Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)

Electricity Canada and its members are committed to protecting the health of Canadians by phasing out Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from electrical equipment.

Overview

Polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs were discovered in the early 20th century and were used mainly as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment. PCB’s are one of the original 12 substances covered by the Stockholm Convention, which is an international environmental treaty that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants.

The parties to the Stockholm Convention are mandated to no longer produce PCBs and are obligated to stop using this chemical because of the harm they cause to human and environmental health.

In Canada, the PCB Regulations became law in order to prevent the release of PCBs into the environment and to accelerate the phase out of these chemicals. For the electricity sector, existing equipment that contain or are contaminated with PCBs are to cease being used as of 2025 under these regulations. For example, high concentration electrical equipment (i.e., current transformers, potential transformers, circuit breakers, reclosers and bushings) that contain PCBs in a concentration of 500 mg/kg or more may not be used after 2025.

Overview

Utilities have been identifying and managing PCBs for as many years as there have been regulatory requirements, both provincially and federally, on the substance.

Electricity Canada’s PCB and Wood Preservatives Task Group have been working with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) since the onset of the regulations to ensure the industry is properly understood and represented in the policy design.

Since the regulations were enacted in 2008, Canadian electrical utilities have made substantial progress identifying and removing PCBs and contaminated equipment.

Collectively, utilities have verified PCB levels in millions of individual oil compartments and light ballasts through inspection and sampling. They have phased out PCBs in hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment and the majority of PCB containing equipment has now been removed.

With the 2025 phase out deadline nearing, utilities continue to identify and phase out the PCBs remaining in those pieces of equipment that are the most challenging to identify, inspect, sample, and find replacements for. As detailed removal plans are developed, utilities have identified unique situations such as reliability considerations, multiple outages management, additional resource requirements, and increasing costs to replace the remaining equipment scheduled to be decommissioned.

Electricity Canada has requested ECCC to add a regulatory mechanism for individual utilities to request an extension to the 2025 phase-out for a small amount of equipment with specific challenges and mitigation plans, to be reviewed and approved by the organization.


Aperçu


Les entreprises de services publics répertorient et gèrent les BPC présents dans leurs pièces d’équipement depuis autant d'années qu'il existe d’exigences réglementaires provinciales et fédérales qui s’appliquent à ces substances. Depuis l’entrée en vigueur du Règlement, le groupe de travail sur les BPC et les produits de préservation du bois de l’Électricité Canada collabore avec Environnement et Changement climatique Canada (ECCC) pour s’assurer que les besoins du secteur sont bien compris et que ses membres sont représentés comme il se doit dans la détermination des orientations politiques.

Depuis l’adoption du Règlement en 2008, les compagnies d’électricité canadiennes ont fait des progrès considérables dans la recherche et l’élimination des BPC et de l’équipement contaminé. Collectivement, les entreprises de services publics ont inspecté et échantillonné des millions de compartiments contenant des hydrocarbures et de ballasts de lampes pour y vérifier la concentration de BPC. Elles ont éliminé progressivement les BPC présents dans des centaines de milliers de pièces d’équipement, dont la plupart ne sont plus en usage.

Key messages

  • Scheduling outages for PCB inspection and replacement is not always under the direct control of utilities and can create reliability concerns, impacting access to phase out equipment.
  • Utilities are keeping costs low to minimize financial impacts to customers. However, in recent years, utilities have faced significant additional federal regulatory burdens, for example, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pay carbon pricing obligations, along with further constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • There are situations where other maintenance and reliability work might conflict with PCB phase-out compliance, putting the utility in the difficult position of de-prioritizing needed maintenance in order to meet the 2025 deadline.
  • There are enormous challenges facing the nuclear industry with meeting the storage and destruction timelines of the PCB Regulations, specifically for PCBs in radioactive areas, and the lack of destruction capabilities in Canada for radioactive PCB waste.

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