Media Clipping – Thursday, November 23, 2006, The Chronicle Herald

Green energy, bigger bill

NSP customers will pay more to help meet alternative energy targets, utility says

By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter

More green energy could have Nova Scotia Power customers seeing red.

The province's largest electrical utility is forecasting higher power bills for consumers if it is forced to comply with new government targets requiring NSP to produce at least 20 per cent of its power from wind, solar and tidal power and other sources by 2013.

The Halifax-based utility now generates about 10 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources.

"The timing and quantity proposed in the draft regulations will result in increased costs to the electricity customers of NSPI," the utility wrote Nov. 10 in a brief to the Energy Department.

NSP says it could cost more than $1.1 billion to buy new wind turbines to increase the amount of electricity generated by wind and another $30 million to $60 million per year to operate them. And the utility expects to shell out $23 million more for natural gas to operate its gas-fired combustion turbines as backup power in case of a lull in wind power.

"The proposed 2013 standard (doubling its current percentage) of energy from renewable sources may not be technically achievable," Nova Scotia Power wrote.

The utility also said gearing down its coal-fired power plants to accommodate electricity generated by wind power could cause more pollution.

"Given the proposed renewable requirements, large existing facilities' output would need to be reduced, and under these conditions these large facilities become less cost-effective and (put out) more emissions per unit of electricity produced," the company said in the brief.

NSP said it is not making these statements "lightly" but wondered whether the goal of using more green energy "works best for Nova Scotians."

The province's largest environmental group said NSP is making "excuses" for not meeting such "modest" targets.

"They're using tricky language to confuse the issue," Brendan Haley of the Ecology Action Centre said in an interview Wednesday.

NSP claims more pollution will be produced per kilowatt hour in gearing down the power plants, he said, but at the same time overall pollution will decline because less electricity will be produced by "their dirty coal plants."

Ron Coleman of GPI Atlantic said using more renewable energy in the province's energy mix is a public policy issue, and the Nova Scotia government must take a strong leadership role.

"It's a societal decision — investing in Nova Scotia's future," Mr. Coleman, head of the independent research group, based in Glen Haven, said Wednesday.

"It's not just a company decision that shareholders alone are responsible for; it's (a) bigger one."

Nova Scotia Power's comments came after the Mac-Donald government announced plans earlier this fall to introduce rules that would "compel" the utility to purchase more renewable energy in the future.

NSP voluntarily uses about 12 per cent of renewable energy sources in its fuel mix and welcomes the government's decision to increase its renewable targets, spokeswoman Glennie Langille said at that time.

"We were absolutely expecting this, and we are on the same track as the government," she said.

( jmyrden@herald.ca )

© 2006 The Halifax Herald Limited