Members of a Senate committee are questioning a request from Atlantic Canada for a federal loan guarantee for the central Labrador Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.
Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia have asked the federal government for a loan guarantee to help with the $6.2 billion project at Muskrat Falls.
At a federal Senate energy committee hearing in Halifax, B.C. Conservative MP Richard Neufeld said it would be "great" if the federal government would underwrite loans for electrical generation in all provinces.
"Why Nova Scotia doesn't underwrite the $6.2 billion project itself?" he asked.
Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter responded that the borrowing rate for Ottawa is much lower than it would be for his province.
In November, N.L.'s Crown-owned Nalcor Energy and Nova Scotia's Emera Inc. agreed on a $6.2 billion plan to generate 824 megawatts of power at Muskrat Falls on Labrador's Churchill River.
According to the deal, electricity will be moved first to Newfoundland with much of it later relayed through Nova Scotia by underwater cables.
In February, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale said she expects an answer from Ottawa in March regarding the request for a loan guarantee.
The project to harness power from Muskrat Falls in Labrador was billed by former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams as one of the last large green energy projects in North America.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not make any promises when he visited St. John's in February.
Ontario Global Adjustment Deferral provides COVID-19 relief to industrial and commercial electricity consumers, holding GA charges at pre-COVID levels, aligning Class A and Class B rates, and deferring non-RPP costs from April to June 2020.
Key Points
An emergency measure that defers a portion of GA charges to stabilize electricity bills for non-RPP Class A/B consumers.
✅ Holds GA near pre-COVID levels at $115/MWh for Class B.
✅ Applies equal percentage relief to Class A customers.
✅ Deferred costs recovered over 12 months from Jan 2021.
Through an emergency order passed today, the Ontario government is taking steps to defer a portion of Global Adjustment (GA) charges for industrial and commercial electricity consumers that do not participate in the Regulated Price Plan for the period starting from April 2020, at a time when Toronto's growing electricity needs require careful planning. This initiative is intended to provide companies with temporary immediate relief on their monthly electricity bills, as utilities use AI to adapt to shifting electricity demands in April, May and June 2020. The government intends to keep this emergency order in place until May 31, 2020, and subsequent regulatory amendments would, if approved, provide for the deferral of these charges for June 2020 as well.
This relief will prevent a marked increase in Global Adjustment charges due to the low electricity demand caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Without this emergency order, a small industrial or commercial consumer (i.e., Class B) could have seen bills increase by 15 per cent or more. This emergency order will hold GA rates in line with pre-COVID-19 levels, even as clean energy initiatives in British Columbia accelerate across the sector.
"Ontario's industrial and commercial electricity consumers are being impacted by COVID-19. They employ thousands of hardworking Ontarians, and we know this is a challenging time for them," said Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines. "This would provide immediate financial support for more than 50,000 companies when they need it most: as they do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19 and as they prepare to help get our economy moving again with Toronto preparing for a surge in electricity demand in the years ahead."
Quick Facts
The GA rate for smaller industrial and commercial consumers (i.e., Class B) has been set at $115 per megawatt-hour, which is roughly in line with the March 2020 value, alongside efforts to develop IoT security standards for electricity sector devices today. Large industrial and commercial consumers (i.e., Class A) will receive the same percentage reduction in GA charges as Class B consumers.
Subject to the approval of subsequent amendments, deferred costs would be recovered over a 12-month period beginning in January 2021, amid increasing exposure to harsh weather across Canadian grids.
Calgary Winter Energy Usage Surge highlights soaring electricity demand, added megawatt-hours, and grid reliability challenges driven by extreme cold, heating loads, and climate change, with summer air conditioning also shifting seasonal peaks.
Key Points
A spike in Calgary's power use from extreme cold, adding 22k MWh and testing reliability as heating demand rises.
✅ +22,000 MWh vs Feb 2018 amid fourth-coldest February
✅ Heating loads spike; summer A/C now drives peak demand
✅ Grid reliability monitored; more solar and green resources ahead
February was so cold in Calgary that the city used enough extra energy to power 3,400 homes for a whole year, echoing record-breaking demand in B.C. in 2021 during severe cold.
Enmax Power Corporation, the primary electricity utility in the city, says the city 's energy consumption was up 22,000 megawatt hours last month compared with Februray 2018.
"We've seen through this cold period our system has held up very well. It's been very reliable," Enmax vice-president Andre van Dijk told the Calgary Eyeopener on Friday. "You know, in the absence of a windstorm combined with cold temperatures and that sort of thing, the system has actually held up pretty well."
