William Palmer has a licence from Health Canada to grow medical marijuana to help him deal with his HIV — but that didn't stop the fire department and the city's social housing provider from calling his garden a safety risk and turning off his electricity.
That was three weeks ago and Palmer has had no electricity to refrigerate his HIV medications in his apartment in a Toronto Community Housing (TCH) building on Dundas St. E.
"A year ago I asked my landlord for permission and consent to set up my operation. I put my Health Canada licence with my application but I never got a response," he said. "I knew sooner or later someone would make a stink about it but I never thought I would have my power turned off."
Medical marijuana can relieve the nausea caused by HIV medications, increase a patient's appetite and help with chronic pain. Palmer, 44, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1997, had a marijuana crop of 25 small plants.
His operation was set up by a professional electrician so he said there is no safety risk.
"My plants are dead and I'm living in the dark," he said.
On Sept. 23 Palmer was in the unit next door, occupied by his father, when he says he heard the landlord and firefighters enter his apartment.
"I had no notice from (TCH) housing that they would be entering my apartment. I heard them going in and I was paranoid and couldn't move," Palmer said.
"When they turned off the electricity, they put my health at risk. At least, I can store my drugs in my dad's fridge."
Social housing officials will look into the situation but won't discuss specifics, citing privacy laws, according to TCH spokesman Jeff Ferrier.
Palmer's lawyer, John Norquay, with the HIV and AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario, wrote to housing officials, noting his client is legally allowed to produce marijuana.
Norquay told housing officials they have a legal duty under the Human Rights Code to accommodate Palmer's disabilities, in this case, HIV.
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.”
Sudbury Microburst Power Outage strains hydro crews after straight-line winds; New Sudbury faces downed power lines, tree damage, and hazardous access as restoration efforts, mutual aid, and safety protocols aim to reconnect customers by weekend.
Key Points
A microburst downed lines in New Sudbury, cutting power as crews tackle hazardous access and complex repairs.
✅ Straight-line winds downed poles, trees, and service lines
✅ Crews face backyard access hazards, complex reconnections
✅ Mutual aid linemen, arborists, and crane work speed restoration
About 300 Sudbury Hydro customers are still without power Thursday after Monday's powerful microburst storm, part of a series of damaging storms in Ontario seen across the province.
The utility's spokesperson, Wendy Watson, says the power in the affected New Sudbury neighbourhoods should be back on by the weekend, even as Toronto power outages persisted in a recent storm.
The storm, which Environment Canada said was classified as a microburst or straight line wind damage, similar to a severe windstorm in Quebec, downed a number of power lines in the city.
Now crews are struggling with access to the lines, a challenge that BC Hydro's atypical storm response also highlighted, as they work to reconnect service in the area.
"In some cases, you can't get to someone's back yard, or you have to go through the neighbour's yard," Watson said.
"We have one case where [we had] equipment working over a swimming pool. It's dicey, it's really dirty and it's dangerous."
Monday's storm caused massive property damage across the city, particularly in New Sudbury. (Benjamin Aubé/CBC)
Veteran arborist Jim Allsop told CBC News he hasn't seen damage like this in his 30-plus years in the business.
"I don't know how many we've done up to date, but I have another 35 trees on houses," Allsop said. "We'll be probably another week."
"We've rented a crane to help speed up the process, and increase safety, and we're getting five or six done in our 12-hour days."
Scott Aultman, a lineman with North Bay Hydro, said he has seen a few storms in his career, and isn't usually surprised by extensive damage a storm can cause.
"When you see a trailer on its side, you know, you don't see that every day," Aultman said.
But during the clean up, Aultman said the spirit of camaraderie runs high with crews from different areas, as seen when Canadian crews helped Florida during Hurricane Irma.
"We were pumped. It's part of the trade, everybody gets together," Aultman said. "We had a big storm in 2006 and the Sudbury guys were up helping us, so it's great, it's nice to be able to return the favour and help them out."
