GE turns to Ontario for Smart Grid centre

Quebec Energy Strategy focuses on hydropower, energy efficiency, and new dams as Hydro-Que9bec pursues Churchill Falls deals and the Champlain Hudson Power Express to New York, while nuclear power remains off the agenda.

Key Points

Quebec's plan prioritizes hydropower, efficiency, and new dams, excludes nuclear, and expands exports via CHPE.

✅ Nuclear power shelved; focus on renewables and dams

✅ Hydro-Que9bec pursues Churchill Falls and Gull Island talks

✅ CHPE line to New York advances; export contract with NYSERDA

Quebec Premier François Legault has closed the door on nuclear power, at least for now.

"For the time being, we're not touching it," said Legault when asked about the subject at a press scrum in New York on Tuesday.

The government is looking for new sources of energy as Hydro-Québec begins talks on a $185-billion strategy to wean the province off fossil fuels. In an interview with The Canadian Press at Quebec's official residence in New York, Legault said there are a number of avenues to explore:

• Energy efficiency.
• Negotiations with Newfoundland and Labrador over Churchill Falls and Gull Island.
• Upgrading existing dams and building new ones.

"Nuclear power is not on the agenda," he said.

Yet the premier seemed open to the nuclear question some time ago. In August, Radio-Canada reported that he had raised the idea of nuclear power in front of dozens of MNAs at the National Assembly last April.

Also in August, Hydro-Québec was evaluating the possibility of reopening the Gentilly-2 nuclear power plant, which has been closed since 2012.

Asked about his leader's statement on Tuesday, the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, maintained his line: "At the moment, we're looking at everything that's possible because we know that we have a significant deficit in the supply of green energy," he said.

Another step forward for the Quebec-New York line

Premier Legault took part in Tuesday morning's announcement that construction had begun on the New York converter station of the Champlain Hudson Power Express line. New York State Governor Kathy Hochul was present at the announcement.

In November 2021, Hydro-Québec signed a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to export 10.4 terawatt-hours of electricity to the American metropolis over 25 years, while Ontario declined to renew a deal with Quebec.

At a time when the Quebec government is constantly asserting that more energy will be needed for future economic projects -- particularly the battery industry -- Legault sees no contradiction in selling electricity to the Americans and to neighboring provinces such as NB Power deals to import Hydro-Québec power.

"Whether it's this contract or the contract for companies coming to set up in Quebec, it's out of the surplus we currently have in Quebec. Now, we have dozens of investment project proposals in Quebec where we need additional electricity," he explained.

The line will supply 20 per cent of New York City's electricity needs, despite transmission constraints on Quebec-to-U.S. deliveries. Commissioning is scheduled for May 2026. The spin-offs are estimated at $30 billion, according to the premier.

Will this money be used to finance new dams, such as the La Romaine hydroelectric complex built in recent years?

"It's certain that future projects will cost several tens of billions of dollars. Hydro-Québec has the capacity to borrow. It's a very healthy company. There's no doubt that these revenues will improve Hydro-Québec's image," he said.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Power Generation News

2022 US Renewable Power Milestone highlights EIA data: wind and solar outpaced coal and nuclear, hydropower contributed, with falling levelized costs, grid integration, battery storage, and transmission upgrades shaping affordable, reliable clean power growth.

Key Points

The year US renewables, led by wind and solar, generated more power than coal and nuclear, per EIA.

✅ Wind and solar rose; levelized costs fell 70%-90% over decade

✅ Renewables surpassed coal and nuclear in 2022 per EIA

✅ Grid needs storage and transmission to manage intermittency

Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, as wind and solar surpassed coal nationwide, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has announced.

Renewables also surpassed nuclear generation in 2022 after first doing so last year, and wind and solar together generated more electricity than nuclear for the first time in the United States.

Growth in wind and solar significantly drove the increase in renewable energy and contributed 14% of the electricity produced domestically in 2022, with solar producing about 4.7% of U.S. power overall. Hydropower contributed 6%, and biomass and geothermal sources generated less than 1%.

“I’m happy to see we’ve crossed that threshold, but that is only a step in what has to be a very rapid and much cheaper journey,” said Stephen Porder, a professor of ecology and assistant provost for sustainability at Brown University.

California produced 26% of the national utility-scale solar electricity followed by Texas with 16% and North Carolina with 8%.

The most wind generation occurred in Texas, which accounted for 26% of the U.S. total, while wind is now the most-used renewable electricity source nationwide, followed by Iowa (10%) and Oklahoma (9%).

“This booming growth is driven largely by economics,” said Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, as renewables became the second-most prevalent U.S. electricity source in 2020 nationwide. “Over the past decade, the levelized cost of wind energy declined by 70 percent, while the levelized cost of solar power has declined by an even more impressive 90 percent.”

“Renewable energy is now the most affordable source of new electricity in much of the country,” added Wetstone.

