![['The diesel plant in St. Anthony. Demand on several isolated power systems in the province are expected to surpass the available power supply as early as this winter. <br />— Photo by Adam Randell/The Northern Pen']](https://saltwire.imgix.net/st-anthony-2164200.jpg?cs=srgb&fit=crop&h=568&w=847&dpr=1&auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance)
There are 16 diesel plants providing power to the residents of coastal Labrador. Under the Muskrat Falls development, there are no plans for communities including L'Anse au Loup, St. Lewis, Port Hope Simpson, Williams Harbour, Charlottetown, Norman Bay, Cartwright, Rigolet, Makkovik, Postville, Hopedale, Natuashish and Nain to be immediately served by the flood of new hydro power. The communities will continue to rely on power from diesel plants - until alternatives are brought in.
"It's a major issue," said Blair Gillis, chair of the Southeastern Aurora Development Corp.
Gillis said the diesel emissions are not welcome in the coastal communities and commercial power rates on the coast are already so high as to restrict development. Expanding communities are also pushing the limits on the power available.
Despite talk of renewable energy options becoming more affordable, Gillis said the cost for communities to develop their own alternative energy supplies remain too high, as far as his organization has found, exploring the potential for a biomass plant in Port Hope Simpson and small hydro projects.
Costing the options
Since such projects have not been able to get off the ground through municipalities or regional bodies, the focus turns to the province and to partnerships with larger entities.
Solar has been all but ruled out by Nalcor Energy as an option for large-scale power supply, at least in the near-future. That's according to a report, "Preliminary Assessment of Alternative Energy Potential in Coastal Labrador," published December 2009.
According to the document, to have solar panels installed and producing 100 kilowatts of energy in the Labrador coastal area requires an estimated capital cost of $940,000 and annual maintenance of $15,000. To have wind turbines, producing the same level of power, requires $500,000 up front, with an annual operating and maintenance cost of $10,000.
Initial costs aside, moving a diesel power system to a renewable option like wind poses its own challenges when the system remains isolated.
Greg Jones, manager of business development and strategic planning with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, said whether it is looking at a wind-diesel hybrid system for Cartwright or a small "run-of-river" hydro project for Nain, the options have and continue to be explored.
The wind resource is "definitely there," Jones said, "but when we start talking about adding wind to a diesel system, it's not the same as adding a wind project to an interconnected grid."
He said a diesel power grid is "a weak electrical system" and has difficulty handling voltage dips of wind power without developing maintenance issues, as the diesel generators are not designed to operate at low input levels. On an interconnected system, "the grid can handle the fluctuations that come from wind, from starting those generators and having them stop - the ramping up and the ramping down," he said.
Replacing diesel generation on the isolated systems would require storage capability and an understanding of how to control the system fluctuations. To this end, Jones said, Nalcor's wind project at Ramea has been acting as a research and development project - seeing if and how wind paired with hydrogen storage can work, be properly controlled and be reliable.
Recently a $158,000 contract was awarded by the province for work on Phase 2 of the province's "Energy Innovation Roadmap" - to "identify potential opportunities for further development, expansion, and diversification" in the provincial energy sector and map out the next steps in development.
Yet the chair of the Southeastern Aurora Development Corp. would like to see things moving faster. The Labrador coast is not going to receive Lower Churchill power under the current plans and, Gillis said, it appears now to people in the area they are left waiting for a future, while the Lower Churchill is brought online. He wants to see more evidence of attention paid to renewables and grid expansion as it is to the Lower Churchill.
"It doesn't have to be one after the other," he said.
As Labrador coastal communities await a presentation of a feasible renewable option, a $2.6-million program has been launched to help isolated communities maximize their energy efficiency - providing access to energy efficient products like low-flow showerheads and compact fluorescent lightbulbs.
In the meantime, private investment into research and development of renewable options for isolated systems, like those in Labrador, are being encouraged by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce as a means of both developing export technologies and moving resource development forward in the North.
