Going greener will be costly

Nova Scotians may face higher electricity costs in the short term as the province moves toward cleaner and renewable energy, says the man in charge of overseeing Nova Scotia's renewable energy strategy.

Dalhousie University's David Wheeler said Monday it is inevitable Nova Scotia Power customers will face a jump in prices but it will be cheaper than continuing to burn coal to generate electricity.

"If we end up with a global carbon energy tax, then producing energy from coal is going to be very expensive for Nova Scotia consumers," Mr. Wheeler told reporters during a break at a public meeting in Halifax on how the province will meet new environmental regulations.

"So, we want to move towards a more stable price and cost regime for the province, but that might require some short-term increases in electricity prices in service of more stable and long-term lower total energy costs for Nova Scotians," he said.

"We do believe it is possible for the province to get to a point where energy costs are more stable - where even if there are minor increases in electricity costs, they are less than what would happen otherwise."

The new targets that the Dexter government announced this summer require 25 per cent of the province's electricity supply to come from renewable sources by 2015 and possibly 40 per cent by 2020, through a combination of wind, biomass and tidal power and importing renewable energy.

Nova Scotia Power now generates 10 to 12 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources.

The government appointed Mr. Wheeler to review the options and report back by the end of the year.

On Monday, Mr. Wheeler held a second meeting with about 120 people from government, Nova Scotia Power, environmental groups and renewable energy developers at the World Trade and Convention Centre.

A renewable energy developer from Toronto warned that Nova Scotians will face higher costs if Nova Scotia Power continues to burn fossil fuels to generate electricity.

"I view all of North America going to a carbon tax system as early as 2012, and that carbon tax will raise the price of electricity based on the status quo as much as 25 per cent, 30 per cent or even 100 per cent depending on which economic forecast you choose," said Jeff Jenner, co-founder of Renewable Energy Developers Inc.

"To me, if there is a social safety net concern about the cost of energy, it relates to not only renewable energy but the status quo," said Mr. Jenner, whose company has 12 renewable projects under development in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

One of the four options being proposed are large-scale wind farms to meet the target requiring 25 per cent of the province's electricity supply come from renewable sources by 2015.

Energy consultant Brendan Haley has written a report for Dalhousie's consulting team indicating the proposal of huge wind farm developments will be costly and there must be a social safety net for the poor in case of higher energy costs.

Virick Francis of Eskasoni Wind Energy echoed those concerns.

"Since all these new technologies are going to cost quite a bit of money . . . is the government or province going to increase social benefits or (create) more programs for reduced energy use?" asked Mr. Francis.

The other options being proposed are a combination of huge wind and biomass projects, experimental technologies and a fourth option including a range of small-scale and large-scale wind and solar projects.

NSP is one of the province's worst polluters and uses coal to produce about 75 per cent of the province's electrical needs.