An African perspective on Canada's involvement in hydroelectric power production.
Ottawa, Canada --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 22 February 2011 - Ambitions for a better economy and a need for more clean energy in the United States are driving Canada's efforts to fund and expand its hydro resources.
Canada is already the world's second-largest hydropower producer behind China, and it is bent on producing more, driven by its potential for hydropower generation and demands for more clean energy in the U.S.
It's a major element of Canada's plan to boost its economy, as lawmakers attempt to wean the country off coal-fired power through landmark legislation that encourages the development of renewable energy, especially hydropower.
“The federal government is intending to introduce legislation to reduce emissions pretty significantly from coal-fired plants,” said Canadian Hydropower Association chairman Colin Clark. “I think that creates an opportunity for hydropower.”
In the U.S., where restrictions on carbon emissions are pending and demand is growing, there's a big market for Canada's hydropower resources, he adds. A handful of deals to export that power to the U.S. have already been made and more are looming.
“The U.S. is constrained in how it can develop its own generation systems because of uncertainty around carbon,” said Dan McCarthy, president and CEO of Black & Veatch Water. “Canadian hydro companies have an opportunity to take advantage of that uncertainty and get some power purchase agreements in place.”
Hydro-Quebec and Public Service of New Hampshire plan to build a 140-mile transmission line that will bring up to 1 200MW of Canadian hydropower to central New Hampshire. In another agreement, Hydro-Quebec will provide up to 225MW of hydropower to two Vermont utilities, Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power, for 26 years beginning in 2012.
Canada, home to about 475 hydro-electric plants with a capacity of 70 000MW, produces about 355 terawatt-hours of hydropower each year. But the country’s untapped potential is far greater.
According to a study commissioned by the Canadian Hydropower Association, Canada has 163 000MW of untapped hydropower potential ‒ more than twice the country's existing hydropower capacity.
Already, hydropower accounts for 60% of Canada's electricity consumption. That number is sure to rise as construction of several new hydro-power plants near completion while more coal-fired plants are shuttered in the name of clean air.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Coal's hidden costs top $345 billion in U.S.: study | Reuters
BOSTON |
(Reuters) - The United States' reliance on coal to generate almost half of its electricity, costs the economy about $345 billion a year in hidden expenses not borne by miners or utilities, including health problems in mining communities and pollution around power plants, a study found.
Those costs would effectively triple the price of electricity produced by coal-fired plants, which are prevalent in part due to the their low cost of operation, the study led by a Harvard University researcher found.
"This is not borne by the coal industry, this is borne by us, in our taxes," said Paul Epstein, a Harvard Medical School instructor and the associate director of its Center for Health and the Global Environment, the study's lead author.
"The public cost is far greater than the cost of the coal itself. The impacts of this industry go way beyond just lighting our lights."
Coal-fired plants currently supply about 45 percent of the nation's electricity, according to U.S. Energy Department data. Accounting for all the ancillary costs associated with burning coal would add about 18 cents per kilowatt hour to the cost of electricity from coal-fired plants, shifting it from one of the cheapest sources of electricity to one of the most expensive.
In the year that ended in November, the average retail price of electricity in the United States was about 10 cents per kilowatt hour, according to the Energy Department.
Advocates of coal power have argued that it is among the cheapest of fuel sources available in the United States, allowing for lower-cost power than that provided by the developing wind and solar industries.
"The Epstein article ignores the substantial benefits of coal in maintaining lower energy prices for American families and businesses," said Lisa Camooso Miller, a spokeswoman for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry group. "Lower energy prices are linked to a higher standard of living and better health."
HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
The estimate of hidden costs takes into account a variety of side-effects of coal production and use. Among them are the cost of treading elevated rates of cancer and other illnesses in coal-mining areas, environmental damage and lost tourism opportunities in coal regions where mountaintop removal is practiced and climate change resulting from elevated emissions of carbon dioxide from burning the coal.
Coal releases more carbon dioxide when burned than does natural gas or oil.
