Tidal project delayed again

Turbine prototype gets redesign to generate power cheaper
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu. Apr 29 - 4:54 AM

One of the three projects involved in Nova Scotia’s $76-million effort to generate electricity from the Bay of Fundy has fallen behind schedule for the third time.

Minas Basin Pulp and Power of Hantsport and its U.K. partner Marine Current Turbines Ltd. have decided to redesign its prototype to be tested on the bottom of the Bay of Fundy, causing a delay in the installation date.

The company is now targeting a launch date of 2012 for its device, which resembles a submerged windmill.

"We want to be able to find a way to put these things in the sea cheaper," John Woods, Minas Basin’s vice-president of energy development, told reporters after speaking at the 5th annual Renewable Energy Conference in Halifax Wednesday.

He said the proposed underwater turbine is operating on a smaller scale in waters off Northern Ireland by its technology partner Marine Current Turbines Ltd. and would work in the Bay of Fundy.

However, the companies want to move to a "next level" of technology in the hopes of reducing the cost of producing electricity from the tides.

Minas Basin had hoped to launch its SeaGen underwater turbine in 2010, and previously the group thought it could install another prototype in late 2009, spending between $15 million and $18 million to build and launch.

Considering the development costs, Woods wants to generate electricity from the turbine at about $5 million per megawatt installed; that’s still double the cost of wind power.

They would consider that a victory.

"At least we have put the stake in the ground where we need to get, and if we can get to $5 million per megawatt by 2015, we are in the lead," said Woods.

He said consumers in the end will have to pay for the electricity, and if it’s priced too high customers won’t be interested in using the renewable energy from the Bay of Fundy.

Minas Basin isn’t the only tidal developer facing challenges in trying to harness the tides.

Nova Scotia Power’s 400-tonne underwater turbine, the first to be launched last November, has run into trouble. Seven days after the turbine was lowered to the Bay of Fundy floor, the company lost contact with the wireless sensors attached to the device. It is not connected to the grid.

Nova Scotia Power and its partner, Irish firm OpenHydro, have gone months without collecting critical data from the prototype, which sits in 20 metres of water.

The tidal turbine, its tripod-shaped base, the barge that carried it and the deployment method were all designed by OpenHydro. The company has visited the offshore site four times and tried unsuccessfully to trigger the acoustic modem that uploads the information being collected by the sensors.

James Taylor, Nova Scotia Power general manager of power production, said the next step is to try lowering an "information pack" with a magnetic attachment to the gravity base of the turbine.

The pack is being designed by OpenHydro, with a trial currently going on at the European Marine Energy Centre in Scotland, he said Wednesday. "If that trial is successful, and we expect it will be, they will bring it over here.

"It’s like a vibration monitor so it would understand how the turbine generator is working a little bit more," said Taylor.

The murky waters and strong currents in the Bay of Fundy prevent the company from sending divers to the site to fix the problem.

Nova Scotia Power did not have any officials participating in the conference’s panel on tidal power.

NSP spokeswoman Patty Faith said there was "nothing new to report" on tidal power and the company participates in a number of renewable energy conferences.

The other developer, Clean Current Power Systems Inc. of British Columbia and its partner, international industrial giant Alstom Hydro, is also redesigning its proposed Mark III turbine, pushing its launch date to 2011, said Woods.

The $9-million underwater cables, travelling eight kilometres from the test site in the Minas Passage to shore, are expected to be ordered within the next two months and installed next year, he said.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1179704.html

Shear Wind takes big loss

By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu. Apr 29 - 4:54 AM

Shear Wind Inc. is reporting another significant financial loss.

The Bedford renewable energy company has incurred big losses over the past three years, and it took a $563,772 hit for the six-month period ending Feb. 28, according to company documents filed with securities regulators Tuesday.

Last year, Shear Wind reported a loss of $628,184 for the year ending Aug. 31.

For the six-month period ending Feb. 28, expenses were $805,609, including $322,409 for salaries and benefits and $75,168 for professional fees. Of the $48,000 spent on consulting fees, $35,000 was charged by an unnamed director for helping with various meetings and financing activities.

Travel expenses were $42,145, up from $19,312 in the same period the previous year. The increase is attributed to Shear Wind executives and directors travelling in relation to a $27-million cash infusion last November by Spanish conglomerate Inveravante in return for 62 per cent ownership of Shear Wind.

As of Feb. 28, the company had total assets of $31,514,482, according to the financial statements.

Shear Wind, a publicly traded company formed in 2004, has been delayed in starting its $170-million wind turbine park near New Glasgow, called Glen Dhu, because of the bad credit markets in 2008.

The company is trying to get the project kick-started so it can begin delivering wind-generated electricity to Nova Scotia Power.

Shear Wind has other wind-power projects in various stages of development in New Brunswick and Alberta.

As of the end of February, the company had spent $3.39 million on Glen Dhu, $2.7 million in Alberta and $125,330 in New Brunswick, according to the management discussion and analysis filed with regulators.

Shear Wind has also made what it calls "milestone deposits" on its agreement with Nova Scotia Power, to the tune of $4.7 million during the six-month period. The company also paid out $180,000 for interconnection and system impact studies and had prepaid expenses of $843,274.

