Electricity News in April 2018
Bruce Power awards $914 million in manufacturing contracts
Bruce Power Major Component Replacement secures Ontario-made nuclear components via $914M contracts, supporting refurbishment, clean energy, low-cost electricity, and advanced manufacturing, extending reactor life to 2064 while boosting jobs, supply chain growth, and economy.
Key Points
A refurbishment program investing $914M in advanced manufacturing to extend reactors and deliver low-cost, clean power.
✅ $914M Ontario-made components for steam generators, tubes, fittings
✅ Extends reactor life to 2064; clean, low-cost electricity for Ontario
✅ Supports 22,000 jobs annually; boosts supply chain and economy
Today, Bruce Power signed $914 million in advanced manufacturing contracts for its Major Component Replacement, which gets underway in 2020, as the reactor refurbishment begins across the site and will allow the site to provide low-cost, carbon-free electricity to Ontario through 2064.
The Major Component Replacement (MCR) Project agreements include:
- $642 million to BWXT Canada Inc. for the manufacturing of 32 steam generators to be produced at BWXT’s Cambridge facility.
- $144 million to Laker Energy Products for end fittings, liners and flow elements, which will be manufactured at its Oakville location.
- $62 million to Cameco Fuel Manufacturing, in Cobourg, for calandria tubes and annulus spacers for all six MCRs.
- $66 million for Nu-Tech Precision Metals, in Arnprior, for the production of zirconium alloy pressure tubes for Units 6 and 3.
Bruce Power’s Life-Extension Program, which started in January 2016 with Asset Management Program investments and includes the MCRs on Units 3-8, remains on time and on budget.”
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By signing these contracts today, we have secured ‘Made in Ontario‘ solutions for the components we will need to successfully complete our MCR Projects, extending the life of our site to 2064,” said Mike Rencheck, Bruce Power’s President and CEO.
“Today’s announcements represent a $914 million investment in Ontario’s highly skilled workforce, which will create untold economic opportunities for the communities in which they operate for many years to come.”We look forward to growing our already excellent relationships with these supplier partners and unions as we work toward our common goal, supported by an operating record, of continuing to keep Canada’s largest infrastructure project on time and on budget."
By extending the life of Bruce Power’s reactors to 2064, the company will create and sustain 22,000 jobs annually, both directly and indirectly, across Ontario, while investing $4 billion a year into the province’s economy, underscoring the economic benefits of nuclear development across Canada.
At the same time, Bruce Power will produce 30 per cent of Ontario’s electricity at 30 per cent less than the average cost to generate residential power, while also producing zero carbon emissions, aligning with Pickering NGS life extensions across the province.The Hon. Glenn Thibeault, Minister of Energy, said today’s announcement is good news for the people of Ontario.”
Bruce Power’s Life-Extension Program makes sense for Ontario, and the announcements made today will create good jobs and benefit our economy for decades to come,” Minister Thibeault said.
“Moving forward with the refurbishment project is part of our government’s plan to support care and opportunity, while producing affordable, reliable and clean energy for the people of Ontario.”Kim Rudd, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and MP for Northumberland-Peterborough South, offered her support and congratulations.”
Related planning includes Bruce C project exploration funding that supports long-term nuclear options in Ontario.
Canada’s nuclear industry, including its advanced manufacturing capability, is respected internationally,” Rudd said. “Bruce Power’s announcement today related to the advanced manufacturing of key components throughout Ontario as part of its Life-Extension Program will allow these suppliers to have a secure base to not only meet Canada’s needs, but export internationally.”
Related News
Kaspersky Lab Discovers Russian Hacker Infrastructure
Crouching Yeti APT targets energy infrastructure with watering-hole attacks, compromising servers to steal credentials and stage intrusions; Kaspersky Lab links the Energetic Bear group to ICS threats across Russia, US, Europe, and Turkey.
Key Points
Crouching Yeti APT, aka Energetic Bear, is a threat group that targets energy firms using watering-hole attacks.
✅ Targets energy infrastructure via watering-hole compromises
✅ Uses open-source tools and backdoored sshd for persistence
✅ Scans global servers to stage intrusions and steal credentials
A hacker collective known for attacking industrial companies around the world have had some of their infrastructure identified by Russian security specialists.
Kaspersky Lab said that it has discovered a number of servers compromised by the group, belonging to different organisations based in Russia, the US, and Turkey, as well as European countries.
The Russian-speaking hackers, known as Crouching Yeti or Energetic Bear, mostly focus on energy facilities, as seen in reports of infiltration of the U.S. power grid targeting critical infrastructure, for the main purpose of stealing valuable data from victim systems.
Hacked servers
Crouching Yeti is described as an advanced persistent threat (APT) group that Kaspersky Lab has been tracking since 2010.
#google#
Kaspersky Lab said that the servers it has compromised are not just limited to industrial companies. The servers were hit in 2016 and 2017 with different intentions. Some were compromised to gain access to other resources or to be used as intermediaries to conduct attacks on other resources.
Others, including those hosting Russian websites, were used as watering holes.
It is a common tactic for Crouching Yeti to utilise watering hole attacks where the attackers inject websites with a link redirecting visitors to a malicious server.
“In the process of analysing infected servers, researchers identified numerous websites and servers used by organisations in Russia, US, Europe, Asia and Latin America that the attackers had scanned with various tools, possibly to find a server that could be used to establish a foothold for hosting the attackers’ tools and to subsequently develop an attack,” said the security specialists in a blog posting.
“The range of websites and servers that captured the attention of the intruders is extensive,” the firm said. “Kaspersky Lab researchers found that the attackers had scanned numerous websites of different types, including online stores and services, public organisations, NGOs, manufacturing, etc.
Kaspersky Lab said that the hackers used publicly available malicious tools, designed for analysing servers, and for seeking out and collecting information. The researchers also found a modified sshd file with a preinstalled backdoor. This was used to replace the original file and could be authorised with a ‘master password’.
“Crouching Yeti is a notorious Russian-speaking group that has been active for many years and is still successfully targeting industrial organisations through watering hole attacks, among other techniques,” explained Vladimir Dashchenko, head of vulnerability research group at Kaspersky Lab ICS CERT.
Russian government?
“Our findings show that the group compromised servers not only for establishing watering holes, but also for further scanning, and they actively used open-sourced tools that made it much harder to identify them afterwards,” he said.
“The group’s activities, such as initial data collection, the theft of authentication data, and the scanning of resources, are used to launch further attacks,” said Dashchenko. “The diversity of infected servers and scanned resources suggests the group may operate in the interests of the third parties.”
This may well tie into a similar conclusion from a rival security vendor.
In 2014 CrowdStrike claimed that the ‘Energetic Bear’ group was also tracked in Symantec's Dragonfly research and had been hacking foreign companies on behalf of the Russian state.
The security vendor had said the group had been carrying out attacks on foreign companies since 2012, with reports of breaches at U.S. power plants that underscored the campaign, and there was evidence that these operations were sanctioned by the Russian government.
Last month the United States for the first time publicly accused Russia in a condemnation of Russian grid hacking of attacks against the American power grid.