The $345 billion annual cost figure was the study's best estimate of the costs associated with burning coal. The study said the costs could be as low as $175 billion or as high as $523 billion.
"This is effectively a subsidy borne by asthmatic children and rain-polluted lakes and the climate is another way of looking at it," said Kert Davies, research director with the environmental activist group Greenpeace. "It's a tax by the industry on us that we are not seeing in our bills but we are bearing the costs."
The estimates came in the paper "Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal," to be published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Epstein discussed his findings on the Arctic Sunrise, a 164-foot-long (50 meter long) icebreaker operated by Greenpeace, and moored in Boston Harbor.
Leading users of coal in the United States include utilities American Electric Power Co Inc and Duke Energy Corp. The top producers include miners Arch Coal Inc, Consol Energy Inc, Peabody Energy Corp and Alpha Natural Resources.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Ontario’s offshore wind ‘flip-flop’ draws industry ire - The Globe and Mail
Ontario’s decision to put the brakes on all offshore wind power is drawing criticism from businesses behind several major wind projects in the province.
Executives in the renewable sector say the province's dramatic reversal, which effectively killed offshore plans, is highly damaging to Ontario's reputation as a leader in renewable energy. It also risks denting investment in an industry that was on the upswing as a result of the province’s green-energy policies.
The McGuinty government announced late Friday that it will not allow any offshore wind projects to proceed until further scientific research is conducted into its environmental impact. The surprise decision drew praise from turbine opponents who are concerned over health effects and visual blight, but scorn from environmentalists and businesses that support renewable power.
Even though the policy change does not affect onshore wind projects or other renewables such as solar power, the fact that the government changed its policy so suddenly on offshore wind is enough to scare off investors from green energy projects, said John Kourtouff, president ofTrillium Power Wind Corp., which has been considering four large wind projects in the Great Lakes and has one in an advanced planning stage.
“This destroys Ontario’s credibility globally,” he said. “Nobody will touch Ontario for many years in renewables.”
Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid said in an interview on Wednesday that despite the reversal, the government remains fully committed to “building out renewables.” The province is determined to become a “clean energy global powerhouse,” he said, and only a tiny fraction of green energy was going to come from offshore wind.
But other executives in the sector sided with Mr. Kourtouff, arguing that Ontario’s decision could put a damper on investor enthusiasm.
“Anything can shake investor confidence, and there is really nothing worse than a government policy reversal,” said John Keating, chairman of Alberta-based startup BluEarth Renewables Inc. and former chief executive officer of Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., which was Canada’s largest independent renewable energy firm before it was bought by TransAlta Corp. in 2009.
The turnaround is especially problematic, Mr. Keating said, because Ontario was considered enlightened by environmentalists and developers. Now that reputation is in tatters.
“I was surprised and somewhat shocked, because the government has steadfastly supported its Green Energy Act since its introduction,” Mr. Keating said. Now, there is “increased risk” that other changes might be made to the rules, he said. “It sends a bad signal.”
Ian Kerr, vice-president of Canadian development at Brookfield Renewable Power Inc., (BRC.UN-T21.920.070.32%) said Ontario’s “flip-flop” raises questions about the stability of the province’s energy policies. “I can see some potential entrants, even in other sectors of the renewable industry, holding off on investment because of that,” he said.
The one company that had already signed a contract to supply power to the Ontario energy grid from an offshore project has said little about its plans since last Friday’s announcement.
“We’re assessing our options,” said Nancy Baines, finance director atWindstream Energy Inc., adding that the company was disappointed and surprised by the government’s move.
Windstream had a contract to sell the province 300 megawatts of power from a series of turbines offshore of Kingston, although it had not yet gained approvals from Ontario’s Natural Resources or Environment ministries. The contract is now dead.
For Trillium, a company built entirely on the prospect of constructing wind projects in the Great Lakes, the province’s decision is nothing less than a disaster.
“They are destroying the entire industry,” Mr. Kourtoff said. “This isn’t a moratorium, this is a St. Valentine’s Day massacre of the offshore wind industry in Ontario.” The industry had the opportunity to be a leader in fresh water wind power, he said, and there was the potential to create thousands of jobs.