The Energy Information Administration projected that the wind share of the U.S. electricity generation mix will increase from 11% to 12% from 2022 to 2023 and that solar will grow from 4% to 5% during the period, and renewables hit a record 28% share in April according to recent data. The natural gas share is expected to remain at 39% from 2022 to 2023, and coal is projected to decline from 20% last year to 17% this year.

“Wind and solar are going to be the backbone of the growth in renewables, but whether or not they can provide 100% of the U.S. electricity without backup is something that engineers are debating,” said Brown University’s Porder.

Many decisions lie ahead, he said, as the proportion of renewables that supply the energy grid increases, with renewables projected to soon be one-fourth of U.S. electricity generation over the near term.

This presents challenges for engineers and policy-makers, Porder said, because existing energy grids were built to deliver power from a consistent source. Renewables such as solar and wind generate power intermittently. So battery storage, long-distance transmission and other steps will be needed to help address these challenges, he said.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Renewable Energy News

Costa Rica Renewable Energy Record highlights 99.99% clean power in May 2019, driven by hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass, enabling ICE REM electricity exports and reduced rates from optimized generation totaling 984.19 GWh.

Key Points

May 2019 benchmark: Costa Rica generated 99.99% of 984.19 GWh from renewables, shifting from imports to regional exports.

✅ 99.99% renewable share across hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass

✅ 984.19 GWh generated; ICE suspended imports and exported via REM

✅ Geothermal output increased to offset dry-season hydropower variability

During the whole month of May 2019, Costa Rica generated a total of 984.19 gigawatt hours of electricity, the highest in the country’s history. What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that 99.99% of this energy came from a portfolio of renewable sources such as hydropower, wind, biomass, solar, and geothermal.

With such a high generation rate, the state power company Instituto Costariccense de Electricidad (ICE) were able to suspend energy imports from the first week of May and shifted to exports, while U.S. renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022 domestically. To date, the power company continues to sell electricity to the Regional Electricity Market (REM) which generates revenues and is likely to reduce local electricity rates, a trend echoed in places like Idaho where a vast majority of electricity comes from renewables.

The record-breaking power generation was made possible by optimization of the country’s renewable sources, much as U.S. wind capacity surpassed hydro capacity at the end of 2016 to reshape portfolios. As the period coincided with the tail end of the dry season, the geothermal quota had to be increased.

Costa Rica remains a leader in renewable power generation, whereas U.S. wind generation has become the most-used renewable source in recent years. In 2015, more than 98% of the country’s electrical generation came from renewable sources, while U.S. renewables hit a record 28% in April in one recent benchmark. Through the years, this figure has remained fairly constant despite dry bouts caused by the El Niño phenomenon, and U.S. solar generation also continued to rise.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Renewable Energy News

Ontario Ultra-Low Overnight Electricity Rate lets eligible customers opt in to 2.4 cents per kWh time-of-use pricing, set by the Ontario Energy Board, as utilities roll out the plan between May 1 and Nov. 1.

Key Points

An OEB-set overnight TOU price of 2.4 cents per kWh for eligible Ontarians, rolling out in phases via local utilities.

✅ 8 of 61 utilities offering rate at May 1 launch

✅ About 20% of 5M customers eligible at rollout

✅ Enova Power delays amid merger integration work

A million households can opt into a new ultra-low overnight electricity rate offered by the Ministry of Energy, as province-wide rate changes begin, but that's just a fraction of customers in Ontario.

Only eight of the 61 provincial power utilities will offer the new rate on the May 1 launch date, following the earlier fixed COVID-19 hydro rate period. The rest have up to six months to get on board.

That means it will be available to 20 percent of the province's five million electricity consumers, the Ministry of Energy confirmed to CBC News.

The Ford government's new overnight pricing was pitched as a money saver for Ontarians, amid the earlier COVID-19 recovery rate that could raise bills, undercutting its existing overnight rate from 7.4 to 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour. Both rates are set by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB).

"We wanted to roll it out to as many people as possible," Kitchener-Conestoga PC MPP Mike Harris Jr. told CBC News. "These companies were ready to go, and we're going to continue to work with our local providers to make sure that everybody can meet that Nov. 1 deadline."

Enova Power — which serves Kitchener, Waterloo, Woolwich, Wellesley and Wilmot — won't offer the reduced overnight rate until the fall, after typical bills rose when fixed pricing ended province-wide.

Enova merger stalls adoption

The power company is the product of the recently merged Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro and Waterloo North Hydro.

The Sept. 1 merger is a major reason Enova Power isn't offering the ultra-low rate alongside the first wave of power companies, said Jeff Quint, innovation and communications manager.

"With mergers, a lot of work goes into them. We have to evaluate, merge and integrate several systems and processes," said Quint.

"We believe that we probably would have been able to make the May 1 timeline otherwise."

The ministry said retroactive pricing wouldn't be available, unlike the off-peak price freeze earlier in the pandemic, and Harris said he doesn't expect the province will issue any rebates to customers of companies that introduce the rates later than May 1.