Symantec meanwhile warned last year of a resurgence in cyber attacks on European and US energy companies, including reports of access to U.S. utility control rooms that could result in widespread power outages.
And last July the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) acknowledged it was investigating a broad wave of attacks on companies in the British energy and manufacturing sectors.
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China to build 525-MW hydropower station on Yangtze tributary
Baima Hydropower Station advances China renewable energy on the Wujiang River, a Yangtze tributary in Chongqing; a 525 MW cascade project approved by NDRC, delivering 1.76 billion kWh and improving river shipping.
Key Points
An NDRC-approved 525 MW project on Chongqing's Wujiang River, producing 1.76 billion kWh and improving navigation.
✅ 10.2 billion yuan investment; final cascade plant on Wujiang in Chongqing
✅ Expected output: 1.76 billion kWh; capacity 525 MW; NDRC approval
✅ Improves river shipping; relocation of 5,000 residents in Wulong
China plans to build a 525-MW hydropower station on the Wujiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, aligning with projects like the Lawa hydropower station elsewhere in the Yangtze basin.
The Baima project, the last of a cascade of hydropower stations on the section of the Wujiang River in Chongqing, has gotten the green light from the National Development and Reform Commission, China's state planning agency, even as some independent power projects elsewhere face uncertainty, such as the Siwash Creek project in British Columbia, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform said Monday.
The project, in Baima township of Wulong district, is expected to involve an investment of 10.2 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), as China explores compressed air generation to bolster grid flexibility, it said.
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With a power-generating capacity of 525 MW, it is expected to generate 1.76 billion kwh of electricity a year, supporting efforts to reduce coal power production nationwide, and help improve the shipping service along the Wujiang River.
More than 5,000 local residents will be relocated to make room for the project, which forms part of a broader energy mix alongside advances in nuclear energy in China.
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EPA, New Taipei spar over power plant
Shenao Power Plant Controversy intensifies as the EPA, Taipower, and New Taipei officials clash over EIA findings, a marine conservation area, fisheries, public health risks, and protests against a coal-fired plant in Rueifang.
Key Points
Dispute over coal plant EIA, marine overlap, and health risks, pitting EPA and Taipower against New Taipei and residents.
✅ EPA approved EIA changes; city cites marine conservation conflict
✅ Rueifang residents protest; 400+ signatures, wardens oppose
✅ Debate centers on fisheries, public health, and coal plant impacts
The controversy over the Shenao Power Plant heated up yesterday as Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and New Taipei City Government officials quibbled over the project’s potential impact on a fisheries conservation area and other issues, mirroring New Hampshire hydropower clashes seen elsewhere.
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) wants to build a coal-fired plant on the site of the old Shenao plant, which was near Rueifang District’s (瑞芳) Shenao Harbor.
The company’s original plan to build a new plant on the site passed an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in 2006, similar to how NEPA rules function in the US, and the EPA on March 14 approved the firm’s environmental impact difference analysis report covering proposed changes to the project.
#google#
That decision triggered widespread controversy and protests by local residents, environmental groups and lawmakers, echoing enforcement disputes such as renewable energy pollution cases reported in Maryland.
The controversy reached a new peak after New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu on Tuesday last week posted on Facebook that construction of wave breakers for the project would overlap with a marine conservation area that was established in November 2014.
The EPA and Taipower chose to ignore the demarcation lines of the conservation area, Chu wrote.
Dozens of residents from Rueifang and other New Taipei City districts yesterday launched a protest at 9am in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, amid debates similar to the Maine power line proposal in the US, where the Health, Environment and Labor Committee was scheduled to review government reports on the project.
More than 400 Rueifang residents have signed a petition against the project, including 17 of the district’s 34 borough wardens, Anti-Shenao Plant Self-Help Group director Chen Chih-chiang said.
Ruifang residents have limited access to information, and many only became aware of the construction project after the EPA’s March 14 decision attracted widespread media coverage, Chen said,
Most residents do not support the project, despite Taipower’s claims to the contrary, Chen said.
New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang, who represents Rueifang and adjacent districts, said the EPA has shown an “arrogance of power” by neglecting the potential impact on public health and the local ecology of a new coal-fired power plant, even as it moves to revise coal wastewater limits elsewhere.
Huang urged residents in Taipei, Keelung, Taoyaun and Yilan County to reject the project.
If the New Taipei City Government was really concerned about the marine conservation area, it should have spoken up at earlier EIA meetings, rather than criticizing the EIA decision after it was passed, Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Minister Chan Shun-kuei told lawmakers at yesterday’s meeting.
Chan said he wondered if Chu was using the Shenao project for political gain.
However, New Taipei City Environmental Protection Department specialist Sun Chung-wei told lawmakers that the Fisheries Agency and other experts voiced concerns about the conservation area during the first EIA committee meeting on the proposed changes to the Shenao project on June 15 last year.
Sun was invited to speak to the legislative committee by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Arthur Chen.
While the New Taipei City Fisheries and Fishing Port Affairs Management Office did not present a “new” opinion during later EIA committee meetings, that did not mean it agreed to the project, Sun said.
However, Chan said that Sun was using a fallacious argument and trying to evade responsibility, as the conservation area had been demarcated by the city government.
Related News
Bangladesh develops nuclear power with IAEA Assistance
Bangladesh Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant advances nuclear energy with IAEA support and ROSATOM construction, boosting energy security, baseload capacity, and grid reliability; 2400 MW units aid development, regulatory compliance, and newcomer infrastructure milestones.
Key Points
A 2400 MW nuclear project in Rooppur, built with IAEA guidance and ROSATOM, to boost Bangladesh's reliable power.
✅ Two units totaling 2400 MW for stable baseload supply
✅ IAEA Milestones and INIR reviews guide safe deployment
✅ ROSATOM builds; national regulator strengthens oversight
The beginning of construction at Bangladesh’s first nuclear power reactor on 30 November 2017 marked a significant milestone in the decade-long process to bring the benefits of nuclear energy to the world’s eighth most populous country. The IAEA has been supporting Bangladesh on its way to becoming the third ‘newcomer’ country to nuclear power in 30 years, following the United Arab Emirates in 2012 and Belarus in 2013.
Bangladesh is in the process of implementing an ambitious, multifaceted development programme to become a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041. Vastly increased electricity production, with the goal of connecting 2.7 million more homes to the grid by 2021, is a cornerstone of this push for development, and nuclear energy will play a key role in this area, said Mohammad Shawkat Akbar, Managing Director of Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh Limited. Bangladesh is also working to diversify its energy supply to enhance energy security, reduce its dependence on imports and on its limited domestic resources, he added.
#google# In the region, India's nuclear program is taking steps to get back on track, underscoring broader momentum.
“Bangladesh is introducing nuclear energy as a safe, environmentally friendly and economically viable source of electricity generation,” said Akbar. The plant in Rooppur, 160 kilometres north-west of Dhaka, will consist of two units, with a combined power capacity of 2400 MW(e). It is being built by a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM. The first unit is scheduled to come online in 2023 and the second in 2024, reflecting progress similar to the UK's latest nuclear power station developments. “This project will enhance the development of the social, economic, scientific and technological potential of the country,” Akbar said.
