Boundary Dam

A landmark in carbon capture.

The Boundary Dam is an 824MW coal-fired plant located in Estevan in Saskatchewan, Canada. Owned by SaskPower, it consists of five production units.

The Boundary Dam project was a significant initiative in Canada aimed at reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from power generation. The power station underwent a major retrofit to integrate a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) system. The project marked one of the world’s first commercial-scale retrofits of a coal-fired power plant with CCS technology. This included the installation of new equipment to capture CO₂ from the flue gases, compress and transport the captured CO₂, and inject it into deep geological formations for permanent storage.

SaskPower had initially decided to construct a 300MW plant to replace the ageing Unit 3. However, because of an increase in the construction cost from $1.5bn to $3.8bn, the proposal was shelved, and a less expensive retrofit was considered.

The retrofit and CCS integration project was approved in 2008, with a final decision to retrofit Unit 3 taken in December 2010. Critical works of the main components started in early 2011 and physical construction of the unit was completed in December 2013.

The plant started operation in October 2014, and our client SaskPower now has the first post combustion integrated carbon capture and utilisation plant of its size associated with a coal-fired plant anywhere in the world. The system is designed to capture 90% of the carbon dioxide emissions from one of the power plants units, the equivalent of approximately 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

It is also designed to capture all sulphur dioxide emissions, a gas known to cause acid rain. The captured carbon dioxide is compressed and injected underground to enhance oil recovery of the nearby Weyburn oilfield. The plant is designed to convert sulphur dioxide into commercial grade sulphuric acid intended to be sold in the local marketplace.

AtkinsRéalis’ role encompassed engineering, construction, and commissioning of the CO₂ capture system. Having initially completed a successful Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), in 2010, we secured a turnkey EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contract for the project. Construction began in 2011, and the CO₂ capture system became operational in 2014.

In addition to ensuring a strong and innovative design methodology, the most suitable materials had to be identified for the demanding environment and the plant layout had to factor in potential future units. As with all our work, our design and construction phases place safety at the forefront of every action and we executed the carbon capture portion of the project with over 2-million-man hours without a lost time incident. We worked closely with SaskPower own team, and site delivered a safe build with over 4 and a half million-man hours worked collectively.

Some of the largest commercially available equipment was used in the engineering of this first-of- a-kind commercial scale project. A full 3D computer aided drafting and design project execution plan based on an advanced design platform was used. In building the carbon capture island three key areas were designed and built by AtkinsRéalis, the carbon capture plant itself, the cooling system and the carbon dioxide compression facility.

The CCS retrofit was a landmark in demonstrating the feasibility of large-scale CanSolv’s CCS technology which provided the wider industry with valuable learnings for overcoming the technical and commercial challenges of carbon capture, as well as providing both environmental and economics benefits, supporting sustainable development and enhancing community well-being.

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Boundary Dam

Ben Firth

A landmark in carbon capture.