NEWS FROM THE FIELD : UNIVERSITIES

Sask. REE facility expected to secure supply chain

CJME – A recent global shortage of computer chips and semiconductors has people looking to an upcoming facility in Saskatoon as part of the solution.

University of Saskatchewan geological sciences professor Kevin Ansdell, P.Geo., FGC, FEC (Hon.), said while rare-earth elements are more common than elements like diamond or gold, they will become more important as more products depend on them.

Nearly all of the processing and mining of rare-earth elements is done in China.

Ansdell said China’s corner on the market creates conditions that make it far too expensive to try to begin exploration or mining of rare-earth elements when you can access the supplies from China.

The recent computer chip shortage has shown how delicate that relationship can be when access is limited.

A new supply chain could run through Saskatoon as early as next year.
The Saskatchewan Research Council is building a rare-earth element processing facility in Saskatoon. The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2022. It will be the first rare-earth element processing plant in North America.

U of R launches Canadian Energy Transition Hub

Discourse Magazine – Achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 will take significant expansion of low-carbon energy technologies that will require collaborations between researchers, government, industry, the public and communities.

To help meet Canada’s climate-change goals, the University of Regina has launched the Canadian Energy Transition Hub (CETH), a key part of the country’s clean-energy solution.

Residing within the university’s already-established Clean Energy Technologies Research Institute (CETRI), CETH is a partnership- and relationship-building hub that will connect government and industry with research.

Hussam Ibrahim, P.Eng., University of Regina associate professor of engineering and director of CETRI, said the hub will focus on research areas such as carbon capture, utilization and storage, nuclear energy, hydrogen energy and renewable energy.

“Our team will facilitate connections between the supply and demand sides of the energy transition equation,” Ibrahim said. “If you are in the energy industry and have an energy transition-related problem to solve or opportunity to pursue, then our hub will connect you with researchers who have expertise across a wide spectrum of disciplines as well as the research infrastructure at the laboratory, pilot and demonstration scale.”
Hub researcher and U of R geologist Janis Dale, P.Geo., has been working on geothermal energy processes for decades.

“Our geothermal working group is expanding our expertise in harnessing geothermal potential with a working geothermal facility on campus that will serve as a living lab for research and training of future highly-qualified workers in the field.”

Dale adds that the team behind the geothermal demonstration project will help address specific industrial challenges, as well as champion and encourage the use of geothermal in Saskatchewan by exploring its potential to produce electrical energy and its applications as a direct-use source in heating air and water in commercial, industrial and residential applications.

Ibrahim said that geothermal is just one example research area for which industry may reach out to the hub. He added that the U of R’s research will also assist industries that support coal, oil and natural gas resources to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Report sees first SMR in Sask. in 2032

Regina Leader-Post – There’s a tentative plan to bring a small-modular nuclear reactor to Saskatchewan, the first of four that could be built over a decade to generate 1,200 megawatts of emissions-free power.
That’s according to a feasibility study on the nascent technology by SaskPower, along with utilities in New Brunswick and Ontario. It’s part of the process launched by a memorandum of understanding between three provinces. Alberta joined in mid-April.v
Small-modular reactors differ from traditional power plants in their compact and modular form, which allows provinces to deploy them more easily and scale up as needed. The report confirms they have the potential to be “an economically competitive form of energy,” though much hinges on prices for alternatives and prospects for federal support.

It lays out a detailed and still tentative schedule for bringing the reactors to Saskatchewan. SaskPower expects to finish an evaluation and make a recommendation on whether to proceed this year.

A site selection and various regulatory steps would follow. Construction would take about three years, with the reactor ready for business in 2032. Three more would be slated to follow in stages by 2042.

Such reactors would produce about 300 megawatts of electricity each. The report estimates the four units would create more than 700 jobs during development, more than 7,000 during manufacturing and construction and more than 700 during operation of the reactors.

SaskPower unveils battery energy storage system

Swift Current Online – SaskPower’s first ever utility-scale battery energy storage system will support its plans to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The battery energy storage system will provide storage for energy to help balance SaskPower’s power system when there’s a spike in demand. It’s going to help support intermittent generation options (wind and solar power).
SaskPower is to add 685 megawatts of new wind capacity and 60 megawatts of solar in the next few years. Currently, SaskPower does not have batteries that are storing power.
The battery storage system will be installed in Regina. Construction will start this summer and be completed by the end of 2022.
SaskPower has set a target to reduce carbon emissions at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by the year 2030.