At the Glen Dhu site, which straddles Pictou and Antigonish counties, construction has started and clearing of roads and the turbine sites is expected to be completed this week, according to the documents.

The company had to forfeit its $500,000 performance deposit to Nova Scotia Power as it failed to deliver wind-generated electricity to the power company by the end of last year.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1179786.html

Electricity that seems fishy

Nova Scotia Power experiments with burning fish oil at Cape Breton plant
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Wed. Apr 28 - 4:53 AM

Oil cooked out of anchovies and sardines was used to generate electricity for Nova Scotia Power in a test run last summer.

The fish oil, which otherwise would have ended up in a landfill, was used to co-fire a coal-burning power plant in Cape Breton.

"It had the effect of turbocharging the facility at Point Tupper," Kelly Cantwell, Nova Scotia Power’s director of renewable energy, told several hundred delegates attending the fifth annual Renewable Energy Conference in Halifax on Tuesday.

"Over an eight- to 12-hour period, we managed to get three to four megawatts more from the unit. We were encouraged by fish oil as an opportunity for biomass co-firing at our facilities."

Using fish oil could help the power company reduce the pollution and greenhouse gases belching from its various coal-burning power-generating stations.

"We were happy, we were pleasantly pleased with results of the work," Cantwell told the conference.

Last summer, 30 tanker trucks carrying 18 tonnes of fish oil from Ocean Nutrition Canada’s Mulgrave plant took their cargo to Point Tupper for the test burn.

"It wasn’t about saving money on the actual fuel costs, it’s about finding ways to meet emission targets and achieve those carbon caps that we have for the future," Cantwell said in an interview after her presentation at the conference.

Early indications are that burning fish oil could help the utility meet its emission targets, she said.

"We have more work to do around the technical issues, and almost more importantly, work to do around sustainability."

Nova Scotia Power relies on coal and oil for most of its electricity generation and the company is responsible for about half of the province’s greenhouse gas emissions, or 10 million tonnes a year.

Last summer, the Dexter government imposed tough new restrictions on the amount of pollution the company can emit. It will have to cut its carbon monoxide emissions by 25 per cent by 2020. There previously had been no caps on greenhouse gas emissions in Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia Power has also experimented with co-firing the boiler at its Point Aconi power plant with about 2,000 tonnes of wood chips from trees cleared for the Point Tupper wind farm, and 700 tonnes of pellets from Enligna Canada, a wood pellet manufacturer in Upper Musquodoboit.

"By all accounts, the test was very successful," Cantwell said. "So, we learned a lot about fuel handling, storage, logistics, what happened in the boiler when you combust the biomass . . .

"We are very encouraged by the results."

That test burn was conducted over 11 days and used a blend of about 10 per cent biomass mix with the coal.

Nova Scotia Power has yet to try co-firing its other large power plants.

"Each coal plant has a particular blend of coal, and we need to understand how biomass will work with that blend of coal at that facility," Cantwell said.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1179586.html

Energy policy slammed

Provincial strategy closes door to new big-scale wind developers, Minas Basin Pulp and Power says
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Tue. Apr 27 - 4:53 AM

A HANTSPORT firm that wants to build a large wind farm is hopping mad that Nova Scotia Power has been given the responsibility for half of the new renewable energy projects that the Dexter government announced last week.

Minas Basin Pulp and Power says the government’s new electricity strategy closes the door to any new large wind-power developers.

Nova Scotia Power is to be responsible for half of the new renewable energy projects to be built between 2013 and 2015. The targets require 100 megawatts from Nova Scotia Power and 100 megawatts from large wind developers. Minas Basin vice-president John Woods said the government has handed those projects to Nova Scotia Power, and the rest of the electricity will probably be supplied through adding turbines to the province’s largest operating wind farm, RMSenergy’s 51-megawatt facility west of New Glasgow, and Shear Wind’s 60-megawatt project in Antigonish and Pictou counties that is to start producing later this year.

"A major problem with the large wind component is that the only opportunity over the next five years for major wind is 200 megawatts, (and) half of that is given to Nova Scotia Power, who have shown over the past years they don’t deserve this privileged position," Woods said.

"So, conceivably, there is no opportunity, zero opportunity, for large wind developers in Nova Scotia. It means we have no industry."

Woods said the province’s new strategy to quadruple the amount of power it generates from renewable sources by 2020 is a step in the right direction, but any new opportunities for wind-power developers will not come until after 2015.

"The problem is the large-scale wind industry — that’s the one that’s being closed out on this strategy," Woods said.

He said he will lobby the government to open the marketplace to more large wind-power developments by seeking changes in the proposed renewable energy legislation to be debated in the legislature this spring.

"There’d hardly be any reason to muster your forces and do the analysis, even submit a proposal . . . because it has been won already by the two existing farms," Woods said.

Nova Scotia Power defends the government’s decision to award it a large portion of the work.

The government’s electricity strategy requires large-scale wind-power projects to be low-cost, and the privately owned utility can deliver, a Nova Scotia Power vice-president said.

"As a regulated utility, we have access to money at very favourable terms," Robin MacAdam said. "The energy business is a capital-intensive business. When you have access to money at low cost, then you can develop projects at low cost, and that’s to the benefit of ratepayers." RMSenergy president Reuben Burge supports the government’s recommendations.