Mr. Kourtoff said he is considering legal action against the government if his company does not get some form of compensation from Ontario.
He said he thinks Ontario’s decision was purely political, designed to appease voters concerned about wind power ahead of a provincial election, and had nothing to do with environmental concerns.
“If you are 28 kilometres out in the middle of the lake … and you’re on bedrock, there are no environmental issues that are problematic here.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Abitibi hydro assets sold to unnamed buyer - Kenora Daily Miner and News - Ontario, CA
Abitibi hydro assets sold to unnamed buyer
By By Bob Stewart
Posted 1 day ago
AbitibiBowater has reached an agreement with a buyer for its Ontario hydro-electric assets which include power dams in Kenora, Fort Frances and Iroquois Falls.
The company released few details about the deal in a brief statement Friday. The buyers are were unnamed, described only by the company as "a major Canadian institutional investor and a private Canadian renewable energy company."
The hydro assets, spun off as a separate company called ACH LP in 2007, are co-owned 75/25 by Abitibi and Quebec pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. ACH was valued at $640 million at the time of the sale.
The eight hydro-electric stations that make up ACH LP have a combined installed capacity of 137 MW, with a generating capacity of 131 MW and annualized production of 828 gigawatt hours. The stations include two in Kenora, one at the Fort Frances mill, two remote stations at Sturgeon Falls and Calm Lake in the Rainy River District, a station at Iroquois Falls and two remote stations in that region at Twin Falls and Island Falls.
As part of the ownership deal the company struck with the Caisse de Depot, it will also be selling its 25 per cent stake in ACH to the buying consortium.
In its news release the company said it will net $300 million in cash from the sale of which $100 million will immediately be applied to pay down company debt.
AbitibiBowater also noted its debt to Caisse de Depot of $250 million stemming from financing for the creation of ACH in 2007 will remain on the company books.
As a condition of the sale long-term power purchase agreements for the company's mills in Iroquois Falls and Fort Frances will also remain in place.
"We intend to protect the cost structures of the Iroquois Falls and Fort Frances mills and remain committed to reducing costs," noted Abitibi president Richard Garneau.
The sale of its the Ontario hydro assets comes after the company emerged from credit protection in Canada and the U.S. this year.
Between April 2009 and December of 2010 the company sold $940 million in assets including its $615 million stake in group of Quebec hydroelectric stations. When it emerged from creditor protection overall debt had been reduced to $850 million from $6.8 billion. Most of the reduced debt was settled by swapping debt of equity in new stock issue with unsecured creditors.
The hydro sale will require government approval and other conditions being met said the company, a process it expects to take about 60 days.
Municipal officials in Iroquois Falls have expressed concerns about the sale since the company announced it was looking for a possible buyer last year.
Earlier this month Iroquois Falls Mayor Gilles Forget said he would oppose any sale as he feared it would eventually mean an end to the low cost power supply the hydro dam supplies the mill in his community.
Forget said he would taking his case to the provincial government which holds the water lease required to generate power at the dams.
Forget said the dams have always allowed the Iroquois Falls operation to be a cost-efficient mill. Without them, he said, it lose its power advantage.
"I was quite vocal in telling him (Abitibi CEO Richard Garneau) that I was going to try and stop the process and the sale and I would fight this right to the end," Forget said.
The company will also have to satisfy Fort Frances of the security of its open-ended arrangement for a block of power, or the cash equivalent, it receives from the ACH power station there. As part of the original mill construction plans in Fort Frances begun in 1905, the municipality approved the transfer of water rights to the mill in exchange for 4,000 horsepower (3 MW) of electricity to be supplied annually to the town at a nominal cost. That arrangement, worth about $2 million annually to the town's residents in reduced electrical bills these days, was confirmed in a Supreme Court of Canada decision in 1983 when Boise Cascade, the mill and dam owners at the time, attempted to cancel the power supply arrangement.