Renewable canola diesel the future for Estevan?

Globe and Mail – Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig hopes a proposed renewable diesel refinery in the area helps his city secure long-term jobs.
Two coal-fired units at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam are to close this year and in 2024. That’s why Estevan is working with Covenant Energy for a large renewable diesel refinery in the area.

Thanks to a provincial funding pot of $8 million over three years, the city and nearby communities have provided Covenant with $200,000 to do a feasibility study for the refinery.

The refinery could process 6,500 barrels of renewable diesel per day.
Renewable diesel is different from biodiesel. Both use oil from crushed canola seeds, but renewable diesel refines the oil in a process resembling what’s done with fossil-based crude.

It means there’s little oxygen left in renewable canola-based diesel, which allows it to be used in sub-zero temperatures. The refining process uses hydrogen and a catalyst.

By using canola oil as a starting point, there’s no ash or metals left in a vehicle’s engine when it burns the refined product.
Based on Covenant’s initial research, the company said the facility will yield greenhouse gas emission reductions in the range of 80 to 85 per cent when compared to fossil-fuel diesel. It’s also to use recycled hydrogen in the refining process.

The projected start year is 2023.

Carbon-capture contest offers motivation

CBC Saskatchewan – A Saskatchewan researcher says he’s glad to see one of the world’s richest people making a major investment in research and development of carbon emissions technology.

Tesla co-founder and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he and his charity foundation will spend $127 million on a contest that will see researchers create projects to pull CO2 out of the air or ocean.

“I’m a bit surprised, but I’m really happy that he’s coming around to this kind of issue,” said Raphael Idem, P.Eng., a University of Regina engineering professor and the SaskPower clean energy research chair at the university.

The non-profit XPrize, which is organizing the carbon-capture competition, said the contest will run for four years.

Projects will be evaluated based on factors like how much CO2 is removed, energy efficiency and how long carbon dioxide can be stored.

After 18 months, the top 15 teams will get $1 million in funding, and 25 student scholarships for $200,000 each will be awarded to student teams.
Following that, the grand prize winner will get $50 million, with the runners-up getting $20 million and $10 million.

A push to clean up more abandoned mines

Saskatoon Star Phoenix – The Saskatchewan government is looking to clean up six non-uranium mines that operated decades ago in the province’s north and were subsequently abandoned.

The project is in addition to a joint federal and provincial effort to remediate the Gunnar uranium mine and associated sites, which has seen massive cost overruns and a long dispute over how to split the bill.
Government documents show that, since 2019, the provincial cabinet has authorized spending at least $504,000 for SNC-Lavalin Inc. to study the Newcor and Western Nuclear mines, both former underground mine sites near Creighton, which have been identified as high priority.

That includes $104,000 approved in February to address costs created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Studying all six sites is expected to take six years, wrapping up in 2025 and cost around $1.2 million.

The project has its roots in a cataloguing of abandoned mine sites conducted two decades ago. That also led to the Saskatchewan Research Council undertaking cleanup of derelict uranium mine sites.

Solar energy project planned for RM of Weyburn

Weyburn Review – The Pesakastew Solar Project is ready for construction this spring in the RM of Weyburn.

The project has three main partners, including Natural Forces, a private independent power producer, plus two First Nations partners: George Gordon Developments Ltd., owned by George Gordon First Nation. Red Dog Holdings Ltd., owned by the Star Blanket First Nation, is the third partner.

The development and construction of the solar project is being done by Natural Forces.

Southern Saskatchewan has some of the highest exposure to sunlight in Canada, making this location ideal for a solar-energy project.

The finished project is expected to produce 10 megawatts. The project will have a line to the SaskPower substation, where the power will go directly onto the power grid. It was one of the reasons this site was selected as no additional infrastructure was needed to enable this project to supply the power.

This project will see power produced from 32,000 bifacial solar panels installed in a 90-acre area, bounded by a fenced-in area of 107 acres located southwest of Weyburn.

The panels will be mounted onto 1,280 trackers, which will allow the panels to move east to west following the sun during the day to get the maximum amount of sunlight each day.

Construction was scheduled to begin in May and completed by November. Interconnection will likely occur in December with the substation.

