Clean-power sector welcomes Federal procurement policy

Clean-power sector welcomes Federal procurement policy

In early November when federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna announced a new government procurement policy that will require federal operations to move to 100 per cent renewable power by 2025, it didn’t get a lot of play. But those in Canada’s clean-power industry say the policy could be significant, depending on just how widely the procurement policy is applied.

Business in Vancouver – CBC – Clean Technica

Clean energy takes it place beside fossil fuels

After more than 35 years of lobbying for the best interests of the oil and gas industry, the Petroleum Services Association of Canada is opening its doors to wind, solar and other renewable energy companies. The Petroleum Services Association of Canada will keep its name, but made the change this week to welcome green energy companies.

CBC News

Association of electricity firms outline vision for climate goals

An association of global electricity giants today extended their members’ collective might and expertise to development finance institutions and other international organizations to jointly identify necessary electricity technology investments that can deliver lower or zero carbon emissions needed to reach the Paris climate goals.

Canada Newswire

Renewables, natural gas tapped to replace oil, coal in coming decades

As a result of major transformations in the global energy system that take place over the next decades, renewables and natural gas are the big winners in the race to meet energy demand growth until 2040, according to the latest edition of the World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency’s flagship publication.

Globe-Net

TransAlta may replace coal-fired power plants with natural gas

TransAlta Corp. said it is considering converting some of its coal-fired power plants to natural gas, but needs more clarity from both the federal and provincial governments before it can proceed. TransAlta CEO Dawn Farrell said such a move would make sense, as the converted plants could provide back-up power to the grid as more renewables come on to the system. 

Calgary Herald

North America’s biggest green energy producer looks to Texas utility

NextEra Energy Inc. wants to buy the biggest utility in Texas for $18.7 billion, and it is hoping to avoid the state opposition that sunk its plan to buy the largest utility in Hawaii earlier this year. The fast-growing utility and renewable power company filed papers late Monday requesting regulatory approval that would give it ownership of Oncor Electric Delivery Co.

Wall Street Journal

New B.C.-Alberta hydro link could be in the works

The Trudeau government has sent a “quite positive” signal that it is prepared to help finance a new transmission link to ship clean B.C. hydroelectric power to Alberta, according to provincial energy minister Bill Bennett. The federal government announced a $35-billion infrastructure bank that could facilitate “an interprovincial clean energy grid project.”

Canada.com

Microsoft wind purchase sets example for other companies

Microsoft yesterday announced its largest wind energy purchase to date, bringing its total wind energy investments in the US to more than 500 megawatts. The two new agreements represent 237 megawatts of wind energy. Microsoft said about 44 percent of the electricity consumed by its data centres comes from wind, solar and hydropower.

Environmental Leader

Ontario poll: Consumers concerned about high power rates

The month before Ontario’s Liberal government announced a rebate on electricity bills, internal polling suggested that a whopping 94 per cent of residents were eager for price relief. Polling commissioned by the government shows steadily increasing concern among Ontarians about their hydro rates in the months ahead of the Liberals’ pledge to take eight per cent off bills.

National Post – National Post – CBC

Alberta looking at options to keep power prices low

Electricity companies in Alberta fear Premier Rachel Notley’s government is preparing legislation to retroactively change power contracts signed 15 years ago, a move critics say would create an investment chill in the province. Notley said the province is “looking at all of our options.”

Financial Post

Solar-wind projects build on best of both technologies

A handful of enterprising renewable energy developers are exploring how solar and wind might better work together, developing hybrid solar-wind projects to take advantage of the power-generating strengths of each — with the two technologies in tandem serving as a better replacement for climate-warming fossil fuels than either could be alone.

Green Biz

GE Canada CEO named “energy person of the year”

The Energy Council of Canada’s selection of Elyse Allan as its energy person of the year sent a powerful message about the organization focus on the sector’s future and path forward. Allan, the president and CEO of GE Canada, accepted the award Thursday night in Toronto. She is only the second woman the council has named its Energy Person of the Year.

