Quote:
Originally Posted by Tron_fdc
Again, these "left leaning fairytale green energy companies" include O&G operators looking for carbon offsets via renewable generation.
Carbon offsets required by Alberta's carbon tax.
Which was implemented by Klein.
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It's pretty easy to tell who is strawmanning how the renewable energy industry works. No one, and I mean no one, in the industry thinks wind and solar energy is going to cover all of the province's energy needs in the near future until large-scale storage is available in some point...we're not anywhere close to that. Wind is unpredictable. Solar is actually generally predictable, but only for sunlight hours of course. But again, everyone in the industry knows this.
From an economics perspective there's a number of things that don't get discussed:
1) Under the current scheme, adding additional generation to the pool will reduce the market energy prices for everyone. Why would a renewable company tank market prices? They're not. Many renewable developers are entering into long-term virtual power purchase agreements with large companies, effectively selling Recs, which locks in a favorable price for the generator, allows the purchaser to show they're sourcing electricity from green sources. Free market solutions for free market problems.
2) Like you said, carbon emitters can purchase carbon offsets produced by renewable companies at a lower price than the carbon tax they would be paying. An additional revenue stream for the developer, a cost-effective solution for industry. The free market in action, yet again.
3) Banks, investors, etc are looking to boost their green energy portfolios as well and are lining up to do so, regardless of O&G. It doesn't make sense for a government to stifle investment and job creating activities.
Realistically, grid capacity does need to be looked at and expanded, but that's not simply a supply-side problem. As more and more machinery, vehicles, etc are electrified, the grid needs to be expanded to handle the demand load - and well in advance to ensure the system can handle the load. Realistically, if we're so worried about utility bills, the current transmission and distribution system should be under the microscope. That all being said, the AUC is already within its rights to not add generation if the system can't handle it. As well, developers are required to clean up their sites at the end of their life, just like O&G. In my past O&G job, we went through some massive exercises on liability management with the AER. Bringing in similar rules without pausing an entire booming industry to have a level playing field seems completely reasonable.