Provincial government ignores electricity advice

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/08/2023 (776 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ON July 27^th a Dunsky Energy report, An Electricity Roadmap for Manitoba on the future energy needs and opportunities, was presented to the government. It is the third Dunsky report, none of which have been released publicly. Instead, the Stefanson government chose to invent their own Energy Roadmap and not release any of the reports they had commissioned from Dunsky. Now we know why. This third report contains major and critical recommendations which fly in the face of the Stefanson government’s selective report. This report is now available on Sustainable Building Manitoba’s web-site.

Dunsky’s key recommendations include:

Strengthen the mandate of the Public Utilities Board, not weaken it as the government has planned in legislation.

Strengthen and broaden the mandate and finances of Efficiency Manitoba, not hobble it as government and Hydro have done in the past eight years.

Strengthen and improve the governance of Manitoba Hydro with board members chosen for expertise and give them the tools to be an effective board, which Dunsky makes clear it is not, at least at present.

Avoid locking in solutions, notably natural gas power plants for which great policy uncertainty remains.

The report presents a wealth of opportunities for energy-related job creation as Manitoba moves into the energy transition now happening across the developed world. Manitoba starts from an advantage with our clean, mostly carbon free generating system, but that advantage cannot be taken for granted. In fact, our advantage is only marginally better than several other provinces, including Quebec, B.C. and Ontario.

Dunsky points out huge opportunities for saving power by using stronger building standards. The government’s response? Use the lowest possible building code changes. Dunsky shows that wind is much cheaper than Hydro seems to believe. Yes, wind power is intermittent, but that’s where our huge water reservoirs come in. When the wind doesn’t blow, let more water into the turbines, and when it does, store that water for future demand. Water is our battery.

A drive west along Highway 3 reveals huge wind farms off in the south… in North Dakota. Apparently, Manitoba Hydro thinks that wind stops at the border. To make it worse, Manitoba Hydro sells our “water battery” to make North Dakota’s wind power efficient. Why have we not built wind farms along our border, providing local jobs, rental income to farmers and a new tax base for cash strapped rural municipalities?

Dunsky estimates that our opportunity to save energy is roughly five times the current goals of Efficiency Manitoba. His report notes that Efficiency Manitoba is “not empowered” in critical ways and that as a stand alone agency, neither Hydro nor the government is required to work with Efficiency Manitoba to achieve system wide goals. He suggests dramatically broadening the Efficiency Manitoba mandate to save energy in Manitoba across all sectors. His recommendation? “Designate the current Efficiency Manitoba as the province’s new Manitoba Energy Savings Authority.”

The report notes that homeowners could save significantly if geothermal heating and cooling became widespread. Manitoba used to have a lead in this technology, but weak building codes and government failure to incentivize or mandate geothermal use has let that advantage wither.

In fact, Hydro for years opposed geo-thermal use where natural gas was available. It argued that the electricity used in geothermal should be exported instead. In other words, Manitobans should pay more for heating and cooling their homes so Hydro could sell power to our neighbours.

Dunsky repeatedly states that natural gas generation should be a last resort and suggests that Manitoba should; “avoid locking in solutions, notably natural gas power plants for which great policy uncertainty remains”.

Instead, Manitoba Hydro in its Integrated Resource Plan proposes to utilize gas without carbon capture to generate new electricity.

The government report does not even mandate that new electricity required to power electric cars and electric heating should be primarily carbon free. Dunsky indicates that Manitoba could access over $2 billion of federal funds for new green energy.

The government was so scared by the Dunsky report that it did not share it with staff at Efficiency Manitoba or with the PUB.

If the Board of Manitoba Hydro have seen the report, and allowed the misrepresentations put forward by government in their “Roadmap” to proceed, they ought to resign, having failed in their fiduciary duty to Manitobans.

Dunsky provides a path to a prosperous, clean energy future, with jobs, attraction to clean industries and a resilient grid, powered by a wide mix of strategies. It should be the blueprint for our energy future.

Tim Sale was the Minister of Energy and responsible for Manitoba Hydro when the only wind farms in the province were developed.