Calgary Herald

Alberta renewable energy auctions could start in 2017

Alberta will hold its first auction for renewable power contracts early next year as the NDP government moves on its strategy of having 30 per cent of the province’s electrical supply coming from sources such as wind, solar and hydro by 2030. The province will hold its first competition in early 2017, which will see investors bidding to provide up to 400 megawatts of renewable electricity.

Calgary Herald

Renewable energy generation could become the law in Alberta

The Alberta government is considering enshrining in law its target of generating 30 per cent of the province’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030, said Shannon Phillips, the minister responsible for the climate change office.

Financial Post

Western Canada’s largest off-grid solar project switches on

Today, ATCO announced the energization of Western Canada’s largest off-grid solar project, located at the Saddle Hills Telecommunication Site northwest of Grande Prairie.

Marketwired

Companies in the news

Wind power boosts renewable company’s finances

TransAlta Renewables Inc. reported third quarter 2016 comparable EBITDA of $83 million, an increase of $24 million over the same period in 2015, primarily due to the acquisition of economic interests the Canadian Assets which occurred in January 2016. The company delivered another solid quarter bolstered by strong performance from Canadian wind. 

Marketwired

Renewable Energy

Emera looks to harness offshore wind

Nova Scotia Power’s parent company has become a partner in a project called Maine Aqua Ventus to harness wind energy off the coast of Maine. Emera Inc. confirmed it has been involved in the development of the specialized floating wind turbines.

CBC News

Green-energy that is devastating our rural areas

Wind turbines are not “farms” but sophisticated industrial machines, each taller than Toronto’s Royal York Hotel or the Ottawa Peace Tower. They will never be built in urban centres. So rural Ontario is being progressively devastated while residents of towns and cities, along with the media, remain uncaring.

Financial Post

Market reports and research

Study: Canadian oil, gas subsidies undercut carbon pricing

Today, four prominent Canadian environmental groups released a study that shows how billions of taxpayer dollars in federal and provincial subsidies for oil and gas companies greatly undermine climate action in Canada. Fossil fuel subsidies to oil and gas producers in Canada total $3.3 billion annually. This amounts to paying polluters $19/tonne CO₂ to pollute.

Globe-Net

Government programs and policy

Alberta looks abroad for energy investors

At the United Nations climate change conference in Morocco, Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips hopes Alberta’s energy efficiency policies and climate change plan will help attract investment. The NDP government’s climate leadership plan banks on a minimum $10-billion investment from the private sector.

Edmonton Journal

Oil patch workers want government support for job retraining

Workers from the troubled Alberta oil patch want government help to retrain for jobs in the growing renewable energy sector. Iron & Earth, an organization started last year by oil industry tradespeople, calls for short-term training and expanded apprenticeships, as well as retooling existing facilities to increase Canada’s renewable energy manufacturing.

Edmonton Journal

International

China looks at producing more power from nuclear, hydro

China has announced a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions over the next several years, while capping coal consumption and increasing the use of non-fossil fuels. Under the plan, by 2020, the level of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be 18 per cent lower than in 2015, the State Council said on its website.

Canada.com

China pondering exporting excess electricity

China is seeking to build up export markets for its power amid signs the nation has invested too much in new generation plants. State Grid Corp. of China, which runs the majority of the nation’s electricity distribution network, is considering building links to India, South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia, which would require billions of dollars in long-distance, high-voltage power lines.

National Post

U.S. may withdraw from Paris Accord

President-elect Donald Trump is seeking quick ways to withdraw the United States from a global accord to combat climate change, a source on his transition team said, defying broad global backing for the plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions.  “The Paris Agreement carries an enormous amount of weight and credibility,”  said U.N. climate chief, Patricia Espinosa.

Victoria-Times Colonist – Radio Canada International – The Guardian

Will Trump eliminate Obama’s Clean Power Plan?

Now that Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next US president, it could spell doom for the Clean Power Plan that is dedicated to reducing carbon emissions and that Trump said he opposes. But that won’t doom renewables and other clean energies, nor does it save coal.

Environmental Leader

New U.S. rule could encourage clean power on public lands

The Obama administration took action in November to boost development of solar and wind energy on public lands, part of President Barack Obama’s strategy to develop cleaner domestic energy and reduce emissions blamed for global warming.  The Interior Department’s final action aim to encourage development in areas where it would have fewer effects on the environment.

