Saskatchewan, a prairie province of Canada recently set up a coal-fired power plant which capture 1m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. It has never been used on an existing power station at a commercial scale before. Some people think it is a “historic milestone on the path to a low-carbon future,” however; the technology’s high cost makes it limited, and impossible to spread to other parts of Canada, because it will take C$1.4 billion from taxpayers, and unlikely to see much of a financial return on their investment.
This in an environment friendly project, this kind of project always requires the high-tech as its back up, so the cost is relatively high. Just like Tesla, which has a higher price than normal car. I think we should support a project like this. We can’t just obtain the benefit at the expense of the environment. But in this case, the cost is prohibitive, and cannot get an acceptable financial return. It is true that SaskPower can recoup some of its investment by selling its byproducts, but the revenue is insignificant, compare with the fixed cost of this project. So without government support, no company is willing to set up this kind of plant, which needs high investment and gain low return.