First Round of Renewable Energy Proposals

On a somewhat historic day, Friday was the deadline for submissions in response to NS Power's Request for Proposals (RFP) of 130MW of renewable energy. This RFP is the first step from NS Power to address the Renewable Standards Portfolio that the NS Government implemented, which states that NS Power must increase the proportion of energy it gets from renewable sources by 10%. At the time, NS Power got 8.3% of its electricity from renewable sources, 7.3% of this was from small hydro energy, and 1% was from wind energy. It is commonly reported that NS Power has to increase it's renewable sources to 20%, but it is in fact only 18.3%. Read the story from the front page of the Chronicle Herald business section here

Projects from all over the province were proposed, and to my knowledge these projects were almost exclusively based on wind energy. The main reason for this, is that although NS Power was told to increase the amount of renewable energy it used, they were told how they had to procure that electricity. Once their legislative requirements are met, NS Power is responsible for the best interests of its shareholders. In order to maximize the profitability of their newly acquired renewable energy, NS Power will be deciding the results from this RFP almost exclusively on a "lowest cost basis". The Ecology Action Centre issued a great press release on the downfalls of this tendering process which was picked up by the Chronicle Herald here. Wind energy is the most cost effective source of renewable electricity, therefore, it is the renewable source of choice under this system. One issue that isn't addressed in the EAC article is that if we are truly committed to moving towards a completely renewable electricity system, we will have to develop a diverse portfolio of renewable energies such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and sustainable biomass. What is most cost effective today doesn't relate to what is most sustainable for the future.

Despite these drawbacks, this is generally still a positive step for Nova Scotia. Currently, there is about 60MW of wind energy installed in Nova Scotia, and projects from this RFP will add over twice that. These new projects will be enough to power 40,000 homes. NS Power has publicly committed to announcing the successful projects by October 1st.

I imagine that NS Power will try to use these new projects to promote themselves as being "green" or environmentally friendly. Their public image could certainly use some work. In a recent national survey, NS Power ranked second last in the country. Read all about it here. Despite all of these new projects, the new electricity will only be used to match the increase in electricity in this province, which is approximately 3%/year. NS Power's four coal burning thermal plants will continue to operate uninhibited, emitting enough Greenhouse Gases to make NS Power the 6th largest polluter in Canada.

Stay tuned to NS Power's promotional efforts surrounding these projects, as I'm sure it will be entertaining. October promises to be an exciting month.