"I think until we understand the impacts and how the grid will work with more electricity on it, going farther would only put us into a gold rush and to projects that wouldn’t be a benefit to the province anyway," he said.

RMSenergy’s $100-million wind farm at Dalhousie Mountain in Pictou County started producing power late last year after the company signed a contract to supply wind-generated electricity to Nova Scotia Power.

Burge said "going too far, too fast" in installing more wind turbines across the province could result in labour shortages within the renewable energy industry.

"We would have to outsource all of our labour, and products and experience," Burge said.

Premier Darrell Dexter said the province could further expand its targets and look for more suppliers. "As we get out years into this strategy, if we find that we are having unprecedented levels of success, then of course we will look at those goalposts and see if we can move them," he said. "But I think the intent here was to present a plan that would gain broad-based support."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1179412.html

Make conservation programs fair, effective

Halifax Chronicle Herald

RACHEL BRIGHTON JUST BUSINESS
Sun. Apr 25 - 4:53 AM

HOW MUCH does it cost to screw in an energy-saving light bulb in Nova Scotia?

Too much.

Under the energy conservation program being managed by Nova Scotia Power, it is costing up to $29 in additional expenses to provide a $4 light bulb.

These extra costs include marketing, delivery, consulting, handling mail-in rebates and administration.

They start at $3 for a $3 light bulb in the residential program, where homeowners screw them in themselves but soar by up to ten times that amount in some business programs, where commercial grade bulbs are installed by delivery agents.

The detailed costs of the 2011 conservation plan were buried in the evidence submitted to a public hearing this week, where the utility’s message seemed to be: get over the details and look at the big picture.

Demand-side management, or DSM for short, refers to a suite of measures designed to get customers to reduce their demand for electricity.

"They have a really terrific pay back," Alan Richardson, a vice-president with Nova Scotia Power, said in a phone interview this week.

"They actually save many times what they cost."

The utility hopes to avoid $190 million in energy costs by investing $42 million in conservation measures. The monthly fee added to residential power bills to pay for the plan would rise from $2 to $4 and customers who use the programs would contribute another $23 million.

For example, the program offers a $200 rebate for an energy-efficient washing machine valued at $519. The homeowner would pay the reduced price and the difference would come from the pool of money collected from ratepayers.

This incentive was questioned by a consumer advocate at the hearing before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board because it favours customers who can afford the new washer. Yet their rebate is paid by ratepayers who may not be able to afford this luxury.

As well, the utility forecasts no net financial gain to ratepayers if some customers switch to a new washing machine through this program because the cost is equal to the value of the energy being saved.

However, other products offered in the conservation plan can yield energy savings worth 10 times the cost.

Customers who take advantage of the programs should see the effects of energy savings "right on their bill," said Richardson.

"So it’s not real hard to show them the benefits (of energy conservation) because they see it immediately."

But he said the benefits are harder to see for other "folks who paid something on their power bill to help support these programs."

"Because it’s an avoided cost," said Richardson as he explained that these customers may not see a direct effect from conservation on their power bills.

"But the key is that they’re lower than what they otherwise would be."

Later this year, Nova Scotia Power will hand over the conservation program to a new agency called Efficiency Nova Scotia.

It should review the screwy light bulb scheme and devise more brilliant ways to make these conservation programs effective and fair.

Rachel Brighton is the publisher of the regional magazine Coastlands and a former business editor and journalist.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1179103.html

Change in the wind

Province wants 40% of N.S. power to be green by 2020
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Sat. Apr 24 - 4:54 AM

Over the next decade, Nova Scotia will quadruple the amount of renewable energy produced from wind, tides, biomass and imported sources, creating about $1.5 billion in investments, Premier Darrell Dexter said Friday.

Dexter unveiled plans to increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources to 40 per cent by 2020 at a news conference on top of Dalhousie Mountain, about 25 kilometres west of New Glasgow. It’s the site of the province’s largest wind farm, which started producing power from its 30 turbines last year.

The new blueprint for electricity generation moves Nova Scotia away from power generated from coal and expensive imported oil toward greener sources.

Nova Scotia Power now produces 10 to 12 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources and supplies power to 470,000 homes and businesses in the province.

"We are a province and an economy which is currently so heavily dependent on fossil fuels that if we do not make the conversion, then we run the real risk that as we see carbon-based tariffs come into place in other parts of the world, that our economy will become uncompetitive, that (the) ordinary homeowner will see rapidly escalating prices of electricity," Dexter told reporters after the news conference.

The premier called the new targets "the most aggressive anywhere" but admitted that Nova Scotia can’t be compared to Quebec or Manitoba, where 70 to 80 per cent of their electricity is already produced from huge hydroelectric projects.

In Nova Scotia, 90 per cent of electricity is produced with fossil fuels at power plants, and going green will mean higher power bills.

Last summer, the government announced that 25 per cent of electricity would come from renewable sources by 2015. To reach this goal, Nova Scotians will pay $10 to $20 a year more for electricity, Dexter said.

