Clear Vitality Canada is a clear vitality suppose tank on the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser College. By means of media briefs, we purpose to offer helpful factual and contextual data associated to Canada’s clear vitality transition. Please use this as a useful resource, and tell us if there are any subjects that you simply wish to see for future media briefs.
A handful of influential B.C.-based organizations and commentators have made claims about B.C.’s vitality system this previous yr that we consider are misinformed and more likely to mislead British Columbians. To set the file straight, Clear Vitality Canada is releasing a particular media transient to answer 4 consequential myths we’ve seen seem over and over.
Declare: Deploying EVs and warmth pumps will overwhelm our vitality grid, and due to this fact governments ought to undo efforts to help EVs and warmth pumps.
Reality: Electrical energy demand for EVs could be very manageable, whereas warmth pumps drastically enhance vitality effectivity.
- BC Hydro estimates that present EV gross sales necessities will enhance electrical energy demand by 2% in 2030, constant with different international forecasts. Long run, because the variety of EVs climbs and their share of general electrical energy demand grows, that progress is unfold over 30 years, offering BC Hydro ample time to carry assets and grid upgrades on-line.
- Warmth pumps use considerably much less electrical energy than baseboard heating, reducing grid demand and saving cash for the 40% of B.C. households heating their houses this fashion. A warmth pump can also be three to 5 occasions extra vitality environment friendly general than a pure fuel furnace, leading to much less electrical energy demand than some commenters have assumed. In reality, a forthcoming Clear Vitality Canada report exhibits {that a} typical B.C. family transitioning from a pure fuel furnace to a warmth pump is predicted to save lots of $550 a yr.
Declare: Importing electrical energy from different jurisdictions drives up prices and means B.C. can’t meet its personal demand for electrical energy.
Reality: B.C. each imports and exports electrical energy, a apply that retains charges decrease for customers.
- B.C. advantages considerably from electrical energy commerce with its neighbours. Importing and exporting electrical energy helps us handle our system in a fashion that retains charges extra reasonably priced for purchasers. During the last decade and a half, B.C. was a web importer in seven years and a web exporter within the different eight (together with from 2019 to 2023).
- With extra of our companions deploying bigger portions of low-cost renewables—and producing a surplus of vitality at sure occasions of the day—B.C. is ready to purchase energy when costs are low, serving to preserve water in our reservoirs for durations of excessive demand, like throughout the winter months.
Declare: B.C. doesn’t have sufficient electrical energy to satisfy its local weather commitments.
Reality: BC Hydro has taken quite a lot of steps to make sure it’s bringing on-line the assets it requires.
- In January, BC Hydro introduced its intention to take a position $36 billion over the subsequent 10 years to help the expansion of B.C.’s electrical energy system, a 50% enhance in deliberate spending in comparison with 2023.
- Extra capability is being introduced on-line by means of Website C, which will likely be operational in 2025 and add 8% to B.C.’s grid capability. The newest 2024 BC Hydro name for energy will add one other 5% capability to the province’s electrical energy grid, beginning in 2029.
- In September 2024, BC Hydro introduced it had acquired 21 proposals from impartial energy producers representing 3 times the quantity of electrical energy era wanted in its name for energy, indicating {that a} robust pipeline of initiatives exists in B.C. to satisfy rising demand.
Declare: Renewables like wind and photo voltaic can’t present the dependable energy B.C. wants as electrical energy demand grows.
Reality: Renewables are extraordinarily cost-competitive, work in tandem with different applied sciences, and are already getting used efficiently at scale in different nations.
- Wind and photo voltaic globally are the most cost effective sources of energy. An evaluation from Clear Vitality Canada discovered that photo voltaic and wind with battery storage are set to provide cheaper electrical energy than pure fuel in Alberta and Ontario, and this development is predicted to be comparable for B.C.
- Whereas wind and photo voltaic are variable assets, options are accessible to enhance them, from batteries and dispatchable energy, to stronger grids and interconnections, to technological demand-side measures (ie. storing and sending energy the place and when it’s wanted). These choices can allow comparatively excessive shares of wind and photo voltaic on a grid.
- A take a look at different nations around the globe affords loads of examples of excessive wind and photo voltaic shares, reminiscent of 67% in Denmark, round 40% in Germany and the Netherlands, and 28% in Australia. In a state of affairs the place Canada achieves a net-zero economic system by 2050, wind and photo voltaic could be accountable for less than 30% to 40% of required electrical energy manufacturing, lower than some nations produce at this time.