The country’s goal of increased electricity production via nuclear energy will soon be a reality, Akbar said. “For 60 years, Bangladesh has had a dream of building its own nuclear power plant. The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will provide not only a stable baseload of electricity, but it will enhance our knowledge and allow us to increase our economic efficiency.
Milestones for nuclear
Bangladesh is among around 30 countries that are considering, planning or starting the introduction of nuclear power, with milestones at nuclear projects worldwide offering context for this progress. The IAEA assists them in developing their programmes through the Milestones Approach — a methodology that provides guidance on working towards the establishment of nuclear power in a newcomer country, including the associated infrastructure. It focuses on pointing out gaps, if any, in countries’ progress towards the introduction of nuclear power.
The IAEA has been supporting Bangladesh in developing its nuclear power infrastructure, including in establishing a regulatory framework and developing a radioactive waste-management system. This support has been delivered under the IAEA technical cooperation programme and is partially funded through the Peaceful Uses Initiative.
Nuclear infrastructure is multifaceted, containing governmental, legal, regulatory and managerial components, in addition to the physical infrastructure. The Milestones Approach consists of three phases, with a milestone to be reached at the end of each.
The first phase involves considerations before a decision is taken to start a nuclear power programme and concludes with the official commitment to the programme. The second phase entails preparatory work for the contracting and construction of a nuclear power plant, as seen in Bulgaria's nuclear project planning, ending with the commencement of bids or contract negotiations for the construction. The final phase includes activities to implement the nuclear power plant, such as the final investment decision, contracting and construction. The duration of these phases varies by country, but they typically take between 10 and 15 years.
“The IAEA Milestones Approach is a guiding document and the Integrated Work Plan (IWP) is the important means of bringing all of the stakeholders in Bangladesh together to ensure the fulfilment of all safety, security, and safeguards requirements of the Rooppur NPP project,” said Akbar. “This IWP enabled Bangladesh to develop a holistic approach to implementing IAEA guidance as well as cooperating with national stakeholders and other bilateral partners towards the development of a national nuclear power programme.”
When completed, the two units of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will have a combined power capacity of 2400 MW(e). (Photo: Arkady Sukhonin/Rosatom)
INIR Mission
The Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) is a holistic peer review to assist Member States in assessing the status of their national infrastructure for introducing nuclear power. The IAEA completed its first INIR mission to Bangladesh in November 2011, making recommendations on how to develop a plan to establish the nuclear infrastructure. Nearly five years later, in May 2016, a follow-up mission was conducted, which noted the progress made — Bangladesh had established a nuclear regulatory body, had chosen a site for the power plant and had completed site characterization and environmental impact assessment.
“The IAEA and other bodies, including those from experienced countries, can and do provide support, but the responsibility for safety and security will lie with the Government,” said Dohee Hahn, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Power, at the ceremony for the pouring of the first nuclear safety-related concrete at Rooppur on 30 November 2017. “The IAEA stands ready to continue supporting Bangladesh in developing a safe, secure, peaceful and sustainable nuclear power programme.”
Supporting Infrastructure for Introducing a Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh: the IAEA Assists with the Review of Regulatory Guidance on Site Evaluation
How the IAEA Assists Newcomer Countries in Building Their Way to Sustainable Energy
"Exciting times for nuclear power," IAEA Director General Says
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Chinese-built electricity poles plant inaugurated in South Sudan
Juba Power Distribution Expansion accelerates grid rehabilitation in South Sudan, adding concrete poles, medium and low voltage networks, and LED street lighting, funded by AfDB and executed by Power China for reliable, affordable electricity.
Key Points
A project to upgrade Juba's grid with concrete poles, MV-LV networks, and LED lighting for reliable, affordable power.
✅ 13,350 concrete poles produced locally for network rollout
✅ Medium and low voltage network rehabilitation and expansion
✅ LED street lighting and customer care improvements funded by AfDB
The South Sudan government has launched a factory producing concrete poles that will facilitate an ambitious project done by a Chinese company to rehabilitate and expand the Power Distribution System in Juba, its capital.
The Minister of Dams and Electricity, Dhieu Mathok, said that the factory, rented by Power China, will produce some 13,350 poles for the electricity distribution in the capital and other states.
"The main objective of this project is to increase the supply capacity and reliability of the power distribution system in Juba. Access to the grid will replace the use of generators by the population, allow supply of energy at more affordable price and, hence contribute toward economic growth and poverty eradication in South Sudan," Mathok said during the inauguration of the plant along the Yei road in Juba.
#google#
He disclosed that it will help solve the problem associated with non-availability of concrete poles for the project and to mitigate the risk of importing poles from other countries.
"This factory will create positive impact on the construction of the national grid in South Sudan. It is owned by South Sudanese business people but currently it has been taken over by Power China for a brief period of one year," he said.
South Sudan is largely generator driven economy with continued electricity blackout, and across the continent initiatives like Cape Town's municipal power build-out illustrate alternative approaches, in the wake of the collapse of the generator power plant operated by the South Sudan Electricity Corporation (SSEC) in 2013.
Wang Cun, an official with Power China said they got the contract to build the electricity project in June 2016 and that they will continue to support South Sudanese staff with skills and knowledge, drawing on advances such as PEM green hydrogen R&D that point to future low-carbon options, and also work with the government on several major power projects.
"We have achieved much from these projects and we also suffered much from the instability and continuous conflicts all these years, but we confirm and believe the year of 2018 will be a year of peace and development in South Sudan," Wang said, adding that the company has been operating in South Sudan since 2009.
He disclosed that Power China has conducted several projects before South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 such as the peace road project from Renk to Malakal, Maridi water plant and Malakal municipal road projects.
Wang said they will immediately reorganize all necessary resources to increase post-production capacity and immediately shall commence the erection of these poles to all corners of Juba city and start the distribution.
"We shall do as we did before to recruit more local technicians, engineers and laborers during the construction period, so that they are there in place for similar projects in the near future. We shall make more efforts to improve these local staffs' working environment and to realize sustainable development of Power China and Sino-hydro in South Sudan," said Wang.
Power China has been committing itself in the economic development of South Sudan and has signed eight commercial contracts with the government of South Sudan since independence like the Juba-hydro power project and the Tharjiath thermal power plant project, while in China projects such as the Lawa hydropower station demonstrate ongoing hydropower expertise that can inform regional work.
Liu Xiaodong, the Charge d'Affaires at the Chinese embassy in South Sudan, said Power China has been working very hard in the engineering and procurement in the earlier stage of the project, and as China expands energy ties such as nuclear cooperation with Cambodia that demonstrate broader engagement, also thanked the South Sudan government and the African Development Bank for their strong support.
Liu added upon completion Juba will have an upgraded power distribution system with 2,250 lighting points along the main roads in the capital and lamps will be LED ones.
The project falls under the Juba Power Distribution System Rehabilitation and Expansion Project, which was funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and has undertaken an AfDB review of a Senegal power plant to inform regional energy decisions.
