Centre for Energy and Transportation Statistics
Energy Section
This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the
2023 Annual Survey of Electric Power Thermal Generating Station Fuel Consumption.
Help Line: 1-877-604-7828
Confidentiality
Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada will use the information from this survey for statistical and research purposes.
Table of contents
- A – Reporting instructions
- B – Cogeneration
- C – Solid fuels used to generate electricity
- D – Liquid fuels used to generate electricity
- E – Gaseous fuels used to generate electricity
- F – Other fuels used to generate electricity
- G – Useful thermal energy
- H – Units of measure
- I – Reporting categories
A – Reporting instructions
This schedule is to be completed for the station or stations indicated on the affixed label to the questionnaire. Please report for the requested period: January to December 2023.
Report only the amount of fuel used for the generation of electricity.
Reported value ($) should be the total cost at the station gate.
If there are any stations on standby, please report them in the notes section.
If the information requested is unknown, please provide your best estimate.
This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the 2023 Annual Survey of Electric Power Thermal Generating Station Fuel Consumption. If you need more information, please call 1-877-604-7828.
B – Cogeneration
Cogeneration: A highly efficient means of generating heat and electric power at the same time from the same energy source. Cogeneration makes use of the excess heat, usually in the form of relatively low-temperature steam exhausted from the power generation turbines towards another purpose.
Type: Primary purpose
Electricity own-use (internal): electricity which is used only for internal purposes.
Electricity for sale (external): electricity which is sold / supplied to another company.
Sub-Types
Combined cycle: burns fuel in a gas turbine or engine to generate electricity. The exhaust from the turbine or engine can provide usable heat or go to a heat recovery system to generate steam which then may drive a secondary steam turbine.
Steam turbine: burns fuel to produce steam, which generates power through a steam turbine. Exhaust (left over steam) can be used as low-pressure steam to heat water.
Combustion engine: rely solely on heat and pressure created by the engine in its compression process for ignition. For a diesel engine, the compression that occurs is usually twice or more higher than a gasoline engine. Diesel engines will take in air only, and shortly before peak compression, a small quantity of diesel fuel is sprayed into the cylinder via a fuel injector that allows the fuel to instantly ignite.
Natural gas combustion turbine: involves a natural gas fired turbine, which runs a generator to produce electricity. The exhaust gas flows through a heat recovery boiler, which can convert the exhaust energy into steam or usable heat.
C – Solid fuel types used to generate electricity
Any energy form consumed not otherwise identified on the questionnaire. Specify in the spaces provided.
Bituminous coal: A dense, black coal, often with well-defined bands of bright and dull material with a moisture content usually less than 20%. Used primarily for generating electricity, making coke and space heating.
Sub-bituminous coal: A black coal used primarily for thermal generation, with moisture content between 15% and 30%. (Canadian/Foreign) - It is important to distinguish between Canadian versus imported sub-bituminous as each carries a different content, depending on the location of the coal mine.
Lignite: A brownish-black coal of low rank containing 30% to 40% moisture and volatile matter. Used almost exclusively for electric power generation.
Wood (Report for "Dry" method): Wood and wood energy used as fuel, including round wood (cord wood), lignin, wood scraps from furniture and window frame manufacturing, wood chips, bark, sawdust, forest residues, charcoal and pulp waste.
Petroleum coke: (often abbreviated petcoke) is a carbonaceous solid derived from oil refinery coker units or other cracking processes. Other coke has traditionally been derived from coal.
Agriculture biomass: includes animal manure, cellulosic crop residue, fruit and vegetable culls and food-processing effluent. Potential energy crops include high-yielding, high-carbohydrate crops such as switchgrass and vegetable-oil crops such as canola and sunflower, and hydrocarbon plants such as milkweed and gumweed.
Other biomass: (food processing) can include residues that are produced during the processing of a product, such as cheese whey, canning factory residues, fruit pits, apple pumice and coffee grounds.
Other biomass: (type unknown) any other type of biomass not otherwise identified on the questionnaire. Specify in the spaces provided.
Municipal and other waste: can include residues that are produced during the processing of a product, such as paper, cardboard, rubber, leather, natural textiles, wood, brush, grass clippings, kitchen wastes and sewage sludge.
D – Liquid fuel types used to generate electricity
Any energy form consumed not otherwise identified on the questionnaire. Specify in the spaces provided.