Nutrien to cut GHG emissions

Reuters – Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien Ltd., said it aims to achieve at least a 30-per-cent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030, the latest company seeking to tackle climate change.

The company estimated capital investment requirements of between $500 million and $700 million to meet the carbon-emissions target.

The Saskatoon-based company, which will deploy wind and solar energy at four potash plants by the end of 2025, will invest in new technologies and tap into low-carbon fertilizers.

Agricultural companies, including Mosaic and Corteva, have set up carbon-emissions targets as increasingly climate-conscious investors push firms to be environmentally friendly.

Cameco restarts Cigar Lake uranium mine

Saskatoon Star Phoenix – Cameco Corp. resumed uranium production in April at its flagship mine in northern Saskatchewan, which was shut down due to COVID-19 late last year.

Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel said enhanced safety protocols, including distancing on flights to the remote site, medical-grade masks and on-site testing, have been implemented in recent months.

Cameco “will not hesitate to take further action if we feel our ability to operate safely is compromised due to the pandemic,” Gitzel added.
Around 640 employees and contractors split across two shifts work at Cigar Lake when it’s in production, a figure cut to around 120 during the suspension.

Cameco said each month of the shutdown was expected to cost upwards of $10 million. Ongoing uncertainty did not allow it to provide a 2021 forecast for its uranium operations.

The company suspended production at Cigar Lake in March 2020, shortly after the first COVID-19 case was reported in the province.

Cigar Lake was restarted in the fall, only to close in December, again due to the virus.

Uranium industry reflects on Fukushima disaster

Saskatoon Star Phoenix – It was March 11, 2011. Disaster had struck Japan.

A decade later, the reverberations from the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan are still felt by Saskatchewan’s uranium industry.
The resulting tsunami affected the nuclear industry because the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was directly in its path.

Flooding caused power failures, including to the pumps responsible for circulating coolant through the reactor cores. That triggered a series of explosions and core meltdowns that resulted in massive releases of radiation.

The disaster led to the shutdown of every reactor in the country, each of which required nuclear fuel. Only a handful have been restarted.
Those shutdowns, coupled with other countries’ resulting leeriness of nuclear power, created a large surplus of uranium on the market, causing prices to tumble.

In response, Cameco closed its aging Rabbit Lake mine in early 2016. Two years later, the Saskatoon-based company put its McArthur River mine and Key Lake mill into care and maintenance mode until prices recover.
Orano has stakes in McArthur River and Key Lake and runs the McLean Lake mill, which processes ore from Cameco’s flagship Cigar Lake operation, where work has been suspended since late last year due to COVID-19.
Altogether, hundreds of jobs have been lost, many of them in northern Saskatchewan.

Upgrade planned at Chaplin plant

World Fertilizer.com – Construction is planned for a $220-million sulfate of potash (SOP) fertilizer production upgrade at Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals Inc.’s (SMMI) Chaplin sodium sulfate plant.
Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2021. The upgraded facility is expected to be complete by the end of 2023 and will produce 150,000 of SOP.
Construction on the upgrade is expected to take up to two years. Once complete, the addition of SOP production will result in an estimated 50-per-cent increase in jobs at the Chaplin facility on an ongoing basis.
This facility upgrade is planning to implement a cutting-edge design and technology – the first of its kind in Canada – that promises to be up to 25 per cent more energy efficient than the technology currently being used to produce SOP.

Sask. remains mining hotspot

Fraser Institute – Saskatchewan remains Canada’s most attractive jurisdiction for mining investment, finds the Annual Survey of Mining Companies released by the Fraser Institute.

This year’s report ranks 77 jurisdictions around the world based on their geologic attractiveness (minerals and metals) and government policies that encourage or deter exploration and investment.

Again, on the report’s Overall Investment Attractiveness Index, Saskatchewan remains the top-rated Canadian jurisdiction (third, up from 11th in 2020) followed by Quebec (sixth) and Newfoundland and Labrador (eighth).

However, Quebec’s strong performance in overall investment attractiveness is due largely to the province’s mineral potential. On government policy alone, Quebec ranks 17th, which suggests there’s plenty of room for improvement.

British Columbia and Ontario (two large mining provinces) also perform poorly on the policy front due to investor concerns about disputed land claims and protected areas.

SaskTel to invest in telecom infrastructure

Martin Charlton Communications – SaskTel is investing nearly $323 million in infrastructure upgrades in Saskatchewan for 2021-22 and more than $1.4 billion over the next five years.