It comprises of five different lots like Rehabilitation of Diesel plant substation, Rehabilitation and Expansion of medium voltage network, low voltage network, and Rehabilitation and Expansion of street lighting and improvement of customer care.
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Kenya Power on the spot over inflated electricity bills
Kenya Power token glitches, inflated bills disrupt prepaid meters via M-Pesa paybill 888880 and third-party vendors like Vendit and Dynamo, causing delays, fast-depleting tokens, and billing estimates; customers report weekend outages and business losses.
Key Points
Service failures delaying token generation and disputed charges from estimated meter readings and slow processing.
✅ Impacts M-Pesa paybill 888880 and authorized third-party vendors
✅ Causes delays, fast-depleting tokens, weekend business closures
✅ Linked to system downtime, billing estimates, meter reading gaps
Kenya Power is again on the spotlight following claims of inflated power bills and a glitch in its electronic payment system that made it impossible to top up tokens on prepaid meters.
Thousands of customers started experiencing the hitch in tokens generation on Friday evening, with the problem extending through the weekend.
Small businesses such as barber shops that top up multiple times a week were hardest hit.
“My business usually thrives during weekends but I was forced to close early in the evening due to lack of power although I had paid for the tokens that were never generated,” said Mr John Kamau, a fast food restaurant owner in Nairobi.
Kenya Power processes up to 200,000 electronic transactions per day for power users, with 85 per cent done through its Safaricom M-Pesa paybill number 888880.
The remaining share is handled by its authorised third party vendors such as Vendit (paybill number 501200) and Dynamo (800904), which charge a premium for the transaction.
The sole electricity distributor admitted its system encountered challenges that crippled token generation across all vendors, advising customers on prepaid meters to buy the units from Kenya Power banking halls across the country until normalcy returned.
STATEMENT
“The IT team is trying to figure out where the problem was before we issue a comprehensive statement on the issue,” the firm responded to Nation queries, adding that the issue had been resolved by yesterday afternoon.
Customers who use Vendit confirmed to Nation they had successfully bought tokens yesterday afternoon.
However, there have been complaints that third party vendors process tokens almost in real time, unlike Kenya Power which, despite indicating a 30 minute delay in its service promise, sometimes takes up to six hours.
But other users complained of inflated power bills after being slapped with abnormally high charges.
TOKENS
The holder of account number 30624694, for instance, received a post-paid bill of Sh16,765 last month, up from Sh894 the previous month.
She indulged the company and ended up paying just over Sh1,000.
There have also been complaints of tokens getting depleted too fast. For instance, one customer who normally uses Sh4,000 per month complained of her credit running out in a week.
Kenya Power maintains it cannot read all post-paid meters across the country, compelling it to make estimates for a number of customers.
The company argues it is not cost-effective to have meter readers go to all homes. The firm recently indicated plans to put all domestic consumers on prepaid meters to reduce non-payment of electricity bills and cut operation costs on meter reading and postage.
POWER CONSUMPTION
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm has also adopted a new integrated customer management system to enable consumers to self-check their power consumption and understand their electricity bill and payment obligations through a phone app.
In the past, concerns have been rife that customers often encounter delays when buying tokens through paybill number 888880, unlike through other vendors.
This has raised questions on the ownership of the vendors and the cash commissions they are entitled to, with holiday scam warnings circulating in some markets as well.
FOUL PLAY
Kenya Power has, however, denied any foul play, saying the authorisation of other vendors was to ease pressure on its payment channel, which handles 85 per cent of the nearly 200,000 transactions per day.
“In fact we have 11 vendors, including Equitel, it’s just that people are only aware of Vendit and Dynamo because they have been aggressive in their marketing,” the company said.
Kenya Power has been battling court cases over inflated power bills after it emerged that the utility firm was backdating bills worth Sh10.1 billion from last November.
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After alert on Russian hacking, a renewed focus on protecting U.S. power grid
U.S. Power Grid Cybersecurity combats DHS-FBI flagged threats to energy infrastructure, with PJM Interconnection using ICS/SCADA segmentation, phishing defenses, incident response, and resilience exercises against Russia-linked attacks and pipeline intrusions.
Key Points
Strategies, controls, and training that protect U.S. electric infrastructure from cyber threats and disruptions.
✅ ICS/SCADA network segmentation and zero-trust architecture
✅ Employee phishing drills and incident response playbooks
✅ DOE-led grid exercises and threat intelligence sharing
The joint alert from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security last month warning that Russia was hacking into critical U.S. energy infrastructure, as outlined in six essential reads on Russian hacks from recent coverage, came as no surprise to the nation’s largest grid operator, PJM Interconnection.
“You will never stop people from trying to get into your systems. That isn’t even something we try to do.” said PJM Chief Information Officer, Tom O’Brien. “People will always try to get into your systems. The question is, what controls do you have to not allow them to penetrate? And how do you respond in the event they actually do get into your system?”
PJM is the regional transmission organization for 65 million people, covering 13 states, including Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.
On a rainy day in early April, about 10 people were working inside PJM’s main control center, outside Philadelphia, closely monitoring floor-to-ceiling digital displays showing real-time information from the electric power sector throughout PJM’s territory in the mid-Atlantic and parts of the midwest, amid reports that hackers accessed control rooms at U.S. utilities.
#google#
Donnie Bielak, a reliability engineering manager, was overseeing things from his office, perched one floor up.
“This is a very large, orchestrated effort that goes unnoticed most of the time,” Bielak said. “That’s a good thing.”
But the industry certainly did take notice in late 2015 and early 2016, when hackers successfully disrupted power to the Ukrainian grid. The outages lasted a few hours and affected about 225,000 customers. It was the first publicly-known case of a cyber attack causing major disruptions to a power grid. It was widely blamed on Russia.
One of the many lessons of the Ukraine attacks was a reminder to people who work on critical infrastructure to keep an eye out for odd communications.
“A very large percentage of entry points to attacks are coming through emails,” O’Brien said. “That’s why PJM, as well as many others, have aggressive phishing campaigns. We’re training our employees.”
O’Brien doesn’t want to get into specifics about how PJM deals with cyber threats. But one common way to limit exposure is by having separate systems: For example, industrial controls in a power plant are not connected to corporate business networks, a separation underscored after breaches at U.S. power plants prompted reviews across the sector.
Since 2011, North American grid operators and government agencies have also done large, security exercises every two years. Thousands of people practice how they’d respond to a coordinated physical or cyber event, including rising substation attacks that highlight resilience gaps.
So far, nothing like that has happened in the U.S. It’s possible, but not likely, according to Robert M. Lee, a former military intelligence analyst, who runs the industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos.
“The more complex the system, the harder it is to have a scalable attack,” said Lee, who co-authored a report analyzing the Ukraine attacks. “If you wanted to take out a power generation station– that isn’t the most complex thing. Let’s say you cause an hour of outage. But now you want to cause two months of outages? That’s an exponential increase in effort required.”
For example, he said, it would very difficult for hackers to knock out power to the entire east coast for a long time. But briefly disrupting a major city is easier. That’s the sort of thing that keeps him up at night.
“I worry about an adversary getting into, maybe, Washington D.C.’s portion of the grid, taking down power for 30 minutes,” he said.