The past month was the fourth coldest in Calgary's history, and similar conditions have pushed all-time high demand in B.C. in recent years across the West. The average temperature for last month was –18.1 C. The long-term average for February is –5.4 C.
Watching use, predicting issues
The electricity company monitors demand and load on a daily basis, always trying to predict issues before they happen, van Dijk said, and utilities have introduced winter payment plans to help customers manage bills during prolonged cold.
One of the issues they're watching is climate change, and how extreme temperatures and weather affect both the grid's reliability, as seen when Quebec shattered consumption records during cold snaps, and the public's energy use.
The colder it gets, the higher you turn up the heat. The hotter it is, the more you use air conditioning.
He also noted that using fuels then contributes to climate change, creating a cycle.
"We are seeing variations in temperature and we've seen large weather events across the continent, across the world, in fact, that impact electrical systems, whether that's flooding, as we've experienced here, or high winds, tornadoes," van Dijk said.
"Climate change and changing weather patterns have definitely had had an impact on us as an electrical industry."
In 2012, he said, Calgary switched from using the most power during winter to using the most during summer, in large part due to air conditioning, he said.
"Temperature is a strong influencer of energy consumption and of our demand," van Dijk said.
Christmas tree lights have also become primarily LED, van Dijk said, which cuts down on a big energy draw in the winter.
He said he expects more solar and other green resources will be added into the electrical system in the future to mitigate how much the increasingly levels of energy use impact climate change, and to help moderate electricity costs in Alberta over time.
India Village Electrification hailed by the IEA in World Energy Outlook 2018 showcases rapid energy access progress, universal village power, clean cooking advances via LPG, and Modi-led initiatives, inspiring Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Key Points
A national push to power every Indian village, praised by the IEA for boosting energy access and clean cooking.
✅ Electrified 597,464 villages ahead of schedule in April 2018.
✅ IEA hails India in World Energy Outlook 2018 as star performer.
✅ LPG connections surge via Ujjwala, aiding clean cooking access.
The global energy watchdog International Energy Agency (IEA) has called India's electrification of every village the greatest success story of 2018. In its latest report, World Energy Outlook 2018, the IEA has called India a "star performer" in terms of achieving the big milestone of the providing power to each village. "In particular, one of the greatest success stories in access to energy in 2018 was India completing the electrification of all of its villages," said the IEA. It added that countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh have also achieved the commendable electrification rate of 95% (up from 50% in 2000), and 80% (up from 20% in 2000), respectively, even as Europe's electrification push continues as part of broader transitions.
This 643-page report by the IEA says over 120 million people worldwide gained access to electricity in 2017 and charts growth in the electric car market as part of broader energy trends. For the first time ever, the total number of people without access fell below 1 billion, it said. The mega plan of providing electricity to 597,464 villages in India was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech in 2015. On April 28, 2018, PM Modi confirmed that India had achieved its goal ahead of schedule. "This is one of the greatest achievements in the history of energy," said the IEA.
Praising the Narendra Modi government for making efforts towards lighting up every village in India, the agency said: "Since 2000 around half a billion people have gained access to electricity in India, with political effort over the last five years significantly accelerating progress."
India's achievement of providing universal household electricity access will improve the lives of over 230 million people, said the IEA, even as analyses like a Swedfund report debate some poverty outcomes in electrified areas. For a start, electric lighting makes the use of candles, kerosene and other polluting fuels for lighting redundant, not only saving money (and providing more light) but also seriously improving health, it said.
Though the global energy agency has called India "a success story", and a "bright spot for energy access", it says huge challenges remain in other regions of the world where over 670 million people still live without electricity access. "90% of these people are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, with countries such as Nigeria facing severe shortages," said the report.
Seven decades after independence and nearly three decades after India's economic liberalisation, the Modi government achieved the historic milestone of giving power to every single village of India, 12 days ahead of the deadline set by PM Modi. Leisang in Manipur became the last village to be connected to the grid, while a Delhi energy storage project explores ways to balance supply and demand.
The agency also praised India for tackling a related problem: access to clean cooking facilities. "While an estimated 780 million people in India rely on biomass for cooking, progress is emerging, as India is one of the few countries in the world targeting this "blind spot" of energy policy," it said.
Around 36 million LPG connections have been made since Prime Minister Modi and Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme in May 2016 to provide free connections to families living below the poverty line. In India, around 50 million free LPG stoves and initial refills have been provided to poor households via this scheme since 2015. The government has set a target of providing LPG connections to 80 million households by 2020.
