Globally, CCS has been identified by many organizations as one of the few technologies available for making significant reductions at existing large industrial point sources of emissions, at large fossil fuel processing plants, as well as at coal-fired electricity plants.

CO emissions from all fossil fuel combustion for gross electricity and heat production by public and autoproducer thermal power and combined heat and power plants.

Article 3 of Directive 92/42/EEC excludes the following boilers: hot-water boilers capable of being fired by different fuels including solid fuels; equipment for the instantaneous preparation of hot water; boilers designed to be fired by fuels the properties of which differ appreciably from the properties of the liquid and gaseous fuels commonly marketed (industrial waste gas, biogas, etc.); cookers and appliances designed mainly to heat the premises in which they are installed and, as a subsidiary function, to supply hot water for central heating and sanitary hot water.

This Directive applies to combustion plants (technical apparatus in which fuels are oxidised in order to use the heat thus generated) with a rated thermal input equal to or greater than 50 MW, irrespective of the type of fuel used (solid, liquid or gaseous).

If biomass is simply put through a combustion process in parallel with a coal-fired power station, the energy extraction efficiency is possibly sub 30 per cent. That is extremely wasteful.

The shutdown of the coal-fired generation and the obsolescence of some of the nuclear plants, plus the vibrant, economic growth of Ontario and the demand for electricity in the industrial and residential sectors, is putting on a lot of pressure.