The Department of Energy is creating a new office focused on cybersecurity and emergency response, following the U.S. government’s condemnation of power grid hacking by Russia.
Deterrence may be one reason why there has not yet been a major attack on the U.S. grid, said John MacWilliams, a former senior DOE official who’s now a fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
“That’s obviously an act of war,” he said. “We have the capability of responding either through cyber mechanisms or kinetic military.”
In the meantime, small-scale incidents keep happening.
This spring, another cyber attack targeted natural gas pipelines. Four companies shut down their computer systems, just in case, but they say no service was disrupted.
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What's at stake if Davis-Besse and other nuclear plants close early?
FirstEnergy Nuclear Plant Closures threaten Ohio and Pennsylvania jobs, tax revenue, and grid stability, as Nuclear Matters and Brattle Group warn of higher carbon emissions and market pressures from PJM and cheap natural gas.
Key Points
Planned shutdowns of Davis-Besse, Perry, and Beaver Valley, with regional economic and carbon impacts.
✅ Over 3,000 direct jobs and local tax revenue at risk
✅ Emissions may rise until renewables scale, possibly into 2034
✅ Debate over subsidies, market design, and PJM capacity rules
A national nuclear lobby wants to remind people what's at stake for Ohio and Pennsylvania if FirstEnergy Solutions follows through with plans to shut down three nuclear plants over the next three years, including its Davis-Besse nuclear plant east of Toledo.
A report issued Monday by Nuclear Matters largely echoes concerns raised by FES, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., and other supporters of nuclear power about economic and environmental hardships and brownout risks that will likely result from the planned closures.
Along with Davis-Besse, Perry nuclear plant east of Cleveland and the twin-reactor Beaver Valley nuclear complex west of Pittsburgh are slated to close.
#google#
"If these plants close, the livelihoods of thousands of Ohio and Pennsylvania residents will disappear. The over 3,000 highly skilled individuals directly employed by these sites will leave to seek employment at other facilities still operating around the country," Lonnie Stephenson, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers president, said in a statement distributed by Nuclear Matters. Mr. Stephenson also serves on the Nuclear Matters advocacy council.
This new report and others like it are part of an extensive campaign by nuclear energy advocates to court state and federal legislators one more time for tens of millions of dollars of financial support or at least legislation that better suits the nuclear industry. Critics allege such pleas amount to a request for massive government bailouts, arguing that deregulated electricity markets should not subsidize nuclear.
The latest report was prepared for Nuclear Matters by the Brattle Group, a firm that specializes in analyzing economic, finance, and regulatory issues for corporations, law firms, and governments.
"These announced retirements create a real urgency to learn what would happen if these plants are lost," Dean Murphy, the Brattle report's lead author, said.
More than 3,000 jobs would be lost, as would millions of dollars in tax revenue. It also could take as long as 2034 for the region's climate-altering carbon emissions to be brought back down to existing levels, based on current growth projections for solar- and wind-powered projects, and initiatives such as ending coal by 2032 by some utilities, Mr. Murphy said.
His group's report only takes into account nuclear plant operations, though. Many of those who oppose nuclear power have long pointed out that mining uranium for nuclear plant fuel generates substantial emissions, as does the process of producing steel cladding for fuel bundles and the enrichment-production of that fuel. Still, nuclear has ranked among the better performers in reports that have taken such a broader look at overall emissions.
FES has accused the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection, of creating market conditions that favor natural gas and, thus, make it almost impossible for nuclear to compete throughout its 13-state region, a debate intensified by proposed electricity pricing changes at the federal level.
PJM has strongly denied those accusations, and has said it anticipates no shortfalls in energy distribution if those nuclear plants close prematurely, even as a recent FERC decision on grid policy drew industry criticism.
FES, citing massive losses, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The target dates for closures of the FES properties are May 31, 2020 for Davis-Besse; May 31, 2021 for Perry and Beaver Valley Unit 1, and Oct. 31, 2021 for Beaver Valley Unit 2.
In addition to the three FES sites, the report includes information about the Three Mile Island Unit 1 plant near Harrisburg, Pa., which Chicago-based Exelon Generation Corp. has previously announced will be shut down in 2019. That plant and others are experiencing similar difficulties the FES plants face by competing in a market radically changed by record-low natural gas prices.
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Court Sees If Church Solar Panels Break Electricity Monopoly
NC WARN Solar Case tests third-party solar rights as North Carolina Supreme Court reviews Utilities Commission fines over a Greensboro church's rooftop power deal, challenging Duke Energy's monopoly, onsite electricity sales, and potential rate impacts.
Key Points
A North Carolina Supreme Court test of third-party solar could weaken Duke Energy's monopoly and change utility rules.
✅ NC Supreme Court weighs Utilities Commission penalty on NC WARN
✅ Case could permit onsite third-party solar sales statewide
✅ Outcome may pressure Duke Energy's monopoly and rates
North Carolina's highest court is taking up a case that could force new competition on the state's electricity monopolies.
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday will consider the Utilities Commission's decision to fine clean-energy advocacy group NC WARN for putting solar panels on a Greensboro church's rooftop and then charging it below-market rates for power.
The commission told NC WARN that it was producing electricity illegally and fined the group $60,000. The group said it was acting privately and appealed to the high court.
If the group prevails, it could put new pressure on Duke Energy's monopoly, which has seen an oversubscribed solar solicitation in recent procurements. State regulators say a ruling for NC WARN would allow companies to install solar equipment and sell power on site, shaving away customers and forcing Duke Energy to raise rates on everyone else.
#google#
That's because if NC WARN's deal with Faith Community Church is allowed, the precedent could open the door for others to lure away from Duke Energy, as debates over how solar owners are paid continue, "the customers with the highest profit potential, such as commercial and industrial customers with large energy needs and ample rooftop space," attorney Robert Josey Jr. wrote in a court filing.
Losing those power sales would force the country's No. 2 electricity company to make it up by charging remaining customers more to cover the cost of all of its power plants, transmission lines and repair crews, a dynamic echoed in New England's grid upgrade debates as solar grows, wrote Josey, an attorney for the Public Staff, the state's official utilities consumer advocate.
The dispute is whether NC WARN is producing electricity "for the public," which would mean it's intruding on the territory of the publicly regulated monopoly utility, or whether the move was allowed because it was a private power deal with the church alone.
NC WARN installed the church's power panels in 2015 as part of what it described as a test case, amid wider debates like Nova Scotia's delayed solar charge for customers, challenging Duke Energy's monopoly position to generate and sell electricity.
North Carolina was one of nine states that as of last year explicitly disallowed residential customers from buying electricity generated by solar panels on their roof from a third party that owns the system, even as Maryland opens solar subscriptions more broadly, according to the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. State law allows purchased or leased solar panels, but not payments simply for the power they generate.
NC WARN's goals included "reducing the effects of Duke Energy's monopoly control that has such negative impacts on power bills, clean air and water, and climate change," the church's pastor, Rev. Nelson Johnson, said in a statement the same day the clean-energy group asked state regulators to clear the plan.