Alberta Electricity Market Reform reshapes policy under the UCP, weighing a capacity market versus energy-only design, AESO reliability rules, renewables targets, coal phase-out, carbon pricing, consumer rates, and investment certainty before AUC decisions.
Key Points
Alberta Electricity Market Reform is the UCP plan to reassess capacity vs energy-only, renewables, and carbon pricing.
✅ Reviews capacity market timeline and AESO procurement
✅ Alters subsidies for renewables; slows wind and solar growth
✅ Adjusts industrial carbon levy; audits Balancing Pool losses
Hearings kicked off this week into the future of the province’s electricity market design, amid an electricity market reshuffle pledged by the province, but a high-stakes decision about the industry’s fate — affecting billions of dollars in investment and consumer costs — won’t be made inside the meeting room of the Alberta Utilities Commission.
Instead, it will take place in the office of Jason Kenney, as the incoming premier prepares to pivot away from the seismic reforms to Alberta’s electricity sector introduced by the Notley government.
The United Conservative Party has promised to adopt market-based policies, reflecting changes to how Alberta produces and pays for power, that will reset how the sector operates, from its approach to renewable energy and carbon pricing to re-evaluating the planned transition to an electricity “capacity market.”
“Every ball in electricity is up in the air right now,” Vittoria Bellissimo, of the Industrial Power Consumers Association of Alberta, said Tuesday during a break in the commission hearings.
Industry players are uncertain how quickly the UCP will change direction on power policies, but there’s little doubt Kenney’s government will take a strikingly different approach to the sector that keeps the lights on in Alberta.
“There’s some things they are going to change that are going to impact the electricity industry significantly,” said Duane Reid-Carlson, chief executive of consultancy EDC Associates.
“But I don’t think it’s going to be upheaval. I think the new government will proceed with caution because electricity is the foundation of our economy.”
Alberta’s electricity market has been turned on its head in recent years due to the recession, power prices dropping to near two-decade lows and several transformative policies initiated by the NDP.
The Notley government’s climate plan included an accelerated phase-out of all coal-fired generation and set targets for more renewable energy.
The most significant, but least-understood, move has been the planned shift to an electricity capacity market in 2021.
Under the strategy, generators will no longer solely be paid for the power produced and sold into the market; they will also receive payments for having electricity capacity available to the grid on demand.
The change was recommended by the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) as a way to reduce price volatility and provide more reliability than the current energy-only market, which some argue needs more competition to deliver better outcomes.
The independent system operator and industry officials have spent more than two years planning the transition since the switch was announced in late 2016. Proposed rules for the new system, outlining market changes, are now being discussed at the Alberta Utilities Commission hearings.
However, there is no ironclad guarantee the system remake will go ahead following the UCP’s election victory last week — amid calls to scrap the overhaul from a Calgary retailer — it plans to study the issue further — while other substantive electricity changes are already in store.
The UCP has promised to end “costly subsidies” to renewable energy developments and abandon the NDP’s pledge to have such energy sources make up 30 per cent of all power generation by 2030.
It will remove the planned phase-out of coal-fired electricity generation, although federal regulations for a 2030 prohibition remain in place.
It will also ask the auditor general to conduct a special audit of the massive losses sustained by the province’s Balancing Pool due to power purchase arrangements being handed back to the agency three years ago.
While Kenney has pledged to cancel the provincewide carbon tax, a levy on large industrial greenhouse gas emitters (such has power plants) will still be charged, although at a reduced rate of $20 a tonne.
The biggest unknown remains the power market’s structure, which underpins how the entire system operates.
The UCP has promised to consult on the shift to the capacity market and report back to Albertans within 90 days.
The complex issue may sound like an eye-glazer, but it will have a profound effect on industry investment, as well as how much consumers pay on their monthly electricity bills.
A number of industry players worry the capacity market will lead AESO to procure more power than is necessary, foisting unnecessary costs onto all Albertans.
“I still have concerns for what the impact on consumers is going to be,” said energy market consultant Sheldon Fulton. “I’d love to see the capacity market go away.”