International Water Power and Dam Construction
| Innergex to acquire Cloudworks Energy |
| 15 February 2011 |
Innergex Renewable Energy Inc has announced it is to acquire Vancouver-based hydroelectric developer Cloudworks Energy Inc for $185M.
Under the terms of the deal, Innergex has agreed to pay approximately $145.7M in cash for the company, with the remainder paid in shares.
The deal means Innergex will acquire a large portfolio of hydroelectric operating facilities and development projects, expanding the company’s asset portfolio and enhancing its growth profile. Cloudworks’ portfolio consists of an interest of 50.01% in six run-of-river hydroelectric facilities with a combined capacity of 150MW; full ownership of 76MW of run-of-river hydroelectric projects under development with 40-year power purchase agreements; and full ownership of run-of-river hydroelectric projects in various stages of development having a potential aggregate installed capacity of over 800MW.
“We are thrilled with the acquisition of Cloudworks”, said Mr. Michel Letellier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Innergex. “Cloudworks’ assets will further diversify our revenues and increase our installed capacity by as much as 23% (from 326 MW to 401 MW)”.
Innergex has previously partnered with Cloudworks for the development of its 50MW Rutherford Creek hydroelectric facility.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Kelly McParland: Ontario quietly reverses field on wind, solar energy | Full Comment | National Post
Kelly McParland: Ontario quietly reverses field on wind, solar energy | Full Comment | National Post
Times of international turmoil are great moments for domestic governments to make important announcements they don’t want to be noticed. Especially if the announcement involves a sudden reversal in policy that could seriously embarrass the government.
So Friday afternoon was an ideal time for Ontario’s Liberal government to take a big chunk of its alternative energy program and chuck it overboard. Attention was riveted on Egypt, where spectacular events were unfolding. The perfect opportunity for Premier Dalton McGuinty to engineer yet another major reversal, while paying a minimal price among voters.
After years of touting wind projects as a critical piece of the alternative energy puzzle, the government let slip — very quietly — that offshore wind projects are no longer part of the game plan. Turns out there just isn’t enough scientific evidence that offshore wind projects do a lick of good, said Brad Duguid, the energy minister.
“It’s simply a case of recognizing we need to take a closer look at the science on freshwater offshore wind projects,” said Duguid. “Right now there’s only one in the world we’re aware of, in Sweden. There’s a number of issues that need to be looked at before anything could ever be considered for approval.”
Gee, now wouldn’t you think the government would have checked out the sciencebefore insisting wind power was the way of the future? Evidently not. The McGuinty people have been pushing ahead vigorously on the wind front ever since they concluded they could squeeze more votes from trendy enviro-enthusiasts, who are in favour of anything that sounds remotely Greenish, whether it makes sense or not.
They’ve been running into a spot of bother, though, as rural residents grow increasingly agitated at the monster wind towers being slapped up wherever the government sees fit to put them. Turns out the government may have been a bit rash in dismissing complaints that the low-level noise from the turbines can cause health problems. A court challenge launched late in January claims that the 550-metre minimum setback is far too close for comfort, and argues the government didn’t do adequate homework into the potential health hazards when it declared the towers to be free of any danger.
Added to McGuinty’s problems with wind are similar signs of trouble on the solar front. After strongly encouraging individual solar projects, and offering outrageously generous pricing on solar-generated power, the province unexpectedly announced last summer it was slashing the rate it would pay on some projects. On Friday, hundreds more Ontarians were told that installations they’d erected at the behest of the government can’t be connected to the provincial grid because of technical problems. Rural residents, some of whom have invested large amounts in solar generating operations, will be left high and dry. The Toronto Star reports:
“I’ve got $70,000 sitting right out in my backyard,” said Brian Wilson, who lives near Belleville, of his 10-kilowatt solar array. “I can go two doors down and they’ve got $70,000 invested, too.”But they’ve both been told that they can’t connect to the electrical grid because of technical issues.“It’s a mess,” says Kim Doherty of Farmed Energy Inc., who supplies solar equipment. He started getting calls from clients this week, saying they’d been told no connections are available for their projects.One of his clients, a father-and-son team near Strathroy, made a $170,000 down payment on solar equipment, and built four concrete support platforms at a cost of $20,000 each, Doherty said
Angering rural voters, and battering your credibility with the environmental crowd, aren’t great ideas if you run a government that faces an election in eight months. So it’s no wonder that Ontario’s Liberals sought to hide the bad news by releasing it when (they hoped) no one was watching. But the excitement in Egypt won’t last forever, and eventually people will notice that Ontario’s government, once again, has been forced into a humiliating retreat at considerable trouble and cost to individual Ontarians.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
LCRA begins emergency hydroelectric generation
This is a great example of the benefits of hydroelectric storage providing reactive support to a system needing emergency power.