Instead, the North Carolina Utilities Commission ruled the arrangement violated the state's system of legal electricity monopolies and hit the group with nearly $60,000 in fines, which would be suspended if the church's payments were refunded with interest and the solar equipment donated. The group has set aside the money and will donate the gear if it loses the Supreme Court case, NC WARN Executive Director Jim Warren said.
NC WARN's three-year agreement saw the group mount a rooftop solar array for which the church would pay about half the average retail electricity price, state officials said. The agreement states plainly that it is not a contract for the sale or lease of the $20,000 solar system, the church never owns the panels, and the low electricity price means its payback for the equipment would take 60 years, Josey wrote.
"Clearly, the only thing of value (the church) is obtaining for its payments under this agreement is the electricity created," he wrote.
In court filings, the group's attorneys have stuck to the argument that NC WARN isn't selling to the public because the deal involved a single customer only.
The deal "is not open to any other member of the public ... A private, bargained-for contract under which only one party receives electricity is not a sale of electricity 'to or for the public,' " attorney Matthew Quinn wrote to the court.
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This Thin-Film Turns Heat Waste From Electronics Into Electricity
Pyroelectric Energy Harvesting captures low-grade heat via thin-film materials, converting temperature fluctuations into power for waste heat recovery in electronics, vehicles, and industrial machinery, offering a thermoelectric alternative for microelectronics and exascale systems.
Key Points
Thin-film pyroelectric harvesting turns temperature changes into electricity, enabling low-grade waste heat recovery.
✅ Converts low-grade heat fluctuations into usable power
✅ Thin-film design suits microelectronics and edge devices
✅ Alternative to thermoelectrics for waste heat recovery
The electronic device you are reading this on is currently producing a modest to significant amount of waste heat that emerging thermoelectric materials could help recover in principle. In fact, nearly 70% of the energy produced annually in the US is ultimately wasted as heat, much of it less than 100 degrees Celsius. The main culprits are computers and other electronic devices, vehicles, as well as industrial machinery. Heat waste is also a big problem for supercomputers, because as more circuitry is condensed into smaller and smaller areas, the hotter those microcircuits get.
It’s also been estimated that a single next-generation exascale supercomputer could feasibly use up to 10% of the energy output of just one coal-fired power station, and that nearly all of that energy would ultimately be wasted as heat.
What if it were possible to convert that heat energy into a useable energy source, and even to generate electricity at night from temperature differences as well?
#google#
It’s not a new idea, of course. In fact the possibility of thermoelectric energy generation, where thermal energy is turned into electricity was recognised as early as 1821, around the same time that Michael Faraday developed the electric motor.
Unfortunately, when the heat source is ‘low grade’, aka less than 100 degrees Celsius, a number of limitations arise, and related approaches for nighttime renewable generation face similar challenges as well. For it to work well, you need materials that have quite high electrical conductivity, but low thermal conductivity. It’s not an easy combination to come by.
Taking a different approach, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed thin-film that uses pyroelectric harvesting to capture heat-waste and convert heat to electricity in prototype demonstrations. The findings were published today in Nature Materials.
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Will EV Supply Miss the Demand Mark in the Short and Medium Term?
EV Carpocalypse signals potential mismatch between electric vehicle production and demand, as charging infrastructure, utility coordination, and plug-in hybrid strategies lag forecasts, while state mandates and market-share plays drive cautious, data-informed scaling.
Key Points
EV Carpocalypse describes overbuilt EV supply versus demand amid charging rollout, mandates, and risk-managed scaling.
✅ Forecasts vs actual EV demand may diverge in near term
✅ Charging infrastructure and utilities lag vehicle output
✅ Mandates and PHEVs cushion adoption while data guides scaling
According to Forbes contributor David Kiley, and Wards Automotive columnist John McElroy, there may be an impending “carpocalypse” of electric vehicles on the way. Sounds very damning and it’s certainly not the upbeat tone I’ve taken on nearly every piece of EV demand content I’ve authored but the author, Kiley does bring up some interesting points worth considering. EV Adoption is happening, and it’s certainly doing so at ever faster rates as the market nears an EV inflection point today. The infrastructure (charging stations, utility cooperation) is being built out more slowly than vehicle manufacturers are producing cars but, as the GM president on EV hurdles has noted, the issue seems to be just that, maybe even the short and medium term plans for EV manufacturing are too aggressive.
#google#
With new EV and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales representing a mere .6% of new car cales in the US, a sign that EV sales remain behind gas cars even as new models proliferate, car makers are are going to be spending more than $100 billion to come out with more than a hundred models of battery electric vheicles which also includes PHEVs and the fear is these vehicles aren’t going to sell in the numbers that automakers and industry analysts may have expected. But forecasts are just that, forecasts, even as U.S. EV sales surge into 2024 suggest momentum. So there’s a valid argument to be made that they’ll either overshoot the true mark or come in way below the actual amount. With nine U.S. states mandating that 15% of new cars sold be EVs by 2025, you could say that at least automakers have supporters in state government helping to push the new technology into the hands of more drivers.
Still, it’s anyone’s guess as to what true adoption will be, and a brief Q1 2024 market share dip underscores lingering volatility. The use of big data and just in time manufacturing will ensure that manufacturers will miss the mark on EVs by less than they have in the past, and will able to cope with breaking even on these vehicles for the sake of gobbling up precious early stage market share. After all, many vendors have up to this point been very willing to break even or make a loss on their lease-only EVs or on EV or hybrid financing in order to gain that share and build out their brand awareness and technical prowess. With some stops and starts, demand will meet supply or supply may need to meet demand but either way, the EV adoption wave is coming to a driveway near you.
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Hydro One will keep running its U.S. coal plant indefinitely, it tells American regulators
Hydro One-Avista Merger outlines a utility acquisition shaped by Washington regulators, Colstrip coal plant depreciation, and plans for renewables, clean energy, and emissions cuts, while Montana reviews implications for jobs, ratepayers, and a 2027 closure.
Key Points
A utility deal setting Colstrip depreciation and renewables, without committing to an early coal plant closure.
✅ Washington sets 2027 depreciation for Colstrip units
✅ Montana reviews jobs, ratepayer impacts, community fund
✅ Avista seeks renewables; no binding shutdown commitment
The Washington power company Hydro One is buying will be ready to close its huge coal-fired generating station ahead of schedule, thanks to conditions put on the corporate merger by state regulators there.
Not that we actually plan to do that, the company is telling other regulators in Montana, where coal unit retirements are under debate, the huge coal-fired generating station in question employs hundreds of people. We’ll be in the coal business for a good long time yet.
Hydro One, in which the Ontario government now owns a big minority stake, is still working on its purchase of Avista, a private power utility based in Spokane. The $6.7-billion deal, which Hydro One announced in July, includes a 15 per cent share in two of the four generating units in a coal plant in Colstrip, Montana, one of the biggest in the western United States. Avista gets most of its electricity from hydro dams and gas but uses the Colstrip plant when demand for power is high and water levels at its dams are low.