TEP Undergrounding Policy prioritizes selective underground power lines to manage wildfire risk, engineering costs, and ratepayer impacts, balancing transmission and distribution reliability with right-of-way, safety, and vegetation management per Arizona regulators.
Key Points
A selective TEP approach to bury lines where safety, engineering, and cost justify undergrounding.
✅ Selective undergrounding for feeders near substations
✅ Balances wildfire mitigation, reliability, and ratepayer costs
✅ Follows ACC rules, BLM and USFS vegetation management
Though wildfires in California caused by power lines have prompted calls for more underground lines, Tucson Electric Power Co. plans to keep to its policy of burying lines selectively for safety.
Like many other utilities, TEP typically doesn’t install its long-range, high-voltage transmission lines, such as the TransWest Express project, and distribution equipment underground because of higher costs that would be passed on to ratepayers, TEP spokesman Joe Barrios said.
But the company will sometimes bury lower-voltage lines and equipment where it is cost-effective or needed for safety as utilities adapt to climate change across North America, or if customers or developers are willing to pay the higher installation costs
Underground installations generally include additional engineering expenses, right-of-way acquisition for projects like the New England Clean Power Link in other regions, and added labor and materials, Barrios said.
“This practice avoids passing along unnecessary costs to customers through their rates, so that all customers are not asked to subsidize a discretionary expenditure that primarily benefits residents or property owners in one small area of our service territory,” he said, adding that the Arizona Corporation Commission has supported the company’s policy.
Even so, TEP will place equipment underground in some circumstances if engineering or safety concerns, including electrical safety tips that utilities promote during storm season, justify the additional cost of underground installation, Barrios said.
In fact, lower-voltage “feeder” lines emerging from distribution substations are typically installed underground until the lines reach a point where they can be safely brought above ground, he added.
While in California PG&E has shut off power during windy weather to avoid wildfires in forested areas traversed by its power lines after events like the Drum Fire last June, TEP doesn’t face the same kind of wildfire risk, Barrios said.
Most of TEP’s 5,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines aren’t located in heavily forested areas that would raise fire concerns, though large urban systems have seen outages after station fires in Los Angeles, he said.
However, TEP has an active program of monitoring transmission lines and trimming vegetation to maintain a fire-safety buffer zone and address risks from vandalism such as copper theft where applicable, in compliance with federal regulations and in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
OEB Hydro One Rate Decision 2023-2027 sets approved transmission and distribution rates in Ontario, with a settlement reducing revenue requirement, modest bill impacts, higher productivity factors, inflation certainty, DVA credits, and First Nations participation measures.
Key Points
OEB-approved Hydro One 2023-2027 transmission and distribution rates settlement, lowering costs and limiting bill impacts.
✅ $482.7M revenue reductions vs. original proposal
✅ Avg bill impact: +$0.69 trans., +$2.43 distr. per month
✅ Faster DVA refunds; productivity and efficiency incentives
The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) issued its Decision and Order on an application filed by Hydro One Networks Inc. (Hydro One) on August 5, 2021 seeking approval for changes to the rates it charges for electricity transmission and distribution, beginning January 1, 2023 and for each subsequent year through to December 31, 2027.
The proceeding resulted in the filing of a settlement proposal that the OEB has now approved after concluding that it is in the public interest.
The negotiated reductions in Hydro One's transmission and distribution revenue requirements over the 2023 to 2027 period total $482.7 million compared to the requests made by Hydro One in its application.
The OEB found that the reductions in Hydro One's proposed capital expenditure and operating, maintenance and administration costs were reasonable, and should not compromise the safety and reliability of Hydro One's transmission and distribution systems. It also concluded that the estimated bill impacts for both transmission and distribution customers are reasonable, and that the January 1, 2023 implementation and effective date of the new rates is appropriate.
In the broader Canadian context, pressures on utility finances at other companies, such as Manitoba Hydro's debt provide additional background for stakeholders.
Bill Impacts
This proceeding related to both transmission and distribution operations.
Transmission
The new transmission revenue requirement will affect Ontario electricity consumers across the province because it will be incorporated into updated transmission rates, which are paid by electricity distributors and other large consumers connected directly to the transmission system, and distributors then pass this cost on to their customers.
As a result of the settlement approved on the transmission portion of the application, it is estimated that for a typical Hydro One residential customer with a monthly consumption of 750 kWh, the total bill impact averaged over the 2023-2027 period will be an increase of $0.69 per month or 0.5%, which follows the 2021 electricity rate reductions that affected many businesses.
Distribution
The new OEB-approved distribution rates will affect Hydro One's distribution customers, including areas served through acquisitions such as the Peterborough Distribution sale which expanded its customer base.