The Crown corporation provides residents in the province with wireless, television, internet, data and business support services.

Broken down, $85.8 million is going toward the Fibre to the x (FTTx) program, $95.9 million for wireless network enhancements, $75.4 million on wireline network growth and enhancements and $66.1 million is being used to improve customer services and operations.

Investing in green infrastructure

Radio Canada – The governments of Canada, Saskatchewan and Saskatoon announced a joint investment of more than $102 million toward 11 green infrastructure and COVID-19 resilience projects.

According to Infrastructure Canada, the green infrastructure projects include upgrades to drinking water and wastewater systems, improvements to solid waste management and a new solar-power plant.

Three of the projects will be funded through Canada’s COVID-19 Resilience Stream, which is a fund that was created by the federal government for pandemic-related projects.

SaskPower renewing aging grid infrastructure

Regina Leader-Post – SaskPower is spending a record $272 million on upgrading its infrastructure this fiscal year, partly in a bid to prevent power outages that have struck the province in recent years.
A $50-million government capital grant is helping to boost the investment. It will pay for power grid renewal to improve aging transmission and distribution infrastructure.

The largest share of the money, $97 million, will go toward transmission line and station refurbishment and upgrades. A total of $35 million will rebuild about 700 kilometres of rural power lines. Another $26 million will fund replacement of about 8,500 poles.

The total spending this year is up 62 per cent above the five-year average.
The areas of Lumsden, North Battleford, Melville, Yorkton and Prince Albert will be among those to benefit. Regina will get underground cable replacements and wildlife protection on equipment.

The government said that about two-thirds of the work will be done by Saskatchewan contractors, with the rest covered by SaskPower crews. It estimates that will create about 120 to 150 jobs.

Agri-food innovation on the rise

USask News – The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) will invest $3.2 million in a unique biomanufacturing facility at the University of Saskatchewan that will use cutting-edge engineering biology technologies to accelerate agri-food innovation and help address food security needs.

Developing canola varieties more resistant to climate change, flavourings for the plant-based meat industry and non-animal enzyme alternatives for the dairy industry are a sample of the innovations to be advanced by the new Engineering Biology Agri-food Innovation Centre within the university’s Global Institute for Food Security.

Engineering biology is an exploding new field that combines genomics and molecular biology with high-performance computing, automation and artificial intelligence, potentially transforming what we eat, medicines we take and fuels we use.

The CFI funding, made through its Innovation Fund, will be used for critical infrastructure including robots, computers, cell culture systems and other equipment for the centre.

Marrying biological science with the power of automation and computers will enable scientists to run many tests in parallel, rather than manually conducting them one at a time, enabling the rapid production and testing of thousands of gene and protein variants for development of new products and plant varieties.

A passion for sustainable innovation

USask News – Electrical engineering student Samia Sami received the 2021 Global Citizen Youth Award from the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation.

Sami is pursuing a degree in electrical engineering at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). By specializing in power and energy, she combines her passion for the environment with a love of design and technology.
Sami conducted two research projects in renewable energy, including the use of artificial intelligence to predict the security status of renewable microgrids in remote communities across Canada and has received the People’s Choice Award in recognition of her research.

As a USask delegate, Sami recently presented her research at the Women in Science and Engineering National Conference in Toronto.

She has been selected from Canada to be the 2020’s Top IEEE Power and Energy Society Scholar. As a Chair of IEEE Power and Energy Society Student Chapter at USask, Sami is committed to providing an international platform for post-secondary students to advance their careers and education in sustainable energy.

Sask’s first satellite passes milestone

USask News – A group of University of Saskatchewan students developing the province’s first cube satellite (RADSAT-SK) is getting closer to sending their project into orbit.

In recent months, the student team successfully completed a critical design review of the satellite with the Canadian Space Agency and the construction of the first satellite-grade clean room in the USask College of Engineering building.

For the past three years, more than 100 USask undergraduate and graduate students have been part of the mission to design, build and launch RADSAT-SK. The small satellite is entirely designed by the student team, with minimal faculty oversight.

The cube satellite is expected to launch in late 2022, making it Saskatchewan’s first satellite in space. During the one year it will spend in orbit, the satellite will validate a new kind of radiation sensor and test an experimental radiation-blocking compound – both developed by researchers at USask.