#google#
Colstrip’s a town of fewer than 2,500 people whose industries are the power plant and the open-pit mines that feed it about 10 million tonnes of coal a year. Two of Colstrip’s generators, older ones Avista doesn’t have any stake in, are closing in 2022. The other two will be all that keep the town in business.
In Washington, they don’t like the coal plant and its pollution. In Montana, the future of Colstrip is a much bigger concern. The companies have to satisfy regulators in both places that letting Hydro One buy Avista is in the public interest.
Ontario proudly closed the last of our coal plants in 2014 and outlawed new ones as environmental menaces, and Alberta's coal phase-out is now slated to finish by 2023. When Hydro One said it was buying Avista, which makes about $100 million in profit a year, Premier Kathleen Wynne said she hoped Ontario’s “value system” would spread to Avista’s operations.
The settlement is “an important step towards bringing together two historic companies,” Hydro One’s chief executive Mayo Schmidt said in announcing it.
The deal has approval from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff but is subject to a vote by the group’s three commissioners. It doesn’t commit Avista to closing anything at Colstrip or selling its share. But Avista and Hydro One will budget as if the Colstrip coal burners will close in 2027, instead of running into the 2040s as their owners had once planned, a timeline that echoes debates over the San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico.
In accounting terms, they’ll depreciate the value of their share of the plant to zero over the next nine years, reflecting what they say is the end of the plant’s “useful life.” Another of Colstrip’s owners, Puget Sound Energy, has previously agreed with Washington regulators that it’ll budget for a Colstrip closure in 2027 as well.
Avista and Hydro One will look for sources of 50 megawatts of renewable electricity, including independent power projects where feasible, in the next four years and another 90 megawatts to supplement Avista’s supply once the Colstrip plant eventually closes, they promise in Washington. They’ll put $3 million into a “community transition fund” for Colstrip.
The money will come from the companies’ profits and cash, the agreement says. “Hydro One will not seek cost recovery for such funds from ratepayers in Ontario,” it says specifically.
“Ontario has always been a global leader in the transition away from dirty coal power and towards clean energy,” said Doug Howell, an anti-coal campaigner with the Sierra Club, which is a party to the agreement. “This settlement continues that tradition, paving the way for the closure of the largest single source of climate pollution in the American West by 2027, if not earlier.”
Montanans aren’t as thrilled. That state has its own public services commission, doing its own examination of the corporate merger, which has asked Hydro One and Avista to explain in detail why they want to write off the value of the Colstrip burners early. The City of Colstrip has filed a petition saying it wants in on Montana hearings because “the potential closure of (Avista’s units) would be devastating to our community.”
Don’t get too worked up, an Avista vice-president urged the Montana commission just before Easter.
“Just because an asset is depreciated does not mean that one would otherwise remove that asset from service if the asset is still performing as intended,” Jason Thackston testified in a session that dealt only with what the deal with Washington state would mean to Colstrip. We’re talking strictly about an accounting manoeuvre, not an operational commitment.
Six joint owners will have to agree to close the Colstrip generators and there’s “no other tacit understanding or unstated agreement” to do that, he said.
Besides Washington and Montana, state regulators in Idaho, including those overseeing the Idaho Power settlement process, Alaska and Oregon and multiple federal authorities have to sign off on the deal before it can happen. Hydro One hopes it’ll be done in the second half of this year.
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Hydro One deal to buy Avista receives U.S. antitrust clearance
Hydro One-Avista Acquisition secures U.S. antitrust clearance under Hart-Scott-Rodino, pending approvals from state utility commissions, the FCC, and CFIUS, with prior FERC approval and shareholder vote supporting the cross-border utility merger.
Key Points
A $6.7B cross-border utility merger cleared under HSR, still awaiting state, FCC, and CFIUS approvals; FERC approved earlier.
✅ HSR waiting period expired; U.S. antitrust clearance obtained
✅ Approvals pending: state commissions, FCC, and CFIUS
✅ FERC and Avista shareholders have approved the transaction
Hydro One Ltd. says it has received antitrust clearance in the United States for its deal to acquire U.S. energy company Avista Corp., even as it sought to redesign customer bills in Ontario.
The Ontario-based utility says the 30-day waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act expired Thursday night.
Hydro One announced the friendly deal to acquire Avista last summer, amid customer backlash in some service areas, in an agreement that valued the company at $6.7 billion.
The deal still requires several other approvals, including those from utility commissions in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Alaska.
Analysts also warned of political risk for Hydro One during this period, reflecting concerns about provincial influence.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission must also sign off on the transaction, and although U.S. regulators later rejected the $6.7B takeover following review, clearance is required by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
The agreement has received approval from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as well as Avista shareholders, and it mirrored other cross-border deals such as Algonquin Power's acquisition of Empire District that closed in the sector.
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Electricity or hydrogen - What is the future of vehicles?
Hydrogen vs Battery-Electric Vehicles compare FCEV and BEV tech for range, charging and refueling, zero-emissions, infrastructure in Canada, highlighting urban commuting, heavy-duty use, fast 5-minute fills, 30-minute fast charging, and renewable hydrogen from surplus wind.
Key Points
Hydrogen FCEVs suit long range and heavy-duty use; BEVs excel in urban commutes with overnight charging.
✅ FCEVs refuel in about 5 minutes; ideal for long range and heavy duty.
✅ BEVs fit urban commuting with home or night charging; fewer stops.
✅ Hydrogen enables energy storage from surplus wind and hydro power.
We’re constantly hearing that battery-electric cars are the future, as automakers pursue Canada-U.S. collaboration on EVs across the industry, so I was surprised to see that companies like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai are making hydrogen fuel-cell cars. Which technology is better? Could hydrogen still win? – Pete, Kingston
They’re both in their electric youth, relatively speaking, but the ultimate winner in the race between hydrogen and battery electric will likely be both.
“It’s not really a competition – they’ll both co-exist and there will also be plug-in hydrogen hybrids,” said Walter Merida, director of the Clean Energy Research Centre at the University of British Columbia. “Battery-electric vehicles [BEVs] are better for an urban environment where you have time to recharge and fuel-cell electric vehicles [FCEVs] are better-suited for long range and heavy duty.”
Last year, there were 9,840 BEVs sold in Canada, up from 5,130 the year before. If you include plug-in hybrids, the number sold in 2017 grows to 18,560, though many buyers now face EV shortages and wait times amid high gasoline prices.
And how many hydrogen vehicles were sold in Canada last year?
#google#
None – although Hyundai leased out about a half-dozen hydrogen Tucsons in British Columbia for $599 a month, which included fuel from Powertech labs in Surrey.
In January, Toyota announced it will be selling the Mirai in Quebec later this year. And Hyundai said it will offer about 25 Nexos for sale.
“It’s chicken or egg,” said Michael Fowler, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo. “Car manufacturers won’t release cars into the market unless there’s a refuelling station and companies won’t build a refuelling station unless there are cars to fuel.”
Right now, there are no retail hydrogen refuelling stations in Canada. While there are plans under way to add stations in B.C., Ontario and Quebec, we’re still behind Japan, Europe and California, though experts outline how Canada can capitalize on the U.S. EV pivot to accelerate progress.
