I HAD THE IMPRESSION the provincial government restricted Nova Scotia Power Inc. from getting directly involved in wind generation, but the real answer is more complicated than that.
It turns out Nova Scotia Power always had the ability to build its own wind farm, according to an Energy Department spokesman who called me on Friday to clarify the issue.
In my Friday column, I indicated the government had relaxed its rules to allow the power company to acquire a wind farm. I thought the government’s original plan was for Nova Scotia Power to acquire green power from a number of independent power producers, rather than allow it to further expand its control over power production in Nova Scotia by developing its own sources of renewable energy.
Part of reason for the misunderstanding comes from the energy minister himself.
In a report that aired on the CBC on March 16, Energy Minister Barry Barnet said allowing Nova Scotia Power to invest in independent wind power producers would help solve a cash crunch faced by many of the independent power producers and, at the same time, help the power company develop green energy vendors that would allow the utility to meet its renewable energy targets.
"I think there was kind of a mutual coming-of-the-minds that this is the way we can meet each other’s objectives," Barnet was quoted by the CBC. "It’s imbedded within the regulation and I’m not sure why it was put in there in the first place. The idea was to have the independent producers have the ability to operate separately from Nova Scotia Power."
Earlier this week, rather than simply investing in an independent power producer, it was revealed the power company had acquired all of the rights to a proposed wind farm on Nuttby Mountain from a financially troubled, independent power developer.
Energy Department spokesman Matthew Lumley told me on Friday that Nova Scotia Power always had the right to build its own sources of renewable power. Whatever green power NSP produces, however, would not be included when calculating the amount of green energy it acquires from independent power producers.
According the renewable power regulations, the power company is required to hit targets for acquiring power from independent producers by 2010. And a second overall green energy target, which could include renewable power Nova Scotia Power produces itself by the year 2013.
If it doesn’t meet the renewable power targets, he says, Nova Scotia Power will face a financial penalties.
Earlier this year the power company signed deals with a number of independent producers to bring wind energy on line by the end of the year. Nuttby Mountain was among those projects.
Now that Nova Scotia Power owns the Nuttby project its electrical production won’t be allowed to be included when determining how much green power the utility acquires from independent power producers, Lumley says.
The government’s goal is to find a way of getting more green energy onto the grid, says Lumley.
The government is very aware of Nova Scotia’s heavy reliance on coal-based fuels for power generation and therefore wanted to "green the grid," he says.
But that goal has to be achieved in a way that is sensitive to the needs of people on fixed incomes, seniors and small and large businesses that are particularly sensitive to changes in power rates.
Lumley admits the efforts, and the regulations that go with it, to generate electricity from more renewable energy can seem complicated. "If you lift one hat . . . it’s like there are 15 more hats underneath it."
Meanwhile, he says Nova Scotia Power will need to receive permission from the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board before it starts spending money to build the Nuttby Mountain wind farm.
No comments:
Post a Comment