"I think that nobody is happy with a power increase, but the reality is that the price of electricity over the last 10 years has gone up 37 per cent because we are on fossil fuels," he said. "So, in the long term, this will mean more stable pricing; it will actually put the energy costs in this province in a more affordable frame and more stable for the long term."

For these plans to become reality, a new power line will have to be built, government officials say.

"We are committed to strengthening the grid in the region," Dexter said. "If we are going to truly unlock the economic potential of the Atlantic region, it will be heavily dependent on having an appropriate grid system."

The president of RMSenergy, the Pictou County company that owns the Dalhousie Mountain wind farm, said it took three years for the 51-megawatt wind project to become a reality, and the new targets and initiatives will give wind developers more confidence to keep building.

"I definitely see that it offers the support and the confidence to go ahead," said Reuben Burge, president of the privately owned company. "We know we are going in that direction and we have to meet it, and those are huge targets."

Under the new plan, 200 megawatts of the renewable power will be split evenly between Nova Scotia Power and large independent power producers.

Nova Scotia Power, the province’s largest utility, believes the new targets can be met.

"I think we can get there," said Robin MacAdam, the company’s vice-president of sustainability, who was one of about 100 people on hand for the announcement. "I think they are stretch targets but they are achievable."

The province also took a "cautious approach" to burning wood waste for electricity as part of the renewable energy targets. It’s proposing a yearly cap of 500,000 tonnes of biomass to generate electricity and 150,000 tonnes to co-fire power plants.

The government says it will review the use of biomass for post-2015 use.

The province will also set up a fixed price or feed-in tariffs for the 100 megawatts that will be generated by community-based producers or smaller developments. A new renewable electricity administrator will oversee competition among independents to ensure fairness and best value for customers, Dexter said.

Many of these initiatives come from recommendations made in a report by Dalhousie University professors David Wheeler and Michelle Adams, whom the government hired last year to review options available to the province for meeting its goal of generating 25 per cent of its electricity through renewable sources by 2015.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1178898.html

Energy strategy out today

Environmentalist: Dexter government should focus on renewable sources
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Fri. Apr 23 - 4:54 AM

Environmentalist Mark Butler is hoping the Dexter government will move to turbo-charge renewable energy generation in the province when it releases its new electrical strategy today.

"We want to see conditions that allow renewable energy to develop and flourish in this province," Butler, a spokesman for the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, said Thursday.

"Because, unlike some other provinces, we don’t have lots of our own oil and gas, and eventually that will run out. But we do have abundant wind and water."

The backdrop for Dexter’s announcement will be RMSenergy’s 30-turbine wind farm in Pictou County. It is the only one of six wind farms that Nova Scotia Power signed contracts with two years ago that met the deadline to supply renewable energy to the utility by late 2009.

The other projects have been delayed by the bad credit markets or were unable to get off the ground.

To kick-start the industry, Butler said the premier may announce the establishment of "feed-in tariffs," which would set a standard price for renewable energy producers and boost the amount of renewable power in the utilities’ energy mix.

"It provides the right atmosphere for investment and certain guarantee return on renewable energy," said Butler.

"It’s a way to get your industry started."

The idea of adopting "feed-in tariffs" was one of 25 recommendations recently made to the Dexter government by Dalhousie University professors David Wheeler and Michelle Adams in a report for a new Renewable Energy Strategy for Nova Scotia.

Butler said the government may also announce new renewable targets as outlined in the Wheeler-Adams report, which suggested that 40 per cent of energy come from renewable sources by 2020.

Under current regulations Nova Scotia Power must get 25 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2015.

Nova Scotia Power currently generates 10 to 12 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources, such as wind, hydro and tidal.

Butler said he wonders if Dexter will attempt to break-up Nova Scotia Power’s monopoly and allow renewable energy producers to sell at the retail level.

"That’s something we would be interested in seeing over time," he.

One of the most controversial recommendations from the Wheeler-Adams report is the use of biomass as part of the province’s energy mix.

"We hope the strategy does not recognize biomass or large scale biomass, or biomass for electricity as suitable for the feed-in tariffs. Our interest is in seeing wind developed and energy efficiency," said Butler.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1178769.html

Rezoning for wind project appealed

By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Fri. Apr 23 - 4:54 AM

A retired couple living near a proposed wind farm and an environmental group are appealing Antigonish County council’s decision to rezone land for the energy development.

Helen and Donald Brown and the Eco Awareness Society are appealing the decision to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, which announced Wednesday that the appeal will be held on May 11 at the Antigonish Municipal Council Chambers on Beech Hill Road, Antigonish.

Council approved the rezoning of nine Antigonish properties last February. The rezoning opened the door for Shear Wind Inc. to proceed with a $150-million wind project that will see 30 turbines erected along the boundary of Pictou and Antigonish counties.

The company wants to install 14 turbines in Antigonish County and the remainder near Baileys Brook, Pictou County.

Called the Glen Dhu wind farm, it is scheduled to begin producing enough electricity to power 17,500 homes by the end of this year.

From their home, the Browns will be able to see eight of the 30 turbines. The turbines will be located within 1.5 kilometres of their residence.

In a February interview with The Chronicle Herald, Donald Brown, 81, of Glen Dhu Road, Baileys Brook, outlined his opposition to the wind project.

