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Show The Canadian Obligation to the Canada/US Air Quality Agreement The Canada/US Air Quality Agreement contains a clause requiring Continuous Emissions Monitoring, or alternative methods of comparable effectiveness, for measuring S 0 2 and N O x emissions at Canadian utility power plants. The Clause requires that; "Canada estimate the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions from each new electric utility unit and each existing electric utility unit greater than 25 M W e using a method of comparable effectiveness to continuous emission monitoring, as well as investigate the feasibility of using and implement, where appropriate, continuous emission monitoring systems". "... that the Parties work towards utilizing comparably effective methods of emissions estimation for sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions from all major industrial boilers and process sources, including smelters" The electric utility industry has made significant steps to improve its emissions monitoring, to more fully comply with the requirements of this international agreement. C E M systems for measuring N O x and S 0 2 have been installed on virtually all large base-loaded coal, oil and gas-fired thermal power plants across Canada. According to the revised federal Thermal Power Generation Guidelines, all n ew and modified units are required to install C E M systems in accordance with the n e w Performance Specification and Protocol for C E M published in 1993 by Environment Canada. Most existing units use C E M systems based on previous provincial regulatory requirements. Much of this information is contained in a report done for Environment Canada in 1994. (Ref.2) Many of these units use CEM to measure S02 emissions, although these are also easily determined by other methods such as mass balance calculations. N O x emissions are however highly variable, and would require C E M for measuring coal-fired emissions, and possibly predictive or parametric monitoring for gas and oil-fired units. Peaking units which operate at less than 20 percent capacity factor present technical difficulties for effective C E M operation. These units also produce fewer emissions, and other estimation methods such as P E M systems, or N O x versus load correlations, would be more appropriate. The consultations between the two countries are ongoing in the context of verification of emissions reduction programs. The proposed Enhanced Monitoring policies for industries in the United States have drawn a lot of attention, and will continue to be discussed as a regulatory option. Through the C C M E process in Canada, the various government and industry stakeholders are attempting to improve monitoring and inventory procedures. Provincial reports are regularly sent to Environment Canada as input for national emissions inventories. Regarding comparably effective methods of emissions estimation for S02 and NOx from all |