Premier Blaine Higgs says he isn’t sure that a proposed interprovincial power-sharing megaproject will be able to fulfill the Atlantic region’s power needs.
The four Atlantic premiers called on Ottawa last week to come to set out clear timelines and funding commitments for the Atlantic Loop project, which would see clean hydro power from Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador flow through the Maritimes through an upgraded transmission network.
B-t Higgs isn’t sure that will be enough to replace fossil fuel generated power.
“Even at the current projections, it cannot fulfill the needs of the Atlantic region,” Higgs said during a press conference after a meeting of the Council of Atlantic Premiers last week.
The Atlantic Loop project has often been heralded as a key component to help the Maritime provinces meet federal clean power targets in the next decade. Coal and oil power account for about one-fifth of New Brunswick’s power generation alone, but won’t be able to be burned for power after 2030 and 2035 respectively.
According to a discussion paper released by the Atlantica Centre for Energy, a Saint John-based energy research group, the loss of coal and oil power will cause the province’s generation capacity to fall by about half.
“That’s a significant portion of our baseload, which means that is a constant electricity that can support, especially given our winter climate, those peaks in demand when we have those really, really cold days,” said Atlantica’s president Michelle Robichaud.
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New Brunswick had pursued an equivalency agreement with the federal government to allow the province’s Belledune coal-powered generating station to remain operational past the 2030 deadline, promising comparable carbon emission reductions elsewhere, but that was ultimately rejected. The 450-megawatt plant had an original lifespan that would have kept it in operation to 2040.
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Higgs has said that the coal and oil phase out being implemented by the federal government should be delayed in order to allow other technologies to come online and replace that baseload power.
“Where we are right now is in the transition of going to a greener economy, but what we realize now is there are huge gaps in supply, in timelines and in costs,” he said.
But those perceived gaps are because Higgs has tunnel vision on one particular technology, according to clean energy researcher Louise Comeau.
“If you believe that your only option is small modular nuclear reactors and traditional fossil fuel sources and you don’t invest in the alternatives, then obviously your only solution is going to be to stick with the past options,” said Comeau, the director of climate change and energy policy at the New Brunswick Conservation Council.
There are two companies based in Saint John attempting to develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMR). The first reactor, built by ARC Clean Energy, is due to come online in 2029 and will provide 100 megawatts of power. The other company, Moltex Energy, expects to have a 300-megawatt reactor completed sometime in the 2030s.
Robichaud says that while the technology looks promising there are risks that it isn’t going to be available when the province needs it.
“Is that going to come in time?” she said.
“So if we’re looking at cost and time and the potential to replace some of these fossil fuels it’s something we need to be looking at pretty seriously right now.”
Comeau says a better solution would be to grow the province’s wind and solar capacity, while working to ensure we power and heat the province much more efficiently and depend on the Atlantic Loop project to provide that baseload power.
“We need that firm baseload power, but the fact is that hydro from Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec can act as a battery, there to balance when the wind isn’t blowing and sun isn’t shining,” she said.
But Higgs is concerned that the Atlantic Loop project may not be ready in time to play that role, with timelines and funding sources remaining murky.
“The timelines for big projects like this are significant,” he said.
A spokesperson for the federal department of intergovernmental affairs said that work is ongoing to move the project forward, but there have yet to be firm construction timelines put in place.
“Canada, Quebec, and the Atlantic Provinces and their respective utilities are actively meeting bilaterally and multilaterally through the Atlantic Loop Backbone Working Table to discuss options to advance the Atlantic Loop project. Five work streams have been initiated with provinces and utilities to advance discussions on technical and financial pathways for the project,” Pierre-Alain Bujold wrote in an email.
“As the Canada Infrastructure Bank noted in its spring market update, the bank is participating in discussions and working with all partners to explore financing options to move the project forward.”
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