At the time he said he and his wife retired to the area eight years ago from Toronto for the "view and the solitude."

He also said he had "great fears that the turbines will interfere with our lives."

In the interview, he also said that he was not disappointed with Antigonish council’s decision to rezone the land because the project meets local zoning regulations.

However, he said he did have concerns about new information regarding the effect wind turbines had on human health and expressed concerns that the appropriate distance between turbines and homes is being ignored.

Shear Wind also received provincial environmental approval for the 60-megawatt electricity project last February.

In Pictou County, wind turbines must be 600 metres from the nearest home. Antigonish adopted regulations last summer requiring the setback to be one kilometre, or 1,000 metres.

Unlike Antigonish County, Pictou County bylaws do not require the rezoning of the land proposed for wind turbines. Proponents there can get permits for wind projects as long as they meet the county’s setback.

Glen Dhu was supposed to be operating by now, but Shear Wind was unable to secure financing for the capital-intensive project until late last year when Inveravante, a privately held Spanish utility conglomerate, bought a 62 per cent stake in Shear Wind for $27 million.

Shares in the company were down one cent Wednesday, closing at 21 cents a share on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1178716.html

Rate hikes could spur backlash, NSP warned

Expert: Make green efforts gradually
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Wed. Apr 21 - 4:53 AM

Nova Scotia Power could face customer backlash over hiking power rates $2 per month next year to cover the cost of spending almost $42 million on energy conservation programs, a U.S. energy consultant told government regulators Tuesday in Halifax.

"If you ramp up too fast, people become more aware of the cost (and) less thinking about the benefits. If you go too fast, you get a ratepayer reaction because it becomes centred in people’s minds and they raise the questions about equity. ‘What am I getting out of this?’ " testified H. Gil Peach, of Beaverton, Ore.

Peach was appearing before the Utility and Review Board on the second day of a hearing into Nova Scotia Power’s plans for energy conservation programs in 2011.

The private utility wants to spend 3.5 per cent of the utility’s revenues, or $41.9 million, on energy conservation, which is among the highest rates in North America.

The proposed 2011 budget for energy efficiency would increase to $41.9 million from $22.6 million in 2010.

These measures include energy-saving light bulbs, expanding a small business lighting program and a $200 rebate on energy-efficient clothes washers.

The company argues that if customers reduce their electricity consumption, it will generate savings of more than $190 million because the utility will be burning less fuel to generate electricity.

Peach said Nova Scotia Power’s plans are ambitious. He’s aware of three electric utilities in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania that spent about two per cent of their revenues over the past two years.

The consultant said most electric utilities can count on everybody supporting energy conservations programs because it’s a "sensible approach," but he suggested a cautionary approach to introducing the programs.

"A dollar to a low-income person means so much more than a dollar to an upper-income person. All those things have to be thought of. There has to be awareness of these things," he said.

"It’s an obligation of duty whenever you take dollars from a ratepayer, even for a good purpose, to make sure they are spent wisely, they give the highest return you can get and a consideration of balance and equity among the various ratepayers groups."

Peach said the utility must communicate with residential, business and large industrial customers the benefits of the programs and ensure each dollar is spent wisely.

"As in all things that are regulated, there has to be balance. There has to be ramp-up. You have to be aware of keeping all the ratepayers happy — as many of the groups as you can," he said.

John Merrick, the province’s consumer advocate, referred to the plans as "robust," and wondered how important it is to ensure they are balanced and accessible to customers.

"The dollars are collected from large industry, who might use those dollars elsewhere to invest in (their) plant, equipment and jobs, or from low-income customers for whom a couple of dollars might be everything they’ve got discretionary. So, you’ve got this heat-or-eat thing that goes on," said Peach, who was hired by the board to evaluate the current programs.

Merrick has questioned the company about how it determines which programs are priorities and how they will be evaluated.

Later this year, the utility will transfer responsibility for implementing the conservation programs to a new government agency called Efficiency Nova Scotia Corp.

The board has reserved its decision.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1178334.html

Saving is going to cost

NSP wants to raise power bills to pay for energy-saving programs
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Tue. Apr 20 - 4:53 AM

NOVA SCOTIA Power wants to hike residential power bills an extra $4 to cover the cost of introducing new energy-efficiency programs.

Hearings began Monday before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board into the power company’s plan to spend $41.9 million in 2011 on energy conservation programs for its customers.

These measures include: energy-saving light bulbs, expanding a small business lighting program and a $200 rebate on energy-efficient clothes washers.

The company argues that if customers reduce their electricity consumption, it will generate savings of more than $190 million because the utility will be burning less fuel to generate electricity.

"There is no cheaper, cleaner kilowatt hour than the one we don’t have to produce," said Nova Scotia Power vice-president Alan Richardson, in an opening statement Monday.

The proposed budget for 2011 on energy efficiency would increase to $41.9 million from $22.6 million in 2010.

Richardson said the utility is having trouble getting the message out to customers about the savings from energy conservation.

"Perhaps it is sign of our times, but the public discussion of conservation and energy efficiency seems to most often focus on the costs, with, in many cases, little or no mention of the benefits," said Richardson.

