Government of Canada. Provincial premiers (except Saskatchewan and Manitoba) adopted the PCF on Decem ...
. However, New Brunswick energy minister
Mike Holland (politician)
Mike Holland (born 1970) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2018 election. He represents the electoral district of Albert as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunsw ...
has argued for its continued operation through 2040, but only in the winter months. There have been proposals to replace its electricity generation with
small modular reactors
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. The ...
and with
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...
from
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.
It was established by the ...
.
See also
*
List of largest power stations in Canada
This article lists the largest electrical generating stations in Canada in terms of current installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear, natural gas, oil shale and peat, while renewa ...
*
List of tallest structures in Canada
This is a list of the tallest one hundred structures in Canada, measured from the base to the tallest point. Which may be the roof top, antenna, spire, mast or as in the case with smokestacks and bridges, the highest structural point.
This list ...
References
{{Reflist
Buildings and structures in Gloucester County, New Brunswick
Coal-fired power stations in New Brunswick
NB Power
1993 establishments in New Brunswick
Energy infrastructure completed in 1993