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“These premiers could be the first in 65 years to not just understand this idea but actually take action on it”
By TJ Colello
An environmental organization in Nova Scotia is calling on provincial governments in Atlantic Canada to pursue a regional electricity grid to help improve reliability and lower costs.
The Ecology Action Centre’s recent report, titled Pathways to Regional Electricity Integration for Atlantic Canada, gives a series of recommendations that would enable the creation of a coordinated power grid. A regional grid would also help increase renewable energy integration, according to the document.
Thomas McNeil, senior energy coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, said regional coordination for the electrical grid has been talked about since the 1970s.
“Our goal was to point to examples where this has been done successfully — regional coordination of electricity grids in North America — and say what has kind of worked, what have been the challenges, and then what are some possible pathways forward for Atlantic Canada,” said McNeil.
OTHER EXAMPLES
McNeil pointed out examples in the United States, like in New England where six different states are integrated in terms of the planning and operations of the grid. There’s also the Southwest Power Pool, a grid that services customers in 17 different states.
“We’re also very aware that these things don’t happen overnight,” he said. “You got to start walking down the road, and then you might get to a point where you have one systems operator, but you really got to start somewhere, and you know it hasn’t happened yet in Atlantic Canada.”
Along with utility and market structure, the biggest challenge in getting a regional grid started is political, McNeil says.
“We haven’t really gotten this together to establish an organization that is a non-profit that is independent of any government, that is independent of any private company that is responsible for maintaining reliability at lowest cost, and these are questions that are fundamentally political,” he said. “We haven’t gotten it together to cooperate, but I think at this moment in time I’m hoping that the winds are shifting.
“This is an incredible moment, an incredible opportunity, for each of these premiers – and the premier in Newfoundland as well – to act with just unprecedented ambition when it comes to this idea of regional collaboration. These premiers could be the first in 65 years to not just understand this idea but actually take action on it.”
ENERGY MINISTER INTERESTED
During post-cabinet media availability on June 18, Minister Marco MacLeod of the Nova Scotia Department of Energy said the idea of a regional energy grid has been around for a while but is “gaining traction” recently with the federal government’s energy plan.
He said if there are any benefits to ratepayers or system reliability, he’s listening.
“There are many regional ISOs (independent system operators) across North America, and there are advantages to it,” said MacLeod. “You can draw on the best available resource in the entire system, and I think you’ll find that in most cases a system will work better than individual utilities. So definitely if there are benefits, I’m interested in that idea.”
MacLeod said there have been early conversations with his counterparts in other Atlantic provinces on the idea.
“It’s so early on, we need to keep looking at this, but I do believe as we work with our neighbours and with our federal government as well, I think it can benefit all of us,” he said. “We’re a small region out here, so we definitely should be looking at what we can achieve together.”
In March, Prince Edward Island Premier Rob Lantz said he’s spoken with both Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt about a regional system operator, and it will be “a discussion that we’ll continue to have.”
The provincial government in New Brunswick completed an independent review of New Brunswick Power in April, where one of the recommendations is “an immediate discussion regarding the potential establishment or sharing of responsibilities of a Maritime Independent System Operator.” Their identified next step is to “initiate discussions with other Maritime provinces to explore the concept of a Maritime independent system operator and advance regional integration and cooperation.”
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