I just got back from Halifax, Nova Scotia where I participated in the 4th and final public consultation on renewable energy. The new government has set an ambitious goal of achieving 25% of their electricity from renewable sources by the year 2015.
This move upped the ante from the already laudable goal set by the previous government of 18.5% renewable sources by 2013. For some provinces, like Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia who are used to hearing about their 90% renewable energy grids thanks to their large hydro dams, 25% may not seem all that impressive. Nova Scotia however, is one of only five provinces in Canada that are heavily dependent on the use of dirty coal for their electricity supply. Ontario, which currently uses more coal than every province except Alberta, has begun phasing out coal, a plan it expects to complete by the year 2014, and New Brunswick Power's impending sale to Hydro-Quebec will also involve a major coal shut-down in that province. This leaves only Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia who are heavily dependent on coal — the dirtiest of all fossil fuels.
Less Coal in Nova's Scotia's Future
In fact, Nova Scotia uses fossil fuels for almost 90% of its electricity supply, making it the second dirtiest mix of fuels in the country behind Alberta. So, a move from a system that is currently about 10% renewable (mostly hydro and a bit of biomass, wind and tidal) to 25% is a good target, especially in just five years; the trick is how will they get there and what will happen beyond 2015?
Given Pembina's work on trying to clean up the electricity system in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario we are particularly interested in seeing Nova Scotia succeed in meeting its targets. We've been working with the Ecology Action Centre in the stakeholder consultations to help bring the perspective of what's going on nationally around renewable energy, and in particular the process that led to the Green Energy Act in Ontario.
Small is Beautiful
The Nova Scotia stakeholder consultations have involved more than 100 people each time, and the final report by Dr. David Wheeler and Dr. Michelle Adams from Dalhousie University is due to be submitted to the government this week. So far it seems there is a general consensus that a Feed-in Tariff (FIT) will be recommended for community-based and First Nations projects to participate. We are very supportive of this idea, but two questions still remain. The first is whether or not individuals like homeowners, or gas stations or churches for example, will be able to put up micro-systems like solar photovoltaics in an affordable way. While these efforts won't make a major contribution to the overall target in the short term, there is a huge appetite for individuals and groups to get involved and do their part. This is clear based on the overwhelming success of the microFIT in Ontario. Small-scale systems are highly visible, and tangible to individuals allow everyone to equitably participate and with the cost of solar power coming down at incredible speed it'll be important to have qualified people in the province. But in the near-term solar, and other small-scale renewables can be fairly expensive and so a weak policy (like net-metering) will do almost nothing to get this sector going. I'm hoping Nova Scotia will follow Ontario's lead in offering microFIT that doesn't have to be as generous as Ontario's, but at least helps move the market along. The overall impact on rates is a blip on the radar.
FIT To Go Big
The bigger question is what policy will get put in place for the larger projects, and how will the policy divy up "community" and "industrial" projects. There is a general consensus that in the next five years, wind power and biomass are the two technologies that are ready to be deployed in Nova Scotia, and the question is whether contracts will be put out for competitive tender or whether Nova Scotia will take the bold step of offering up Canada's 2nd broad-based feed-in tariff — clearly I think the latter is a better idea for Nova Scotia. I'll get into why in another blog, but for now it looks like Nova Scotia has the opportunity to do either good or great things. It's a fun place to be involved!
