“Ask not what your electricity supplier can do for you — ask what you can do for your electricity supplier.” OK, so that’s not really the way the quote goes. But, almost on the eve of spending $6.2 billion — or more — to build a giant hydroelectric dam at Muskrat Falls and power lines to bring the project’s electricity to island markets, you’d think it would be something the provincial government might be considering. Why? Well, perhaps because one of the other provinces that expects to use Muskrat Falls power is thinking exactly that way.
Nova Scotia’s Public Utilities Board has just set feed-in tariff rates for electricity from small, community-based wind producers. Simply put, the PUB there has outlined what Nova Scotia Power — that province’s electrical utility — will pay for electricity produced by small private and community generators.
The province expects to pay 13.9 cents per kilowatt hour for larger wind power projects. Interestingly, that price is less than the 14.3 cents that power from Muskrat Falls will cost in this province — if the project manages to stay on budget.
Nova Scotia Power and the provincial government are expecting that the feed-in tariffs will bring in wind, biomass, small hydro and tidal projects that can deliver up to 100 megawatts of power per year — the bulk of that from wind farms producing at 13.9 cents per kilowatt hour. What’s interesting in the equation in this province is that, even though the provincial government says it’s concerned that increased demand for power will drive up the cost of running the Holyrood generating station, and therefore prices to consumers, it hasn’t moved to set feed-in tariffs in this province. In Nova Scotia, the tariffs are set for 20 years, allowing potential electricity producers to plan their potential return on investment and costs. Setting tariffs here would bring new generation sources online, potentially forestalling the increases without taking on massive new amounts of provincial debt. The provincial government, in its 2007 energy plan, suggested that alternate power on the island could produce an extra 100 megawatts of power from wind and small hydro power generation — but instead of feed-in tariffs, it’s pretty clear the province prefers controlling any development through its energy corporation, Nalcor.
Small hydro projects are currently on hold under a government moratorium. Here’s what the energy plan says about them: “If the provincial government lifts the moratorium, it will institute a policy that the Energy Corporation will control and co-ordinate the development of small hydro projects that meet economic thresholds and are viable for an isolated island system.”
As for wind projects? “To maximize these benefits, the provincial government believes the Energy Corporation should control the development of all wind projects and determine when to develop alone or with private sector partners. We will enable this by adopting a policy that no new leases for wind development on crown land will be issued except to the Energy Corporation or another company acting in partnership with the Energy Corporation.” It looks a lot like the province would prefer all its eggs in one basket. Or, more to the point, the province not only wants to run an energy warehouse, but actually wants to own it all as well. In its own way, that handcuffs consumers in this province. Because one company will decide the most effective way to produce and supply our power. We’ll just pay for it.
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