Climate plan decision will not impact region’s wind farm development

By Collin Gallant on September 1, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

An announcement that Alberta stay on the sidelines of a Pan-Canadian climate action plan won’t mean an end to carbon levy, but also won’t halt wind farm development that local economists say are key for Alberta’s southeast.

But, a vow to halt participation until Ottawa moves the Trans Mountain Pipeline project could prevent Alberta from getting its share of a $2-billion federal fund to bolster infrastructure projects that lower carbon dioxide emissions.

The astonishing announcement was made Thursday by Premier Rachel Notley, who said her government’s support for the plan is contingent on the Trans Mountain Pipeline moving ahead, and it’s now Ottawa’s job to move the project a court ruling that’s derailed the project.

However, since the province’s own climate action plan and carbon price predates the federal move, it stays in place, said officials with the premier’s office.

Spokeswoman Cheryl Oates told the News that it remains to be seen how federal funding would be affected — the province’s current $30 per tonne carbon levy exceeds federal requirement — but provincial programs are remaining in place.

“What we’ve said is that our economy cannot afford (a move to) $40 or $50 dollars without a pipeline,” said Oates. “The money we raise goes to our programs.”

RELATED: Politicians disappointed by pipeline ruling

The federal Low Carbon Economy Fund, totalling $1.4 billion, is available to all provinces who price carbon for projects that support “clean Growth,” while the $500 million “Low Carbon Economy Challenge.”

So far this year, portions of Alberta’s $150-million share of federal money has been used to bolster Alberta consumer rebate programs, incentives to industrial operators and indigenous communities as well as affordable housing retrofits.

It should also have no affect a green energy supply auction this fall that could award long-term electricity contracts to proposed windfarms in the Medicine Hat region.

Last year the process saw winning companies commit $800 million toward utility projects near Bow Island and Oyen. This year’s round of applications are due in mid-September.

Most observers consider the fiscal implications secondary to the political ramifications.

On Thursday, Notley said that without support from Alberta — a major greenhouse gas producer — Ottawa’s plan “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

That comes as Saskatchewan government is planning a legal challenge to carbon pricing requirements and Ontario’s recently elected Conservative government has said it will likely join the opposition.

Alberta energy rebate programs, and others paid for with revenue from the provincial carbon levy shouldn’t change, though some programs are bolstered with federal funds.

Specifically, this year, the two government’s announced federal funds to match Alberta programs, including:

— $25 million to match a rebates to consumers for LED lightbulbs and other household energy-saving items;

— $9 million to retrofit government-supported affordable housing;

— $7 million for the Alberta Indigenous Solar Program and Alberta Indigenous Energy Efficiency (Retrofit) Program;

— an undisclosed portion of an $88-million joint program to cover up to $1 million of project cost to modernize large industrial sites;

— part of $81 million four-years program for agriculture producers to upgrade operations, irrigation systems or install solar panels.

Though it is listed as a main pillar of the Alberta strategy, the phase out of coal-fired generation, and back-fill supply gaps with green and natural gas-fuelled plants, is apart from the federal program.

That means a second and third rounds of renewable energy supply auctions, both set for this fall, will go ahead.

The first round of low-price auction awarded contracts to the Whitla Wind Farm near Bow Island and another near Oyen, which are expected to be built this winter.

About 12 utility company’s with proposals for the Medicine Hat region need to submit new round information in mid-September.

That supply contract system depends on funds from Alberta’s decade old system that chargers only large emitters for now meeting certain standards. That fund guarantees a minimum price for wholesale power, but when market prices rise, utility companies refund the difference.

This week Saskatchewan announced its carbon plan involving levying costs on polluting industries, such as chemical and power production, though federal authorities say that alone may not be enough to see them included in the Pan-Canadian Framework.

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