An analysis by EDC Associates found the transition to a capacity market will procure additional electricity before it’s needed, requiring consumers to pay up to 40 per cent more — an extra $1.4 billion — for power in 2021-22 than under the existing market structure.
“I don’t think there’s any prejudged outcome,” said Blake Shaffer, former head trader at TransAlta Corp. and a fellow-in-residence at the C.D. Howe Institute.
“But it really matters about getting this right.”
Evan Bahry, executive director of the Independent Power Producers Society of Alberta, said the fact the UCP’s review was confined to just 90 days is helpful, as it avoids throwing the entire industry into a prolonged period of uncertainty.
As for the greening of Alberta’s power grid, amid growing attention to clean grids and storage, the demise of the NDP’s Renewable Electricity Program will likely slow down the rapid pace of wind and solar development. But it’s unlikely to stop the growth trend as costs continue to fall for such developments.
“Renewables over the last number of years have evolved to the point that they make sense on a subsidy-free basis,” said Dan Balaban, CEO of Greengate Power Corp., which has developed 480 MW of wind power in Alberta and Ontario.
Ultra-Low Overnight Price Plan delivers flexible electricity pricing from Hydro One and the Ontario Energy Board, with TOU, tiered options, off-peak EV charging savings, balanced billing, and an online calculator to optimize bills.
Key Points
An Ontario pricing option with ultra-low night rates, helping Hydro One customers save by shifting usage to off-peak.
✅ Four periods with ultra-low overnight rate for EV charging
✅ Compare TOU vs tiered with Hydro One's online calculator
✅ Balanced billing and due date choice support budget control
Hydro One has announced that customers have even more choice and flexibility when it comes to how they are billed for electricity with the company's launch of the Ontario Energy Board's new Ultra-Low Overnight Electricity Price Plan for customers. A new survey of Ontario customers, conducted by Innovative Research Group, shows that 74 per cent of Ontarians find having choice between electricity pricing plans useful.
"As their trusted energy advisor, we want our customers to know we have the insights and tools to help them make the right choice when it comes to their electricity plans," said Teri French, Executive Vice President, Safety, Operations and Customer Experience. "We know that choice and flexibility are important to our customers, and we are proud to now offer them a third option so they can select the plan that best fits their lifestyle."
The same survey revealed that fewer than half of Ontarians are familiar with either tiered or the new ultra-low overnight price plans. To better support its customers Hydro One is providing an online calculator to help them choose which pricing plan best suits their lifestyle. The company also offers additional flexibility and assistance in managing household budgets by providing customers with the ability to choose their billing due date and flatten usage spikes from temperature fluctuations through balanced billing.
During the pandemic, Ontario introduced electricity relief to support families, small businesses and farms, complementing these customer options.
"By offering families and small businesses more choice, we are putting them back in control of their energy bills," said Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. "Starting today Hydro One customers have a new option - the Ultra-Low Electricity Price Plan - which could help them save money each year, while making our province's grid more efficient."
Electricity price plan options
New Ultra-Low Overnight price plan (ULO): Designed for customers who use more electricity at night, such as those who charge their electric vehicle, this new price plan can help customers keep costs down and take control of their electricity bill by shifting usage to the ultra-low overnight price period and related off-peak electricity rates when province-wide electricity demand is lower.
This plan has four price periods that are the same in the summer as they are in the winter and includes an ultra-low overnight rate.
Time-of-Use price plan (TOU): TOU provides customers with more control over their electricity bill by adjusting their usage habits with time-of-use rates used in other jurisdictions as well.
In this plan, electricity prices change throughout each weekday, when demand is on-peak, and peak hydro rates can affect overall costs.
Tiered price plan (RPP): Tiered pricing provides customers with the flexibility to use electricity at any time of day at the same low price up until the threshold is exceeded during the month, after that usage is charged at a higher price.