As a result of the settlement reached on the distribution portion of the application, it is estimated that for a typical residential distribution customer of Hydro One with a monthly consumption of 750 kWh, the total bill impact averaged over the 2023-2027 period will be an increase of $2.43 per month or 1.5%. This proceeding included 24 approved intervenors representing a wide variety of customer classes and other interests. Representatives of 18 of those intervenors participated in the settlement conference. Having this diversity of perspective enriches the already thorough examination of evidence and argument that the OEB routinely undertakes when considering an application.
Other features of the settlement proposal include:
A commitment by Hydro One to include, in future operational and capital investment plans, a discussion of how the proposed spending will directly support the achievement of Hydro One's climate change policy.
Eliminating further updates to reflect changes to inflation in 2022 and 2023 as originally proposed, to provide Hydro One's customers with greater certainty as to the potential impacts of inflation on their bills.
Increases in the productivity factors and supplemental stretch factors for both the distribution and transmission business segments which will provide Hydro One with additional incentives to achieve greater efficiencies during the 2023 to 2027 period.
Undertaking certain measures to seek economic participation or equity investment opportunities from First Nations.
Disposition of net credit balances in deferral and variance accounts (DVAs) owed to customers will be returned over a shorter period of time:
Transmission DVA – $22.5M over a one-year period in 2023 (versus five years)
Distribution DVA – $85.9M over a three-year period – 2023-2025 (versus five years)
Undertaking certain measures to continue examining cost-effective transmission and distribution line losses
In the decision, the OEB acknowledged the efforts involved by parties to participate in this entire proceeding, including the settlement conference, considering the number of participants, the complexity of the issues, and the challenging logistics of a "virtual" proceeding. The OEB commended the parties and OEB staff for achieving a comprehensive settlement on all issues.
ITER Nuclear Fusion advances tokamak magnetic confinement, heating deuterium-tritium plasma with superconducting magnets, targeting net energy gain, tritium breeding, and steam-turbine power, while complementing laser inertial confinement milestones for grid-scale electricity and 2025 startup goals.
Key Points
ITER Nuclear Fusion is a tokamak project confining D-T plasma with magnets to achieve net energy gain and clean power.
✅ Tokamak magnetic confinement with high-temp superconducting coils
✅ Deuterium-tritium fuel cycle with on-site tritium breeding
✅ Targets net energy gain and grid-scale, low-carbon electricity
It sounds like the stuff of dreams: a virtually limitless source of energy that doesn’t produce greenhouse gases or radioactive waste. That’s the promise of nuclear fusion, often described as the holy grail of clean energy by proponents, which for decades has been nothing more than a fantasy due to insurmountable technical challenges. But things are heating up in what has turned into a race to create what amounts to an artificial sun here on Earth, one that can provide power for our kettles, cars and light bulbs.
Today’s nuclear power plants create electricity through nuclear fission, in which atoms are split, with next-gen nuclear power exploring smaller, cheaper, safer designs that remain distinct from fusion. Nuclear fusion however, involves combining atomic nuclei to release energy. It’s the same reaction that’s taking place at the Sun’s core. But overcoming the natural repulsion between atomic nuclei and maintaining the right conditions for fusion to occur isn’t straightforward. And doing so in a way that produces more energy than the reaction consumes has been beyond the grasp of the finest minds in physics for decades.
But perhaps not for much longer. Some major technical challenges have been overcome in the past few years and governments around the world have been pouring money into fusion power research as part of a broader green industrial revolution under way in several regions. There are also over 20 private ventures in the UK, US, Europe, China and Australia vying to be the first to make fusion energy production a reality.
“People are saying, ‘If it really is the ultimate solution, let’s find out whether it works or not,’” says Dr Tim Luce, head of science and operation at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), being built in southeast France. ITER is the biggest throw of the fusion dice yet.
Its $22bn (£15.9bn) build cost is being met by the governments of two-thirds of the world’s population, including the EU, the US, China and Russia, at a time when Europe is losing nuclear power and needs energy, and when it’s fired up in 2025 it’ll be the world’s largest fusion reactor. If it works, ITER will transform fusion power from being the stuff of dreams into a viable energy source.
Constructing a nuclear fusion reactor ITER will be a tokamak reactor – thought to be the best hope for fusion power. Inside a tokamak, a gas, often a hydrogen isotope called deuterium, is subjected to intense heat and pressure, forcing electrons out of the atoms. This creates a plasma – a superheated, ionised gas – that has to be contained by intense magnetic fields.
