Huge green power reserves can fuel jobs, economy

Huge green power reserves can fuel jobs, economy
News Release, BC Sustainable Energy Association, 21-Oct-2005
Sustainable Energy Solutions for BC
Submission to BC Alternative Energy and Power Technology Task Force, BCSEA, 21-Nov-2005
Alternative energy sources potentially rich in jobs
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun, 22-Nov-2005

Huge green power reserves can fuel jobs, economy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Guy Dauncey (250) 881-1304

News Release
BC Sustainable Energy Association
21-Nov-2005

Victoria, BC (November 21, 2005)-British Columbia has huge reserves of green power that could stimulate enormous economic development and employment opportunity, with as many as 400,000 new jobs over 25 years, and establish BC as a leader in renewable energy, according to a report released today by the BC Sustainable Energy Association (BCSEA).

Tallying the province's green energy potential from wind, solar, tidal, geothermal and other technologies, combined with energy-savings from efficiency measures, would produce 84,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) a year. This is 50% more than BC Hydro's current total generation and enough power for 8.4 million homes.

"BC can be a global leader in green energy technologies if it chooses to," said Guy Dauncey, BCSEA president and author of the report, Sustainable Energy Solutions for BC, prepared as a submission to the BC Alternative Energy and Power Technology Task Force. The Task Force is expected to release its findings soon. BC Hydro is also due to release its 2005 Integrated Electricity Plan that will outline how BC Hydro expects to meet anticipated customer electrical demand over the next 20 years.

The BCSEA report identifies tidal energy as BC's largest long-term source of potential power: 13,000 GWh/yr. A further 12,500 GWh /yr could be freed up by 2025 by saving electricity currently used wastefully. BC also has the potential for 11,000 GWh a year of wind energy. Full- and part-time jobs created over the 25-year period total 413,000 jobs, including installation of solar PV roof systems and retrofitting homes and businesses to double their energy efficiency. The report draws on BC Hydro energy resource data and a variety of employment studies to arrive at these conclusions. (See table "BC's Long-Term Potential for Sustainable Electricity Resources and Jobs" below.)

"BC's impressive solar energy potential is very similar to that of Germany, a world-leader in solar installations thanks to progressive government energy policies," said Kevin Pegg, of EA Energy Alternatives Ltd., a Victoria solar, wind and microhydro company. "Washington State recently announced incentives to grow their renewables industry: If they can do it, so can we."

"The challenge is not technical", said Guy Dauncey. "It lies with the decision to prioritize sustainable energy over other sources, such as coal, coal-bed methane, natural gas, or large-scale hydro." BC Hydro is currently following a voluntary commitment that 50% of its energy will come from "clean" resources, which includes cogeneration from natural gas. BC Hydro's 2005 Integrated Electricity Plan may conclude that BC's future power should come from green resources such as those described in the BCSEA report, or from coal-fired power, the Site-C dam, natural gas, or a combination of these sources.

"Deploying these resources will require a transition over several years along with some transition costs," said Dale Littlejohn, a Vancouver sustainable energy consultant and BCSEA director, "but we can do this profitably while improving jobs, health and the economy. As a bonus, we can make BC fossil-free by 2025 and set an example for the rest of the world."

The full report is available at: www.bcsea.org/policy/taskforcereport.asp

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For more information:
Guy Dauncey (Victoria) 250-881-1304
Kevin Pegg (Victoria) 250-727-0522
Dale Littlejohn (Vancouver) 604-785-5130

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British Columbia could open new industries and create hundreds of thousands of jobs by turning its attention to the world's $200-billion power technology industry, a report submitted Monday to the B.C. government says.

The report says global climate change, and waning production of oil and natural gas, will throw a wrench into 90 per cent of the world's present energy supply -- describing a fossil fuel shortage as "imminent."

B.C. residents are "solidly behind sustainability" but the province must increase its commitment to research and development of lower-cost alternate energy technology, the report from the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association says.

Wind, tidal and solar generation all offer significant opportunities.

"If B.C. makes this transition first, it will be in a position to be a global hub for one of the largest market opportunities in history," the report says.

The association estimates as many as 400,000 temporary, part-time and full-time jobs could be created and adds that B.C. could more than double its present hydroelectric capacity without building another major dam.

"Our analysis shows that B.C. has the potential to generate 84,250 gigawatt hours of sustainable, renewable energy [including efficiency savings]," says the report, which was submitted to the government's committee on alternative energy and power.

The panel is co-chaired by Environment Minister Barry Penner.

Penner said he hasn't had time to review the report but said that, "as Minister of Environment I can't help but be interested in ideas that support sustainable solutions."

Penner noted that B.C.'s alternative power technology sector already includes more than 60 companies providing 3,000 jobs and generating $700 million in annual revenues.

The report follows a 2002 BC Hydro study that listed the province's green energy resources, but focused on sources that are relatively close to the cost of hydro generation.

BC Hydro's generation cost is 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) at its existing "heritage" hydroelectric facilities.

The sustainable energy association estimates micro-hydro at between four and nine cents per kWh and six to 12 cents for wind.

Estimated generating costs for tidal power, a fledgling technology, are 11 to 25 cents per kWh.

Solar power is 60 cents to $2 per kilowatt hour.

Association executive director Guy Dauncey said in an interview that Hydro could structure its electricity rates in a way that supports alternative energy, as several U.S. states have done.

"Everyone who pays a BC Hydro bill would pay an extra, say, half-cent per kilowatt hour which supports the development of new emergent technologies," Dauncey said.

He added that Germany, which has "the same sunshine ratio as British Columbia," is going full-tilt on solar power development.

Mary Hemmingsen, BC Hydro manager of power planning and portfolio management, noted the Crown corporation is compelled by the B.C. Utilities Commission to maintain the lowest-possible electricity prices for its customers -- who enjoy the third-lowest electricity prices in North America.

"We probably agree that B.C. has some really significant green resource potential," Hemmingsen said. She also cautioned that while tidal resources are significant, the technology is, as yet, unproven.

ssimpson@png.canwest.com

SWITCHING HOW WE THROW THE SWITCH:

The B.C. Sustainable Energy Association says the province has huge green power potential that could provide not only renewable sources of energy but could aso stimulate economic development and employment.

B.C.'s maximum long-term (25-year) potential for sustainable electricity resources

Gigwatts/year Cents/kilowatt hour* Jobs
Wind: 11,000 6-12 31,250
Microhydro: 11,108 4-9 5,700
Wood waste: 1,800 4-9 484
Geothermal: 9,000 5-9 7,000
Tidal: 13,000 11-25 13,906
Landfill: 85 4-5 20
Solar PV: 12,000 60-200 210,000

Efficiency: 12,500 3-6 145,000
Solar Hot Water: 10,000 n/a 60,000
GeoExchange: 3,750 n/a 21,420
Total: 84,250** 413,560

* BC Hydro's existing heritage assets: 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
Cost of adding new large hydro assets: 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour.

** 50% above Hydro's current total generation
Source: B.C. Sustainable Energy Association, Vancouver Sun

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

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