For residential customers, the winter period (November 1 – April 30) threshold is 1,000 kWh per month and the summer period (May 1 – October 31) threshold is 600 kWh per month.
For small business customers, the threshold is 750 kWh throughout the year, while broader stable electricity pricing supports industrial and commercial companies.
Cannes Film Festival Power Outage disrupts Alpes-Maritimes as an electrical substation fire and a fallen high-voltage line trigger blackouts; arson probe launched, grid resilience tested, traffic and trains snarled, Palais des Festivals on backup power.
Key Points
A May 24, 2025 blackout in Cannes disrupting events, under arson probe, exposing grid risks across Alpes-Maritimes.
✅ Substation fire and fallen high-voltage line triggered blackouts
✅ Palais des Festivals ran on independent backup power
A significant power outage on May 24, 2025, disrupted the final day of the Cannes Film Festival in southeastern France. The blackout, which affected approximately 160,000 households in the Alpes-Maritimes region, including the city of Cannes, occurred just hours before the highly anticipated Palme d'Or ceremony. French authorities are investigating the possibility that the outage was caused by arson.
Details of the Outage
The power disruption began early on Saturday morning with a fire at an electrical substation near Cannes. This incident weakened the local power grid. Shortly thereafter, a high-voltage line fell at another location, further exacerbating the situation. The combined events led to widespread power outages, affecting not only the festival but also local businesses, traffic systems, and public transportation, echoing Heathrow Airport outage warnings raised days before a separate disruption. Traffic lights in parts of Cannes and the nearby city of Antibes stopped working, leading to traffic jams and confusion in city centers. Most shops along the Croisette remained closed, and local food kiosks were only accepting cash. Train service in Cannes was also disrupted.
Impact on the Festival
Despite the challenges, festival organizers managed to keep the main venue, the Palais des Festivals, operational by switching to an independent power supply. They confirmed that all scheduled events and screenings, including the Closing Ceremony, would proceed as planned, a reminder of how grid operators sometimes avoid rolling blackouts to keep essential services running. The power was restored around 3 p.m. local time, just hours before the ceremony, allowing music to resume and the event to continue without further incident.
Investigations and Suspected Arson
French authorities, including the national gendarmerie, are investigating the possibility that the power outage was the result of arson, aligning with grid attack warnings issued by intelligence services. The prefect for the Alpes-Maritimes region, Laurent Hottiaux, condemned the "serious acts of damage to electrical infrastructures" and stated that all resources are mobilized to identify, track down, arrest, and bring to justice the perpetrators of these acts.
While investigations are ongoing, no official conclusions have been drawn regarding the cause of the outage. Authorities are working to determine whether the incidents were isolated or part of a coordinated effort, a question that also arises when utilities implement PG&E wildfire shutoffs to prevent cascading damage.
Broader Implications
The power outage at the Cannes Film Festival underscores the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to potential acts of sabotage. While the immediate impact on the festival was mitigated, the incident raises concerns about the resilience of energy systems, especially during major public events, and amid severe weather like a B.C. bomb cyclone that leaves tens of thousands without power. It also highlights the importance of having contingency plans in place to ensure the continuity of essential services in the face of unexpected disruptions.
As investigations continue, authorities are urging the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities, while planners also prepare for storm-driven outages that compound emergency response. The outcome of this investigation may have implications for future security measures at large-scale events and the protection of critical infrastructure.
While the Cannes Film Festival was able to proceed with its closing events, the power outage serves as a reminder of the potential threats to public safety, as seen when a Western Washington bomb cyclone left hundreds of thousands without power, and the importance of robust security measures to safeguard against such incidents.
BC Hydro Crypto Mining Moratorium pauses high-load connection requests, as BCUC reviews electricity demand, gigawatt-hours and megawatt load forecasts, data center growth, and potential rate impacts on the power grid and industrial customers.
Key Points
A BC order pausing crypto mining connections while BC Hydro and BCUC assess load, grid impacts, and ratepayer risks.