The containment is vital, as no material on Earth could withstand the intense heat (100,000,000°C and above) that the plasma has to reach so that fusion can begin. It’s close to 10 times the heat at the Sun’s core, and temperatures like that are needed in a tokamak because the gravitational pressure within the Sun can’t be recreated.
When atomic nuclei do start to fuse, vast amounts of energy are released. While the experimental reactors currently in operation release that energy as heat, in a fusion reactor power plant, the heat would be used to produce steam that would drive turbines to generate electricity, even as some envision nuclear beyond electricity for industrial heat and fuels.
Tokamaks aren’t the only fusion reactors being tried. Another type of reactor uses lasers to heat and compress a hydrogen fuel to initiate fusion. In August 2021, one such device at the National Ignition Facility, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, generated 1.35 megajoules of energy. This record-breaking figure brings fusion power a step closer to net energy gain, but most hopes are still pinned on tokamak reactors rather than lasers.
In June 2021, China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor maintained a plasma for 101 seconds at 120,000,000°C. Before that, the record was 20 seconds. Ultimately, a fusion reactor would need to sustain the plasma indefinitely – or at least for eight-hour ‘pulses’ during periods of peak electricity demand.
A real game-changer for tokamaks has been the magnets used to produce the magnetic field. “We know how to make magnets that generate a very high magnetic field from copper or other kinds of metal, but you would pay a fortune for the electricity. It wouldn’t be a net energy gain from the plant,” says Luce.
One route for nuclear fusion is to use atoms of deuterium and tritium, both isotopes of hydrogen. They fuse under incredible heat and pressure, and the resulting products release energy as heat
The solution is to use high-temperature, superconducting magnets made from superconducting wire, or ‘tape’, that has no electrical resistance. These magnets can create intense magnetic fields and don’t lose energy as heat.
“High temperature superconductivity has been known about for 35 years. But the manufacturing capability to make tape in the lengths that would be required to make a reasonable fusion coil has just recently been developed,” says Luce. One of ITER’s magnets, the central solenoid, will produce a field of 13 tesla – 280,000 times Earth’s magnetic field.
The inner walls of ITER’s vacuum vessel, where the fusion will occur, will be lined with beryllium, a metal that won’t contaminate the plasma much if they touch. At the bottom is the divertor that will keep the temperature inside the reactor under control.
“The heat load on the divertor can be as large as in a rocket nozzle,” says Luce. “Rocket nozzles work because you can get into orbit within minutes and in space it’s really cold.” In a fusion reactor, a divertor would need to withstand this heat indefinitely and at ITER they’ll be testing one made out of tungsten.
Meanwhile, in the US, the National Spherical Torus Experiment – Upgrade (NSTX-U) fusion reactor will be fired up in the autumn of 2022, while efforts in advanced fission such as a mini-reactor design are also progressing. One of its priorities will be to see whether lining the reactor with lithium helps to keep the plasma stable.
Choosing a fuel Instead of just using deuterium as the fusion fuel, ITER will use deuterium mixed with tritium, another hydrogen isotope. The deuterium-tritium blend offers the best chance of getting significantly more power out than is put in. Proponents of fusion power say one reason the technology is safe is that the fuel needs to be constantly fed into the reactor to keep fusion happening, making a runaway reaction impossible.
Deuterium can be extracted from seawater, so there’s a virtually limitless supply of it. But only 20kg of tritium are thought to exist worldwide, so fusion power plants will have to produce it (ITER will develop technology to ‘breed’ tritium). While some radioactive waste will be produced in a fusion plant, it’ll have a lifetime of around 100 years, rather than the thousands of years from fission.
At the time of writing in September, researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion reactor in Oxfordshire were due to start their deuterium-tritium fusion reactions. “JET will help ITER prepare a choice of machine parameters to optimise the fusion power,” says Dr Joelle Mailloux, one of the scientific programme leaders at JET. These parameters will include finding the best combination of deuterium and tritium, and establishing how the current is increased in the magnets before fusion starts.
The groundwork laid down at JET should accelerate ITER’s efforts to accomplish net energy gain. ITER will produce ‘first plasma’ in December 2025 and be cranked up to full power over the following decade. Its plasma temperature will reach 150,000,000°C and its target is to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for every 50 megawatts of input heating power.
“If ITER is successful, it’ll eliminate most, if not all, doubts about the science and liberate money for technology development,” says Luce. That technology development will be demonstration fusion power plants that actually produce electricity, where advanced reactors can build on decades of expertise. “ITER is opening the door and saying, yeah, this works – the science is there.”