The vice-chairman of the board said Nova Scotia Power customers don’t know the benefits and should be told in an "understandable" way about the potential savings of the program, since they are footing the $41.9- million bill.

"Going green is good, and it’s necessary, but it’s not cheap. I think people should have a clear understanding of that, and that if they participate, they will see savings. It’s not just the environment that will be protected; it will actually save money at some point," Margaret Shears, the review board’s vice-chair, told Nova Scotia Power executives appearing at the hearing.

Richardson said the company still has "a long way to go" before customers really understand how good the deal will be for their pocketbook.

Nova Scotia’s consumer advocate John Merrick questioned the company about which programs are priorities and how they will be evaluated.

He said the energy conservation programs have a "socially beneficial goal" and may not be getting a rigorous examination.

"It’s easier to be for it, than against it," he suggested.

If Nova Scotia Power came before the board asking to spend $41 million on vegetation control, a new fleet of vehicles or enhancements to the pension plan, would the utility face tougher questions? he asked.

"Don’t you think that kind of use of money might attract more of a critical attention?"

Richardson said it may appear that way but the program offers a "strong business case" and must still be reviewed by the board and go before a public hearing.

Richardson admitted the utility wants to spend 3.5 per cent of the utility’s revenues, or $41.9 million, on energy conservation, which is among the highest rates in North America.

"If you think about what it is doing — replacing a power plant — it would make sense that it’s going to be significant. It has to be a significant expenditure if it is going to accomplish that goal," Richardson told the three-member panel hearing the case.

The utility is hoping that by 2020, electricity consumption in the province could be five per cent lower that it is today.

Fiona Traynor, of the Affordable Energy Coalition, pointed out that 50,000 renters in Nova Scotia are unable to take advantage of these programs, even though they fund the measures through their power bills.

John Aguinaga, Nova Scotia Power manager of conservation and energy, admitted renters only have access to using energy-efficient light bulbs, but the utility will try and overcome that barrier.

"It makes it very challenging to have a program that accommodates people that rent, (that) don’t own the devices that are using electricity, and yet are paying their electricity bill."

Later this year, the utility will transfer responsibility for implementing the new conservation programs to a new government agency called Efficiency Nova Scotia Corp.

The hearing resumes today in Halifax.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1178233.html

NSP wants fast ruling on project

By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu. Apr 15 - 4:55 AM

Nova Scotia Power is asking government regulators to make a decision by Oct. 1 on its controversial proposal to spend $200 million on a power plant fuelled by burning waste wood in Cape Breton.

The utility says it needs the decision in a timely manner to purchase key equipment for the project and to ensure it meets the in-service date of late 2012, the company states in pre-evidence filed with the Utility and Review Board.

The regulator has scheduled a hearing starting July 26 into the biomass project at the board’s offices in downtown Halifax.

Under the proposed project announced earlier this month, Nova Scotia Power is the key investor and papermaker NewPage Port Hawkesbury will be responsible for the operation and supplying the biomass to the mill for the next 40 years.

Nova Scotia Power says it needs the energy to meet the provincial government’s new regulations to curb pollution.

By 2011, five per cent of Nova Scotia Power’s energy generation must come from renewable sources constructed in the province after 2001, and owned and operated by independent power producers.

In 2013, the requirement increases by an additional five per cent and must come through generation from Nova Scotia Power-owned facilities, the utility says.

This proposed biomass project will comply with the new renewable energy regulations and is the "lower-cost solution for Nova Scotia Power customers," the utility states.

Nova Scotia Power is seeking board approval to purchase land, a boiler and other related assets from NewPage, and installation of a steam generator and other equipment, at a total cost of $208.6 million, it states.

Nova Scotia Power says its analysis has found the "long-term cost" of generation from this source is similar to or less than the cost of comparable wind generation and a lower cost than the previous proposal that was rejected by the board last July.

The board said then it lacked the authority to approve in advance Nova Scotia Power’s plan to buy electricity from NewPage.

This time, Nova Scotia Power is submitting the proposal as a capital expenditure, not a power purchase agreement. The utility requires board approval on any capital expenditures exceeding $25,000.

The new plant will require 650,000 tonnes of biomass a year. Half of the biomass will be harvested, and about half of that will come from Crown land as outlined in a new 25-year deal the Dexter government and NewPage signed to allow the harvest of 170,000 tonnes annually.

Anyone wishing to have formal standing at the hearing to present evidence or cross-examine witnesses must notify the board by April 28.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1177315.html

CBC's Mike Hlinka comments on economics of wind energy

Michael Hlinka: Ontario's energy policy decisions are 100% wrong-headed

April 13, 2010 1:50 PM

by Ian Johnson

The past couple of days have been full of news about Ontario's energy future. Close to 200 different alternative energy projects were announced, intended to yield 2,500 megawatts of power.

The big emphasis is on wind power. Premiere Dalton McGuinty claims that 20,000 new jobs, both direct and indirect, will be created, at a total cost of $8 billion.

That's a lot of money, which is why a business columnist is weighing in. And whether you live in this province or not, this strategic direction profoundly affects you. I've got some bad news: Ontario's energy policy decisions are 100 per cent wrong-headed and the best hope is that other provinces will learn from the error of our ways.

