Resident claims there are very good reasons for the province to continue owning hydro - changing technology for one.

opinionandcommentBy Phil Davis

April 28, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

In the discussion of the Hydro-One sale the focus has been on its impact on customer cost. There is another reason why the sale is a bad choice, flexibility for adding future technology. We are currently on the cusp of a revolution in power electronics that has the potential to reduce pollution, increase jobs, increase energy diversity and reduce cost.

Nuclear plant with hydro towersThe ability to use new generation like solar and wind and new transmission technology will critically depend on the flexibility of the transmission system as an active part of the total system. The transmission system of the future will be a distributed system and have imbedded energy storage, ‘smart’ energy switching and remote load sensing and similar technology to optimize the total energy system; not the ‘top down’ system we have today.

We don’t know exactly what the future transmission system will look like and that is why it needs to be under public control, so that it will adapt as new energy sources become available.

If the transmission system is privately held there will be no incentive to invest or take the risk needed to modernize the system. It is likely the new owner of a privatized transmission system would also control generating plants and would protect their generation equipment profit by not modernizing to allow new generation equipment.

Hydro transmission linesThis would mean that Ontario would not only lose access to improving technology but would be locked in to higher energy prices for both ‘old’ power generation and distribution. We only need to remember the Enron debacle to see where this could go.

If electric transmission is privatized then Ontario will be stuck with a highway407 like energy infrastructure which will be optimized for the short term benefit of the few against the potential of new technology and the needs of the many. The proper approach is private generation competing to generate electricity at the lowest rate and public transmission to insure that all generation sources have access to customers.

 

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3 comments to Resident claims there are very good reasons for the province to continue owning hydro – changing technology for one.

  • Reply to Mr. Robinson

    It is true that gas fired steam plants should be part of the energy mix. Unfortunate the proposed gas power plants got NIMBY-ed and are not available. This highlights one of the major problems we have currently, people want a free lunch; all the tech wonders but none of the byproducts. They want cell phones but not cell towers, they want cheap electricity but not power generation and distribution. Hopefully there will be a place where gas plants can be built and then Oakville will have additional transmission towers to deal with to get the power to them. That said any hydrocarbon based generation is a risk as the cost of fuel fluctuates wildly. In the last few years oil has been $40/bbl and up to $125 and back $45 and no one will predict where it will be next. Gas has been $2/t cf and up to $13 and back to $3; up and down like a yo-yo. Right now we are in a trough that makes gas look great but I am sure gas at $13 would have everyone screaming. On the other hand sun and wind cost $0/watt and the historic price has been $0 and future projections are $0.

    Back in the early 2000’s the installed cost of alternate energy was so high that only ‘eco nuts’ could love it, however, as with new technology, the installed cost per kw has fallen fast. Right now the installed cost of wind is competitive and solar is also depending on location. Just two illustrations, the biggest wind farm in the US is being built by T. Boone Pickens, the hard nosed, conservative oil man. This year the US alone will install 8.1 gigawatts of solar and 11.8 gigawatts are scheduled for 2016. Note that these are all private business installations. So it is safe to say that alternate energy is here to stay.

    The issue of cost of renewables is more about planning and management than technology. Our namesake, Burlington, VT has gone 100% renewable and has not raised rates in over 5 years so it can be done.

    As with any new technology there are changes and there is what is called a ‘learning curve’ when costs are high but falling and changes are necessary. The new electric technologies are no different, we can embrace change or be left behind. I worked with the early transistors and they were slow, weak and expensive but the technology looked good, now the semiconductor is the dominate technology and the world has been profoundly changed. Electric generation and distribution is going through a major change cycle and we must have a transmission system that enables that change what ever it turns out to be.

  • Steve Robinson

    With cheap hydro Ontario would be a magnet for industry and jobs, and not a loon’s paradise with skyrocketing rates, and a repellant for industry.

    “Electricity woes knock Napanee out of the race for Goodyear expansion”

    https://www.quintenews.com/2015/04/goodyear-pulls-the-plug-on-plant-expansion-in-napanee/85756/

  • Steve Robinson

    With all the natural gas Ontario has we should have some of the cheapest rates in the world and not the most expensive. But by all means lets create electricity the most expensive way known to humankind, with solar and wind, after all, it’s just the middle class and poor who have to pay the outrageous rates that the eco-Nazis have placed at their feet.