Canada.com

Iceland goes after “supercritical water” for geothermal

In Iceland, several kilometres below ground, a drilling rig named Thor will soon penetrate the area around a magma chamber, where molten rock from the inner Earth heats up water that has seeped through the seafloor. This water – up to 1,000°C and saturated with corrosive chemicals – will eventually be piped up to the surface and its heat turned into usable energy.

Financial Post

Solar energy

Solar ownership set to surpass leasing

As more U.S. residential solar customers choose to purchase, rather than lease solar panels, direct ownership is on its way to overtaking third-party ownership and reclaiming its position as the leading solar financing model for the first time since 2011. Fifty-five per cent of all U.S. residential solar capacity installed next year will be purchased either in cash or with a loan.

Green Tech Media

Alberta looks to solar to replace wind contracts

Solar companies in Alberta say they are ready and willing to help the provincial government meet its stated goal of sourcing half its electricity needs from the sun by the end of 2018. Though massive wind farms have sprung up across the province over the past decade, Alberta’s fledgling solar industry has not yet seen any large-scale, commercial development.

Calgary Herald

Map guides to solar users to the sun

If you’ve ever wondered if your house or office might be suitable for generating solar power, the City of Calgary has some information you’ll be interested in. The city has put what it calls a “solar potential map” on its website showing the potential yield for solar power for every building in Calgary.

CBC News

Canadian arm of SunEdison files for bankruptcy protection

The Canadian arm of SunEdison Inc., at one time one of the biggest and most successful solar panel installers in Canada, has filed for bankruptcy protection. SunEdison’s Canadian operations remained functioning after the parent company filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States in April, but now the Canadian group has also filed, under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

Globe and Mail

Wind power

New research looks at life span of wind turbines

Wind turbines are still a relatively new feature on Canada’s frontier but what happens when they start breaking down? A new research project conducted in collaboration with the universities in Windsor and London will explore the life span of these expensive giant pinwheels and the financial implications of replace or repair.

Windsor Star

Ontario offshore wind moratorium still up in the air

Five years after issuing a moratorium on offshore wind projects, the Ontario government says it still doesn’t have enough information to decide if the ban should be lifted. 

CBC News

Full power ahead for offshore European wind industry

Once the rotors start spinning later this year, the Burbo Bank wind farm will be able to power 230,000 households — enough to run Liverpool city, with its 466,000 inhabitants.  In Europe, offshore wind farms like the one at Burbo Bank are undergoing a boom.

Yale Environment 360

Province asked to arbitrate on wind power proposal

Wind energy company SaskWind has gone to the provincial auditor in Saskatchewan over problems with SaskPower on its proposed wind-solar project. SaskWind president James Glennie says he’s spent four-and-a-half years trying to get the project going in Swift Current.

CBC News

B.C. wind turbine firm declares bankruptcy

An award-winning Surrey company that described itself as a “world leader” in wind turbines has gone out of business. Endurance Wind Power chief executive Brad Bardua said the company suffered after government subsidies to small-scale wind turbines dried up in Britain, the company’s prime market. The sharp decline in the British pound also didn’t help. 

Canada.com

Electrical grids and transmission

Public utilities responsible for microgrid market growth

The fastest-growing North American microgrid market surprised even the Navigant researchers who uncovered it in a report, Market Data: Microgrids. Public utilities took the prize, growing at 45.2 percent, which is the compounded annual growth rate of annual deployments between 2015 and 2024.

Microgrid Knowledge

Concern expressed over proposed SaskPower rate increases

The Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel says the second of two rate increases requested by SaskPower is too high.  It urged the government Tuesday to deny SaskPower’s request for its second five-per-cent rate increase in six months.  Instead, it is recommending a lower rate of 3.5 per cent to kick in on Jan. 1.

CBC News

N.S. frozen food company gets power rate break

Nova Scotia Power is giving one of its biggest customers a temporary break on its electricity rates so it can continue processing this year’s bumper crop of carrots. Oxford Frozen Foods is getting a 10-day exemption from a demand charge so it can handle millions of kilograms of carrots that are still in the ground or ready for transport to its giant plant in Cumberland County.

CBC News

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