This all started with a decision to replace coal-fired plants. It was a decision based on the belief that CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming. On more than once occasion, I have expressed my skepticism about this theory. That's what it is - theory, not fact. But like they would say in a Court of Law, for argument's sake ... let's accept this to be true: CO2 emissions lead to potentially calamitous climate change, and every jurisdiction should do everything in its power to reduce CO2 emissions. The question, then, it seems to me, is what should a province like Ontario do to reduce its carbon footprint, and supply the necessary energy to power a developed economy?

This province's approach has been to replace coal with other sources, like wind. There are any number of problems here, the first of which is that wind power is not economically viable. The proof is that the government is subsidizing the sector, to the tune of $8 billion. It can't compete on a level playing field with other technologies that exist today, including clean natural gas and nuclear ... alternatives that could meet our energy needs more effectively. Because the problem with wind is that it doesn't always blow.

And let's talk about these "20,000" jobs for a moment. If you do the arithmetic, it works out to $400,000 per job - the most ineffective use of public funds since the auto bail-out!

Ah... the auto bail-out. Remember that? It was about subsidizing a manufacturing industry that creates more CO2 emissions than any other sector. And that's both comically ironic and tragic.

Enlightened energy policy begins... and ends... with conservation. The technology exists today to make our car fleet 50 per cent more efficient. The technology exists today to reduce power consumption in our homes by up to 75 per cent. This is where scarce resources could and should be directed.

And who pays for this truly horrible public policy? Everyone in Canada. Because my province, Ontario, already a have-not, has just dug itself into that much deeper a hole that everyone in this country is responsible for helping us get out of.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/moneytalks/2010/04/michael-hlinka-ontarios-energy-policy-decisions-are-100-wrong-headed.html

Glen Dhu project benefits from strong dollar

Wind farm developer will soon buy 30 turbines
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Sat. Apr 10 - 4:53 AM

In his former job as a Nova Scotia seafood executive, Mike Magnus never talked about the benefits of a higher Canadian dollar.

But these days, the former Clearwater vice-president turned wind developer is downright ecstatic with the loonie reaching parity with the U.S. greenback.

"It’s nice. I feel for the exporters in my former life, we never liked to see the stronger dollar, but in this life I want the dollar to become as strong as possible," said Magnus, president of Shear Wind Inc. of Bedford, on Friday.

Shear Wind executives are in the final stages of negotiations to purchase 30 wind turbines from either a European or U.S. supplier for the company’s proposed $150-million Glen Dhu wind farm located along the border of Pictou and Antigonish counties.

"We’ve been non-committal because of where the Canadian dollar has changed dramatically over the last three months and 12 months," he said. "When you are looking at U.S. suppliers and European suppliers, it has worked in our favour, so part of it has been by design and just waiting to see where the dollar is going to go."

Magnus knows the company must reach a decision soon on wind turbines to ensure the company meets its deadline to generate 60 megawatts of wind power by the end of 2010 for Nova Scotia Power, or face a $1-million penalty.

"It will be very shortly," he said. "I can’t give a specific date. This is a business; sometimes pinning down dates and months (is) not an easy feat."

The company is trying to secure financing after it tried unsuccessfully last year, as the entire wind market was slowed by the global financial crisis.

He said the company has two options: either European banks or North American life insurance companies.

In the meantime, the energy project has got a head start on the construction site with Nova Scotia’s early spring, Magnus said.

"We’ve been working on roads for the last six to eight weeks and it has been spectacular. Those are one of the things we’ve been able to capitalize on in our scheduling," he said.

The Glen Dhu project was supposed to be operating by now, but Shear Wind was unable to get financing. Then late last year, Inveravante, a privately held Spanish utility conglomerate, bought a 62 per cent stake in Shear Wind for $27 million.

Shares in Shear Wind were down one cent Friday, trading at 23 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1176358.html

Wind workshop set for Bible Hill

Fri. Apr 9 - 4:54 AM

BIBLE HILL — A free day-long workshop on wind energy will be held here later this month.

"It would be for those people who own a bigger piece of land, typically farmers, woodlot owners or municipalities, who might be thinking about using wind energy," said Wayne Groszko, renewable energy co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax.

"It’s for those who either might want to use wind power on their land or to lease their land for wind power generation."

The workshop will be held April 23 at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.

More information is available at www.nsac.ca/wind.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1176198.html

NSP faces opposition over biomass plan

By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Wed. Apr 7 - 4:54 AM

Provincial woodlot owners and Nova Scotia’s largest environmental group will be lining up against Nova Scotia Power Inc.’s proposed $200-million power plant fuelled by burning wood waste in Cape Breton.

The groups are concerned about Nova Scotia Power using forest biomass at a new power plant at NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp.’s mill in Cape Breton to meet tough new pollution regulations.

"No one is really presenting any evidence that it is sustainable. . . . There is no science to suggest it is a sustainable practice," said Wade Prest, a small woodlot owner and director of the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association, on Tuesday.

Under the proposed project announced Monday, Nova Scotia Power will be the key investor in the energy project and papermaker NewPage Port Hawkesbury will be responsible for the operation and supplying the biomass to the mill for the next 40 years.

