Clear Power Canada is a clear power assume tank on the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser College. By means of media briefs, we purpose to offer helpful factual and contextual data associated to Canada’s clear power transition. Please use this as a useful resource, and tell us if there are any matters that you just wish to see for future media briefs.
A handful of influential B.C.-based organizations and commentators have made claims about B.C.’s power system this previous yr that we imagine are misinformed and prone to mislead British Columbians. To set the document straight, Clear Power Canada is releasing a particular media temporary to answer 4 consequential myths we’ve seen seem again and again.
Declare: Deploying EVs and warmth pumps will overwhelm our power grid, and due to this fact governments ought to undo efforts to assist EVs and warmth pumps.
Reality: Electrical energy demand for EVs could be very manageable, whereas warmth pumps enormously enhance power effectivity.
- BC Hydro estimates that present EV gross sales necessities will improve electrical energy demand by 2% in 2030, constant with different international forecasts. Long run, because the variety of EVs climbs and their share of total electrical energy demand grows, that development is unfold over 30 years, offering BC Hydro ample time to carry assets and grid upgrades on-line.
- Warmth pumps use considerably much less electrical energy than baseboard heating, decreasing grid demand and saving cash for the 40% of B.C. households heating their houses this manner. A warmth pump can also be three to 5 occasions extra power environment friendly total than a pure fuel furnace, leading to much less electrical energy demand than some commenters have assumed. In actual fact, a forthcoming Clear Power Canada report reveals {that a} typical B.C. family transitioning from a pure fuel furnace to a warmth pump is anticipated to save lots of $550 a yr.
Declare: Importing electrical energy from different jurisdictions drives up prices and means B.C. can’t meet its personal demand for electrical energy.
Reality: B.C. each imports and exports electrical energy, a follow that retains charges decrease for shoppers.
- B.C. advantages considerably from electrical energy commerce with its neighbours. Importing and exporting electrical energy helps us handle our system in a way that retains charges extra inexpensive for patrons. Over the past decade and a half, B.C. was a internet importer in seven years and a internet exporter within the different eight (together with through the interval from 2019 to 2023).
- With extra of our companions deploying bigger portions of low-cost renewables—and producing a surplus of power at sure occasions of the day—B.C. is ready to purchase energy when costs are low, serving to preserve water in our reservoirs for durations of excessive demand, like through the winter months.
Declare: B.C. doesn’t have sufficient electrical energy to fulfill its local weather commitments.
Reality: BC Hydro has taken various steps to make sure it’s bringing on-line the assets it requires.
- In January, BC Hydro introduced its intention to take a position $36 billion over the subsequent 10 years to assist the expansion of B.C.’s electrical energy system, a 50% improve in deliberate spending in comparison with 2023.
- Extra capability is being introduced on-line by means of Web site C, which might be operational in 2025 and add 8% to B.C.’s grid capability. The latest 2024 BC Hydro name for energy will add one other 5% capability to the province’s electrical energy grid, beginning in 2029.
- In September 2024, BC Hydro introduced it had obtained 21 proposals from unbiased energy producers representing thrice the quantity of electrical energy era wanted in its name for energy, indicating {that a} sturdy pipeline of initiatives exists in B.C. to fulfill rising demand.
Declare: Renewables like wind and photo voltaic can’t present the dependable energy B.C. wants as electrical energy demand grows.
Reality: Renewables are extraordinarily cost-competitive, work in tandem with different applied sciences, and are already getting used efficiently at scale in different nations.
- Wind and photo voltaic globally are the most cost effective sources of energy. An evaluation from Clear Power Canada discovered that photo voltaic and wind with battery storage are set to supply cheaper electrical energy than pure fuel in Alberta and Ontario, and this pattern is anticipated to be related for B.C.
- Whereas wind and photo voltaic are variable assets, options are obtainable to enrich them, from batteries and dispatchable energy, to stronger grids and interconnections, to technological demand-side measures (ie. storing and sending energy the place and when it’s wanted). These choices can allow comparatively excessive shares of wind and photo voltaic on a grid.
- A have a look at different nations world wide provides loads of examples of excessive wind and photo voltaic shares, resembling 67% in Denmark, round 40% in Germany and the Netherlands, and 28% in Australia. In a situation the place Canada achieves a net-zero economic system by 2050, wind and photo voltaic could be accountable for under 30% to 40% of required electrical energy manufacturing, lower than some nations produce in the present day.