"These organizations were able to look at rolling things out sooner. But, obviously — if you look at Toronto Hydro, London, Centre Wellington, Hearst, Renfrew — there's a dynamic range of large and smaller-scale providers there. I'm very hopeful the Region of Waterloo folks will be able to work to try and get this done as soon as we can," Harris said.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Energy Policy News

Newfoundland and Labrador electricity rate hike examines a proposed 18.6% increase under the PUB's Rate Stabilization Plan, driven by oil prices at Holyrood, with Consumer Advocate concerns over rate shock and use of RSP balances.

Key Points

A proposed 18.6% July 2017 increase under the RSP, driven by oil prices, now under PUB review for potential mitigation.

✅ PUB flags potential rate shock from proposed adjustment

✅ RSP balances cited to offset increases without depleting fund

✅ Oil-fired Holyrood volatility drives fuel cost uncertainty

How much of a rate hike is reasonable for users of electricity in Newfoundland and Labrador?

That's a question before the Public Utilities Board (PUB) as it examines an application by Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, which could see consumers pay up to 18.6 per cent more as of July 1, reflecting regional pressures seen in Nova Scotia, where regulators approved a 14% rate hike earlier this year.

"The estimated rate increase for July 2017 is such a significant increase that it may be argued that it would cause rate shock," said the PUB, asking the company to revise its application.

NL Hydro said the price adjustment is part of what happens every year through the Rate Stabilization Plan (RSP), which is used to offset the ups and downs of oil prices.

"The cost of fuel is volatile and as long as we rely on oil-fired generation at Holyrood, customers will continue to be impacted by this electricity price uncertainty," said the company in a statement to CBC News.

It noted that customers received a break from RSP adjustments in 2015 and 2016, even as costs from the Muskrat Falls project begin to be reflected.

The PUB noted that under the rate stabilization plan, prices have gone up or down by about 10 per cent in the past.

The regulatory board said the impact of the latest request would be a 27.6 per cent hike to Newfoundland Power, with "an estimated average end customer impact of 18.6 per cent."

Hydro's estimates are based on an average price for oil of $81.40 per barrel from July 2017 to June 2018, according to the PUB.

'Unacceptable' burden: Consumer Advocate

"To burden ratepayers with an 18 per cent rate increase is unacceptable," said Consumer Advocate Dennis Browne, echoing pushback in Nova Scotia, where the premier urged regulators to reject a 14% hike at the time.

Browne is arguing that there is money in the RSP to reduce the proposed increase, including the possibility of a lump-sum bill credit for customers.

"These ratepayer balances — which, according to NL Power, totals $77.4 million — are not the property of Hydro," he wrote in a letter to the PUB.

"No utility has the right to squirrel away ratepayers' money to be used by that utility for some future purpose. The Board has jurisdiction over those balances," Browne said.

Browne also wants the RSP overhauled so that it can be applied to price fluctuations every quarter, as opposed to annually.

Hydro has expressed concern that depleting the rate stabilization fund would lead to other, more significant, rate increases in the future.

It said several alternatives to mitigate high rates have been provided to the PUB, which has final say, similar to how Manitoba Hydro scaled back a planned increase in the next year.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Energy Policy News

Romania Ends CGN Cernavoda Nuclear Deal, as Nuclearelectrica moves to terminate negotiations on reactors 3 and 4, citing the EU Green Deal, US partnership, NATO, and a shift to alternative nuclear capacity options.

Key Points

Romania orders Nuclearelectrica to end CGN talks on Cernavoda units 3-4 and pursue alternative nuclear options.

✅ Negotiations on Cernavoda units 3-4 to be formally terminated

✅ EU Green Deal and US partnership cited over security concerns

✅ Board to draft strategies for new domestic nuclear capacity

Romania's government has mandated the managing board of local nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica to initiate procedures for terminating negotiations with China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) on building two new reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, where IAEA safety reports continue to shape operations.

The government also mandated the managing board to analyse and draw up strategic options on the construction of new electricity generation capacities from nuclear sources, as other countries such as India take steps to get nuclear back on track in response to demand.

The company will negotiate the termination of the agreement signed in 2015 for developing and operating units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda, even as Germany turns away from nuclear within the European landscape. 

At the end of last month, Economy Minister Virgil Popescu said that the collaboration with the Chinese company couldn't continue as it has yielded no results in seven years, despite China's nuclear program expanding steadily elsewhere.

"We have a strategic partnership with the US, and we hold on to it, we respect our partners. We are members of the EU and Nato, even as Germany's final reactor closures unfold in Europe. Aside from that, I think that seven years since this collaboration with the Chinese company began is enough to realise that we can't move on," Popescu said at that time.

Liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban announced in January that the government would exit the deal with its Chinese partner. He invoked the European Union's Green Deal rather than security issues or cost concerns circulated previously as the main reason behind a potential end of the deal with CGN to expand Romania's only nuclear power plant, amid concerns that Europe is losing nuclear power when it needs energy.

In August last year, the US included CGN on a blacklist for allegedly trying to get nuclear technology from the US to be used for military purposes in China, even as nuclear cooperation with Cambodia expands in the region.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Power Generation News