LCRA begins emergency hydroelectric generation For Immediate Release: February 02, 2011 11:30 AM |
 |
With the bitterly cold temperatures across Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas today has declared an emergency electrical alert and required LCRA to provide emergency hydroelectric power over the next three days. LCRA will operate its hydroelectric facilities at all six dams on the Highland Lakes over the next three days. The water released from the dams for emergency hydroelectric generation will raise the level of Lake Austin, which is in the middle of a planned drawdown to help control nuisance plants and allow lakeside residents to build and maintain boat ramps, retaining walls, docks, and perform minor dredging. “One of the great benefits LCRA provides our region is the ability to generate electricity quickly in an emergency,” said LCRA General Manager Tom Mason. “The hydroelectric units at our dams can respond in a hurry to a weather event like Texas is experiencing today.” LCRA is looking for downstream customers to use or store the water released for generation. Any water that can’t be beneficially used will be stored in Lake Austin. Currently, Lake Austin is 12 feet below its normal level because of the drawdown, but it could rise as much as a foot and a half per day over the next three days because of hydroelectric operations. In addition to the rising lake levels, the rate of water flowing into the upper end of Lake Austin will be higher than normal. The flow from Buchanan Dam into Inks Lake also will be higher than normal because of emergency power generation. Like Lake Austin, Inks Lake is in the middle of a planned drawdown, but levels there aren’t expected to rise appreciably. LCRA and the City of Austin urge lakeside residents to be aware of the higher lake levels and take necessary precautions. Lakeside residents should pay special attention to lake levels and weather forecasts when performing work, and remove equipment and tools from the shoreline when not in use. "We want residents who live downstream of our dams to be aware of the conditions and know that there will be swift currents along the river due to these hydroelectric generating operations," said LCRA Manager of River Management Services Mark Jordan. "We also want people to realize that when severe weather hits the region, these unscheduled hydroelectric operations can become common." |
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Recurrent Energy hires Celestica to make solar electricity modules for Ontario
TORONTO - Celestica (TSX:CLS), a Toronto-based global manufacturing company, will be making solar modules for a U.S. company that will supply the Ontario Power Authority under a multi-year agreement announced Monday.
The modules are part of a project awarded to Recurrent Energy of San Francisco as part of the renewable energy Feed-In-Tariff program for the government-owned Ontario power grid.
Production will begin at Celestica's Toronto plant in the second quarter of this year, said Mike Andrade, Celestica's senior vice-president of the Americas.
"It's nice that there's a (green energy) market in our backyard," he said, adding that clean technology is a major growth initiative in the company's Canadian business.
"In Canada, historically we've done most of our business in the IT and communication space and we've made a concerted effort over the last few years to shift our focus to diversifying that."
The Celestica-manufactured photovoltaic modules will be used in the construction of 19 solar power plants that Recurrent Energy has contracted to do under the provincial government program.
Recurrent Energy said it expects to invest hundreds of million dollars in the development, which it says will create about 2,500 jobs in the province.
Last week, Celestica said it sees the opportunity for double-digit growth in revenue in 2011, for the first time in several years.
The revenue growth follows several years of investments in new market segments for Celestica _ particularly aerospace and defence, industrial and healthcare _ and the company anticipates making further investments in such areas in 2011, Muhlhauser said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)