Alberta Oil Sands Producers Shut Most Power Generation due to Wildfires
Cogeneration power plants in the fire-ravaged Canadian oil town of Fort McMurray were operating at about 18 percent of capacity early Sunday, down from around 30 percent Friday afternoon, as oil sands producers in the area continue to shut their operations.
Cogeneration plants produce electricity and steam. The electricity powers oil sand operations with any surplus energy sold to the local grid, while the steam is used to cook the oil sands to produce crude.
There are about 3,200 MW of power cogeneration capacity serving the oil sands industry in the province of Alberta, about two-thirds of which is located in the Fort McMurray area.
Of the roughly 2,200 MW of cogeneration capacity in the fire-ravaged area, about 650 MW was operating on Friday afternoon while less than 400 MW was operating Sunday morning.
Before the fire reached Fort McMurray, the cogeneration units in the area were producing about 1,300 MW of power, according to local media reports.
Following is a list of the cogeneration facilities in Alberta and their operating status on Friday and Sunday:
Plant Capacity Production Production Location Owner/Operator
Sunday Friday
0700 EDT 1430 EDT
MW MW MW
ATCO Scotford Upgrader 195 108 117 Fort Saskatchewan ATCO
Base Plant 50 6 6 Fort McMurray area Suncor
CNRL Horizon 103 93 95 Fort McMurray area Horizon Oil Sands
Firebag 473 0 53 Fort McMurray area Suncor
Foster Creek 98 71 70 Bonnyville Syncrude
Kearl 84 0 28 Fort McMurray area Imperial Oil/Exxon Mobil
Lindbergh 16 14 14 Lindbergh Pengrowth Energy
MEG1 Christina Lake 202 153 158 Christiana Lake MEG Energy
MacKay River 197 1 1 Fort McMurray area Suncor
Mahkeses 180 151 157 Cold Lake Imperial Oil
Muskeg River 202 143 110 Fort McMurray area ATCO/SaskPower
Nabiye 195 157 160 Cold Lake Imperial Oil
Nexen Inc #2 220 0 0 Fort McMurray area OPTI/Nexen
Poplar Creek 376 152 156 Fort McMurray area TransAlta
Primrose #1 100 77 80 Bonnyville ATCO/Canadian Natural
Resources
Syncrude #1 510 0 207 Fort McMurray area Syncrude
Total 3,201 1,126 1,412
Total in Fort McMurray 2,215 395 656 area