“In 2007, Ontario had a hydrogen strategy and they were starting to develop hydrogen vehicles and they dropped that in favour of the Green Energy Act and it was a complete disaster,” Fowler said. “The reality is the government of the day listened to the wrong people.”
It’s tough to pinpoint a single reason why governments focused on building charging stations instead of hydrogen stations, Merida said.
“It’s ironic, you know – the fuel cell was invented in Vancouver. Geoffrey Ballard was one of the pioneers of this technology,” Merida said. “And for a while, Canada was a global leader, but eventually government programs were discontinued and that was very disruptive to the sector.”
HYDROGEN FOR THE MASSES?
While we tend to think of BEVs when we think of electric cars, fuel-cell vehicles are electric, too; the hydrogen passes through a fuel cell stack, where it mixes with oxygen from the atmosphere to produce an electric current.
That current powers electric motors to drive the wheels and extra energy goes to a battery pack that’s used to boost acceleration (it’s also charged by regenerative braking).
Except for water that drips out of the hydrogen car, they’re both zero-emission on the road.
But a big advantage for hydrogen is that, if you can find a station, you can pull up to a pump and fill up in five minutes or less – the same way we do now at nearly 12,000 gas stations.
Compare that with fast-charging stations that can charge a battery to 80 per cent in 30 minutes – each station only handles one car at a time. What if you get there and it’s busy – or broken? And right now, there are only 139 of them in Canada.
And at slower, Level 2 stations, cars have to be plugged in for hours to recharge.
In a 2018 KPMG survey of auto executives, 55 per cent said that moves to switch entirely to pure battery-electric vehicles will fail because there won’t be enough charging stations, and some critics argue the 2035 EV mandate is delusional given infrastructure constraints.
“Ontario just invested $20-million in public charging stations and that’s going to service 100 or 200 cars a day,” Fowler said. “If you were to invest that in hydrogen stations, you’d be able to service thousands of cars a day.”
And when you do charge at a station, you might not be using clean power, as 18% of Canada’s 2019 electricity came from fossil fuels according to national data, Fowler said.
“At least in Ontario, in order to charge at a public station during the day, you have to rev up a natural-gas plant somewhere,” Fowler said. “So the only way you’re getting zero emissions is when you can charge at night using excess nuclear, hydro or wind that’s not being used.”
But hydrogen can be made when surplus green energy is stored, Fowler said.
“In Ontario, we have lots of wind in the spring and the fall, when we don’t need the electricity,” he said.
And eventually, you’ll be able to connect your fuel-cell vehicle to the grid and sell the power it produces, Merida said.
“The amount of power generation you have in these moving platforms is quite significant,” Merida said.
There are other strikes against battery-electric, including reduced range by 30 per cent or more in the winter and the need to upgrade infrastructure such as electrical transformers so they can handle more than just a handful of cars on each street charging at night, Fowler said.
In that KPMG survey, executives predicted a nearly equal split between BEVs, FCEVs, hybrids and gasoline engines by 2040.
“Battery-electric vehicles will serve a certain niche – they’ll be small commuter vehicles in certain cities,” Fowler said. “But for the way we use cars today – the family car, the suburban car, buses and probably trucks – it will be the fuel cell.”
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PC Leader Doug Ford vows to fire Hydro One CEO, board if elected
Doug Ford's Hydro One firing vow targets CEO pay, the utility's board, and privatization, amid Ontario politics over electricity rates, governance, and control, raising questions about legal tools, contracts, and impacts on customers and taxpayers.
Key Points
Ford vows to oust Hydro One's CEO and board to curb pay and signal rate restraint, subject to legal and governance limits.
✅ Province lacks direct control post-privatization
✅ Possible board removals to influence executive pay
✅ Impact on rates, contracts, and shareholders unclear
Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford is vowing to fire the head of Hydro One, and its entire board if he's elected premier in June.
Ford made the announcement, calling President and CEO Mayo Schmidt, Premier "Kathleen Wynne's $6-Million dollar man," referring to his yearly salary and bonuses, which now add up to $6.2 million.
"This board and this CEO are laughing themselves to the bank," Ford said.
However, it's unclear how Ford would do that since the province does not control the company anymore.
"We don't have the ability to go out and say we are firing the CEO at Hydro One," PC energy critic Todd Smith said while speaking to reporters after Ford's remarks.
#google#
However, he said "we do have tools at our disposal in the tool box. The unfortunate thing is that Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals have just let those tools sit there for the last couple of years and [have] not taken action on things like this."
Smith declined to provide details about what those tools are, but suggested Ford would have the right to fire Hydro's board.
He said that would send a message "that we're not going to accept these salaries."
Smith says the Ontario gov still has the right to fire Hydro One board. What about their contracts? Pay them out? Smith says they don't know the details of people's contacts
We will not engage in politics,' Hydro One says
A Hydro One spokesperson said the amount customers pay to compensate the CEO's salary is the same as before privatization — two cents on each monthly bill.
"We will not engage in politics, however our customers deserve the facts," said the email statement to CBC Toronto.
"Nearly 80 per cent of the total executive compensation package is paid for by shareholders."
Ontario NDP MPP Peter Tabuns says Ford is pro-privatization, and that won't help those struggling with high hydro bills. (Michelle Siu/The Canadian Press)
Peter Tabuns, the NDP's energy critic, said his government would aim to retake public control of Hydro One to cap CEO pay and control the CEO's "outrageous salary."
But while he shares Ford's goal of cutting Schmidt's pay, Tabuns blasted what he believes would be the PC leader's approach.
"Doug Ford has no idea how to reign [sic] in the soaring hydro bills that Ontario families are facing — in fact, if his threats of further privatization include hydro, he'll drive bills and executive salaries ever higher," he said in an email statement.
The only plan we've heard from Doug Ford so far is firing people and laying off people.- Glenn Thibeault, Energy Minister
Tabuns says his party would aim to cut hydro bills by 30 per cent.
Meanwhile, Liberal Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault said Ford's plan will do nothing to address the actual issue of keeping hydro rates low, comparing his statement Thursday to the rhetoric and actions of U.S. President Donald Trump.
"The only plan we've heard from Doug Ford so far is firing people and laying off people," Thibeault said.
"What I'm seeing a very strong prevalence to is the person running the White House. He's been doing a lot of firing as well and that's not been working out so well for them."
Wynne government has taken steps to cut hydro bills, including legislation to lower electricity rates in Ontario.
Hydro prices have shot up in recent years prompting criticism from across Ontario. Wynne made the controversial move of privatizing part of the utility beginning in 2015.
By Oct. 2017, the Ontario Liberal government's "Fair Hydro Plan" had brought down the average household electricity bill by a 25% rate cut from the peak it hit in the summer of 2016. The Wynne government has also committed to keep rate increases below inflation for the next four years, but admits bills will rise significantly in the decade that follows as a recovery rate could drive costs higher.
Ford blasted the government's moves during a Toronto news conference, echoing calls to scrap the Fair Hydro Plan and review other options.
"The party's over with the tax payer's money, we're going to start respecting the tax payers," Ford said, repeatedly saying the money spent on Hydro One salaries is "morally indefensible."