Biodiesel: refers to a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel consisting of short chain alkyl (methyl or ethyl) esters, made by transesterification of vegetable oil or animal fat (tallow), which can be used (alone, or blended with conventional petrodiesel) in unmodified diesel-engine vehicles.
Ethanol: (ethanol fuel) the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It can be used as a fuel, mainly as a biofuel alternative to gasoline. It can be made from very common crops such as sugar cane and corn, it is an increasingly common alternative to gasoline in some parts of the world.
Other biofuel: any other type of biofuel not otherwise identified on the questionnaire. Specify in the spaces provided.
Light fuel oil (LFO): all distillate type fuels for power burners, fuel oil no. 1, fuel oil no. 2 (heating oil no. 2), fuel oil no. 3 (heating oil no. 3), furnace fuel oil, gas oils and light industrial fuel.
Heavy fuel oil (HFO): all grades of residual type fuels including low sulphur. Usually used for steam and electric power generation and diesel motors. Includes fuel oil nos. 4, 5 and 6. (Canadian/Foreign) - it is important to distinguish between Canadian versus imported Heavy Fuel Oil as each carries a different energy(sd) a content andis used to validate the integrity of Canada's Energy Balances.
Propane: is a three-carbon alkane, normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. It is derived from other petroleum products during oil or natural gas processing. It is commonly used as a fuel for engines, barbeques and home heating systems.
Diesel: all grades of distillate fuel used for diesel engines including low sulphur content (lower than 0.05%). Does not include diesel used for transportation off the plant site.
Spent pulping liquor: A by-product in the paper making process, containing carbohydrate and lignin decomposition products. Also known as black liquor.
Orimulsion: is a registered trademark name for a bitumen-based fuel that was developed for industrial use. Bitumen is a mixture of organic liquids that are highly viscous, black, sticky and entirely soluble in carbon disulfide and composed primarily of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Currently orimulsion is used as a commercial boiler fuel in power plants worldwide.
E – Gaseous fuel types used to generate electricity
Any energy form consumed not otherwise identified on the questionnaire. Specify in the spaces provided.
Waste gasification: the process of waste gasification involves converting the organic material within the waste into synthetic natural gas (syngas), which is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas. The syngas is used to produce electricity in the same way that natural gas is combusted for energy production-in combined-cycle mode.
Gasification: uses high temperatures in the presence of oxygen to convert solid biomass into gas (known as producer gas) to fuel a turbine to generate electricity.
Natural gas: a mixture of hydrocarbons (principally methane) and small quantities of various hydrocarbons existing in the gaseous phase or in solution with crude oil in underground reservoirs.
Coke oven gas: is obtained as a by-product of the manufacture of coke oven coke for the production of iron and steel.
Biogas: is a chemical compound with the molecular formula CH4. It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Burning methane in the presence of oxygen produces carbon dioxide and water.
Refinery fuel gas: a gaseous mixture of methane, light hydrocarbons, hydrogen, and other miscellaneous species (nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, etc.) that is produced in the refining of crude oil and/or petrochemical processes and that is separated for use as a fuel in boilers and process heaters throughout the refinery.
F – Other fuel types used to generate electricity
Nuclear: is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei via controlled nuclear reactions. The most common method today is through nuclear fission, though other methods include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay.
Steam from waste heat: The amount of electricity generated when waste heat is recaptured to run a steam generator.
G – Useful thermal energy
Useful thermal energy produced: The amount of energy, in the form of heat, that is produced as a by-product of the generation of electricity and that is used for another application in a productive manner (e.g. the heating of industrial, commercial or residential space; steam used in an industrial process; etc.)
H – Units of Measure
I – Reporting Categories
Cogeneration Heat energy
Reported in Gigajoules, is defined as heat generated for the purpose of this business’s own use or for sale. It does not include heat by-products, such as waste heat.
Average heat content
The energy content one can expect to obtain from burning various raw materials.
Quantity/Volume
Please indicate the amount or volume of fuel used to generate electricity.
Total cost
Please indicate the fuel cost in thousands of Canadian dollars.
Total gross net electricity generation
Indicate the total (combined) amount of electricity generated, by all fuel types used, in MW.h
Gross electricity generation is the total amount of electricity generated by the power plant during the reporting period.
Gross electricity generation = Net electricity generation + Own use consumption.
(Net electricity generation is the amount of electricity generated by the power plant that is delivered to the electricity grid during the reporting period).