Brandon Generating Station

Brandon Generating Station is a subbituminous coal and natural gas fired station owned by Manitoba Hydro, located in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. The station was first built to burn lignite from Saskatchewan.

On 1 January 2010 Unit 5, the sole coal fired unit was downgraded to emergency use only per section 16 of the Manitoba Climate Change and Emissions Reductions Act. ^[1][2] Unit 5 may only operate as a generator under certain circumstances:^[3]

• To prevent a situation which would lead to a disruption or destabilization of the power supply.
• In drought years where demand exceeds forecasted supply.
• To maintain the generator in a state of readiness and availability.

The last allowance requires Unit 5 to be active for 3-4 days each month at 10-15% of maximum capacity.^[2] In a typical year without any major emergency use, Unit 5 is expected to generate 125 GWh, 100GWh is from emergency preparedness activities and 25GWh from actual emergency use.^[2]

Description

The station consists of^[4]:

• 4 x 33 MW units (In 1996 three units were retired while the remaining unit is used as a synchronous condenser)
• 1 x 110 MW coal fired unit.
• 2 x 120 MW Alstom natural gas units (installed in 2002).

References