Genesee Generating Station

Genesee Generating Station is a natural gas-fired station owned by Capital Power Corporation, located near Genesee, Alberta, Canada; 71 km (44 miles) southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. The Genesee cooling pond is a reservoir covering 735 hectares (1,820 acres). The pond is topped up with water from the North Saskatchewan River. As of June 18, 2024, all units are now 100% natural gas-fueled.

The station consists of three units.

Description

The Genesee Generating Station consists of:

• G1 - one 400 net MW unit (commissioned in May 1994)
• G2 - one 400 net MW unit (commissioned in October 1989)
• G3 - one 466 net MW unit (commissioned in March 2005)

The boilers were supplied by Combustion Engineering/Hitachi while the turbines/generator are supplied by GEC/Hitachi. The plant has two smokestacks, one 138 m (453 ft) tall, the other 121 m (397 ft) tall.

Conversion to natural gas

On 18 June 2019, Capital Power announced plans to expand the "dual-fuel" capabilities of all three units to running off 50% coal and 50% natural gas, with the intent to convert the power station to 100% natural gas use by 2030. Capital Power submitted applications in 2020 and received approval from the AUC and AEP in 2021 to convert Units 1 and 2 to Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) technology. The project also includes addition of a 210 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). Unit 3 was converted to a 60/40 ratio of coal to natural gas in spring 2021 and will be converted to enable 100% gas firing in 2023. According to Capital Power, all units were to be off coal by 2023. The date for units 1 and 2 has since been delayed to 2024. Capital Power announced on May 1st, 2024 that Genesee 1 had been retired and was undergoing a refit to natural gas generation. On June 18, 2024, Capital Power announced that all units are now 100% natural gas-fueled, five years ahead of the Alberta government mandate for the phaseout of coal power.

See also

• List of largest power stations in Canada
• List of coal-fired power stations in Canada
• List of tallest smokestacks in Canada

References