Energy - A Review

Their is a sharp divergence between the two parties on energy. Robert Ghiz wants a return to the good old days when our prices were linked directly to New Brunswick - meaning that we would do nothing but put more cable between us and be dependent on NB and the world oil price. Pat Binns still talks a bit about gas, but becomes energized himself when he talks about renewable energy and independence.

This is a more than a more is better strategy. I get the feeling that the Liberals do not really get it on energy. They are trying to make today's price the key. Binns is making tomorrow's price the key. The world supply of cheap gas is over. The only meaningful supplies are in the middle east. Energy will become a huge issue as the dependence on the middle east increases and the instability in the region increases. This dependence/instability issue is why the UK, with North Sea production peaked and falling is making a gigantic investment in wind.

Nuclear production in Ontario and in New Brunswick has to come offline soon. The plants are too unstable and are near their design life. Decommissioning will cost billions. Adding new life will cost billions. Whatever gas we find in NS will be desperately needed by all of Atlantic Canada and New England. No price break there.

We can install the wind capacity to supply much of New England in the winter in addition to our own needs and become a seasonal exporter. As a society we can be free - I cannot think of another place that can make this claim. What an opportunity!

Comments

[Alan]

I think you are being over optimistic about Binns and gas. He has been married to the pipeline and mega plant - none of which makes any sense. If he has truly shifted to wind, let him say so. Ghiz's cable is the economical stop gap at about 25 million. MECL hates it as it dooms their government certified monopoly. The trouble all face from wind is figuring out how to ensure the market place does not get ahold of it - opportunities need to be doled out carefully, you know.

[J.]

The answer is truly, blowing in the wind! hahaha! But seriously, at the UPEI debate, Binns said something about an Island solution to the energy problem so that we don't have to rely on expensive outside sources. With every failure of an exploratory natural gas well, doesn't it become obvious that wind is the way to go for PEI?

[Al O'Neill]

Wind is a good idea but at the same time the structure might be a little too fragile to be relied upon as a primary source of energy.

Perhaps we need both, a workable solutnion that doesn't rely on imports and a robust-enough pipe to the mainland in case we need it.

There's an interesting article here about wind farms in Europe, including a few pictures. Very neat stuff, indeed.

[Al O'Neill]

Oops, didn't realize these comments don't let you use HTML.

The article I mentioned is here: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/3/19/202047/922

[dr]

Funny to hear the words 'Ghiz' and 'economical' in the same sentence..lol...seriously though, there's quite a wealth on info online about wind farms in both North America and Europe, particularly in Denmark..I don't have the links in front of me but I'm an enterprising googling monkey can turn them up quickly enough...

[Alan]

dr: Multily 25 million times ten or eleven and the price of the Binns pipe and 200 mw plant must have really busted your ribs.

[Alan]

dr: Multiply 25 million times ten or eleven and the price of the Binns pipe and 200 mw plant must have really busted your ribs.

[dr]

Not as much as reading the Ghiz platform did and burning out my calculator tallying the cost of the so called 'Better Way'..lol...well, considering i.ve yet to hear anyone suggest that the 'Binns pipe and plant' would 100% funded by the provincial taxpayer...in fact, my understanding from what I read was that the bulk of the funding would come from the private investors (Maritime Northeast, Encana, MECL, etc.)

[Alan]

...er, who bill the customer...who is the tax payer...

[dr]

well obviously either it would need to be publicly or privately owned..you seem to be assuming that a pipeline/plant would neccessarily lead to higher prices...of course if we want that we can always keep ourselves chained to the albatross that is NB Power rather than try to find a more reliable, diversified energy supply...once upon a time solar power was all the rage back when there were incentives for such things...does anyone know anything about the economics of solar?