✅ 18-month pause on new high-load crypto connections
✅ 1,403 MW in requests suspended; 273 MW existing or pending
✅ Seeks to manage demand, rates, and grid reliability
In its Nov. 1, 2022 load update briefing note to senior executives of the Crown corporation, BC Hydro shows that the entire large industrial sector accounted for 6,591 gigawatt-hours during the period – one percent less than forecast in the service plan.
BC Hydro censored load statistics about crypto mining, coal mining and chemicals from the briefing note, which was obtained under the freedom of information law and came amid scrutiny over B.C. electricity imports because it feared that disclosure would harm Crown corporation finances and third-party business interests.
Crypto mining requires high-powered computers to run and be cooled around the clock constantly. So much so that cabinet ordered the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) last December to place an 18-month moratorium on crypto mining connection requests, while other jurisdictions, such as the N.B. Power crypto review, undertook similar pauses to assess impacts.
In a news release, the government said 21 projects seeking 1,403 megawatts were temporarily suspended. The government said that would be enough to power 570,000 homes or 2.1 million electric vehicles for a year.
A report issued by BC Hydro before Christmas said there were already 166 megawatts of power from operational projects at seven sites. Another six projects with 107 megawatts were nearing connection, bringing its total load to 273 megawatts.
Richard McCandless, a retired assistant deputy minister who analyzes the performance of BC Hydro and the Insurance Corp of British Columbia, said China's May 2021 ban on crypto mining had a major ripple effect on those seeking cheap and reliable power.
"When China cracked down, these guys fled to different areas," McCandless said in an interview. "So they took their computers and went somewhere else. Some wound up in B.C."
He said BC Hydro's secrecy about crypto loads appears rooted in the Crown corporation underestimating load demand, even as new generating stations were commissioned to bolster capacity.
"Crypto is up so dramatically; they didn't want to show that," McCandless said. "Maybe they didn't want to be seen as being asleep at the switch."
Indeed, BCUC's April 21 decision on BC Hydro's 2021 revenue forecasts through the 2025 fiscal year included BC Hydro's forecast increase for crypto and data centres of about 100 gigawatt-hours through fiscal 2024 before returning to 2021 levels by 2025. In addition, the BCUC document said that BC Hydro's December 2020 load forecast was lower than the previous one because of project cancellations and updated load requests, amid ongoing nuclear power debate in B.C.
"Given the segment's continued uncertainty and volatility, the forecast assumes these facilities are not long-lived," the BC Hydro application said.
A September 2022 report to the White House titled "Crypto-Assets in the United States" said increased electricity demand from crypto-asset mining could lead to rate increases.
"Crypto-asset mining in upstate New York increased annual household electric bills by [US]$82 and annual small business electric bills by [US]$164, with total net losses from local consumers and businesses estimated to be [US]$179 million from 2016-2018," the report said. The information mentioned Plattsburgh, New York's 18-month moratorium in 2018. Manitoba announced a similar suspension almost a month before B.C.
B.C.'s total core domestic load of 23,666 gigawatt-hours was two percent higher than the service plan amid BC Hydro call for power planning, with commercial and light industrial (9,198 gigawatt-hours) and residential (7,877 gigawatt-hours) being the top two customer segments.
"A cooler spring and warmer summer supported increased loads, as the Western Canada drought strained hydropower production regionally. However, warmer daytime temperatures in September impacted heating more than cooling," said the briefing note.
"Commercial and light industrial consumption benefited from warmer temperatures in August but has also been impacted to a lesser degree by the reduced heating load in the first three weeks of October."
Loads improved relative to 2021, but offices, retail businesses and restaurants remained below pre-pandemic levels. Education, recreation and hotel sectors were in line with pre-pandemic levels. Light industrial sector growth offset the declines.
For heavy industry, pulp and paper electricity use was 15 percent ahead of forecast, but wood manufacturing was 16 percent below forecast. The briefing note said oil and gas grew nine percent relative to the previous year but, alongside ongoing LNG power demand, fell nine percent below the service plan.