Prest, of Moose River, has been supplying NewPage’s mill for the past 25 years. He said the economics of the biomass energy project require the lowest-cost supply of forest products and will marginalize small woodlot owners.

"The one thing that really concerns us is this whole biomass-to-energy concept requires that the biomass fuel be very, very, very low cost in order to make it economically viable. . . . The only way to keep those costs down are to use very capital-intensive operations with expensive machinery," he said.

"The need for this biomass fuel to be low cost is what makes it impossible to conduct forestry operations in a manner that is ecologically sustainable.

"Many woodlot owners can be convinced that the opportunity to sell dead, dying or deformed wood is a chance to get their woodlot cleaned up and in shape. All this defective wood serves a very important ecological role, and it’s absolutely critical that enough of that be left behind after harvest to maintain the ecological integrity of the forest."

Jamie Simpson, a forester with the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, opposes the proposed biomass project, and said burning wood will add more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

"In the short term, it’s actually worse than burning coal. It’s actually 17 per cent more carbon going into the atmosphere per unit of energy produced than you get if you are burning coal," said Simpson. "I still think we have more sensible ways to produce our renewable energy."

Simpson opposes the project and recommends using farm-based biomass in the near term.

"If we are concerned about carbon, it would make a lot more sense to focus on marginal farmland using short rotation crops such as grasses or willows or alders. It would be a beneficial thing both in terms of producing energy and carbon storage," Simpson said Tuesday.

The new plant will require 650,000 tonnes of biomass a year. Half of the biomass will be harvested and about half of that will come from Crown land as outlined in a new 25-year deal the Dexter government and NewPage signed to allow the harvest of 170,000 tonnes annually.

Only "stem wood" will be used in the project’s biomass energy generation. Tree stumps, tops and branches will not be removed from the forest floor, as they are necessary in restoring nutrients to the soil so new trees can grow, says NewPage.

"Clearly it is sustainable," said Bill Stewart, NewPage director of woodlands and strategic initiatives, on Monday.

Nova Scotia Power is targeting an in-service date of 2012 and must get regulatory approval from the Utility and Review Board, which rejected a similar bid last summer.

Last July, the board said it lacked the authority to approve in advance Nova Scotia’s plan to buy electricity from NewPage, under the previous proposal.

This time, Nova Scotia Power is submitting the proposal as a capital expenditure, not a power purchase agreement. The utility requires board approval on any capital expenditures exceeding $25,000.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1175963.html

Biomass plant proposed

Nova Scotia Power and NewPage partner on $200m facility to power 50,000 homes
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Tue. Apr 6 - 4:53 AM

NOVA SCOTIA POWER is hoping it will have more success the second time around in getting approval to spend $200 million to fire up a new biomass generation facility with papermaker NewPage Port Hawkesbury, it announced Monday.

The biomass-fuelled plant at the Cape Breton mill could supply Nova Scotians with approximately three per cent of the province’s total electricity requirement, enough for about 50,000 homes annually.

"We are working with one of our largest customers to sustainably displace imported fossil fuels, a project that will benefit the environment and economy in Nova Scotia," Robin McAdam, vice-president of sustainability for Nova Scotia Power, said Monday.

The proposed project is targeting an in-service date of late 2012 and must get regulatory approval from the Utility and Review Board, which rejected a similar bid.

Last July, the board said it lacked the authority to approve in advance Nova Scotia Power’s untendered $60-million plan to buy electricity from NewPage.

The board also criticized the controversial application as incomplete and poorly documented.

"We think the economics are a bit better than last time and the impact to ratepayers is favourable," said McAdam. "Nova Scotia Power is the investor in this version of the project, and it will go forward to the URB as a capital work order application."

The previous application was a power purchase agreement whereby NewPage and Strait Bio-Gen proposed to generate electricity at Port Hawkesbury and sell it to Nova Scotia Power.

"There are a few things different. It is not structured as a power purchase agreement anymore," said McAdam.

Also, the proposed project has received the blessing of Nova Scotia Power’s board of directors in advance of regulatory hearings, he said. In the previous application, the utility’s board had not sanctioned the project before it went before government regulators.

Nova Scotia Power will pay NewPage an undisclosed amount for fuel supply and operating services over the 40-year life of the project, said McAdam.

As the key investor, Nova Scotia Power wants to spend $93 million in construction costs for new facilities, $80 million to purchase assets from NewPage, and other related costs. NewPage will be responsible for the construction and operation of the plant.

The energy project is expected to create an estimated 150 jobs in northern Nova Scotia, primarily in the forestry sector, in addition to maintaining the Port Hawkesbury mill’s existing workforce of about 550 employees, said Bill Stewart, NewPage director of woodlands and strategic initiatives.

"Clearly it is sustainable," said Stewart. "We’re confident that we probably have twice the biomass that we need. So, we very definitely believe there is a very secure, long-term supply."

As a co-generation energy project, NewPage will get the steam coming from the boiler that’s generating electricity and is used in manufacturing paper.

Only "stem wood" will be used in the project’s biomass energy generation. Tree stumps, tops and branches will not be removed from the forest floor, as they are necessary in restoring nutrients to the soil so new trees can grow.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1175769.html