Tag: 100% renewables

Climate change warrior shovels quarter billion SaskPower’s way

Climate Cult You Might Be A Liberal 12 Comments
Jonathan Wilkinson near Kipling, announcing $50 million for a wind project in June 2023. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

In Pipeline Online’s continuing mission to ensure we all know exactly what the federal government is telling us on climate change initiatives, this is the verbatim press release from the Government of Canada issued at 18:10 hrs on Dec. 5. Notably, it was not sent out via provincial media releases nor SaskPower’s media releases. And apparently according to the feds, Jansen is a company, not the place the largest mining company in the world, BHP, is building the world’s largest potash mind. Check that out in the opening paragraph.

(You’d think the natural resources minister, and ministry, might be aware of the largest potash mine in the world being built in their country)

The announcement was made by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson. He and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault are the federal Liberal government’s lead ministers on their numerous and various climate change initiatives. For good measure, we’ve interspersed a healthy dosage of oil and gas ads, that industry that this government’s Bill C-59 is trying to muzzle.

Highlights include money for a number of solar projects, advancing SMR development, the intertie to the United States, grid-scale batteries, and a “forecast that there will be over 130,000 clean energy jobs added in Saskatchewan between 2025 and 2050.”

Oh, and I am willing to bet a Christmas cheesecake the $265 million number was set so they could say it was more than Harper gave carbon capture in 2008 ($240 million). Never mind 9 years of inflation meaning my kid cries after buying groceries.

And on the topic of Guilbeault, Pipeline Online columnist Jim Warren, knocks another one out of the park talking about his involvement with the green slush fund.

 

Why the Sask Party lost the cities

Climate Cult 25 Comments

Bronwyn Eyre: Saskatchewan election post-mortem: Why the Sask Party lost the cities

A former Energy and Resources Minister for four years, Eyre is joining Pipeline Online as a regular contributor, both as a columnist and co-host in an upcoming regular podcast that is rapidly coming together. Watch for Eyre’s continuing contributions on Pipeline Online in the weeks and months ahead. 

Also:

Alberta wind power generation falls to less than one per cent capacity, once again (Last Friday, it fell to zero. You read that right. Zero.)

TC Energy CEO sees opportunity in Trump win as company refocuses on natural gas

And, what’s this Bluesky Social all about? In the interest of staking territory, Pipeline Online is now on this new social media at @pipelineonline.bsky.social. If you’re on there, be the first to follow, I guess?

Weird things have been happening in Alberta

Climate Cult 33 Comments

Brian Zinchuk: Too much wind, not enough wind? What’s going on in Alberta?

Weird things have been happening in Alberta’s electrical grid over the last week. Interties to BC and Montana are down due to maintenance. Many hours have seen zero dollars paid for power. Wind and solar have been in such surplus numerous facilities have shut down at times to clear the glut. The grid frequency has had numerous variances, including “due to sudden variability of renewables.” Is the Alberta grid pushing the limits of how much wind and solar it can take?

The problem with no one getting paid is no one is getting paid

Climate Cult Drill, Baby, Drill 17 Comments

About a month ago I did some serious digging into Alberta’s electrical grid going into zero dollar hours for pricing. As in all the power on the grid, for the generators anyway, was free, for a few hours. I thought I had published it, but apparently not, as I was reminded by @ReliableAB. And funny thing is, it happened again this past weekend.

The problem with no one getting paid is no one is getting paid. No business model is sustainable like that. I don’t care about averaging things out. No one wants to give away product for free, especially if they are paying for inputs like natural gas for fuel and staffing.

Alberta had free power for more than a day in August, and seven hours last weekend – how does that happen?

And on the renewable thing:

Manitoba to encourage renewable energy while acknowledging fossil fuel use

Wind and hydro actually pair very well together, as hydro can ramp up and down very quickly. Building wind in Manitoba will allow them to build up their reservoirs and maintain more capacity overall, especially in low water conditions like the prairies have seen in recent years. So, believe it or not, I’m not wholly against that idea, for Manitoba, at least. I’m surprised they haven’t built more until now.

Also, this was from the Canadian Press. Take that for what you will.

Canada makes small emissions cut in 2023, but must ramp up to hit key targets: report

 

Surprised no one brought out a pitchfork

Climate Cult youmightbeinsaskatchewan 10 Comments
Pitchforks not included. Not sure about torches.

Pipeline company comes to oil town to build a wind project, and gets hostile response

You’d have thought they were proposing a pipeline in Nebraska.

This was a very hostile crowd. I’m surprised no one brought out a pitchfork or torch. I’m sure the Enbridge folks figured they were now working for TransCanada, running a Keystone XL open house in the States.

Meanwhile, in Alberta, on Sunday:

Fool me three times: Alberta’s 4748 megawatts of wind hits one, one and zero megawatts over three days

That followed this story on Friday which went viral:

Alberta’s wind power flatlines again this week, hitting 1 megawatt out of a capacity of 4748

And if you didn’t see this, it’s worth the hour.

Jordan Peterson Podcast: Danielle Smith on Bill C-59, freedom of speech, CO2, wind, solar and more

Facebook loved it so much, they immediately pulled down the post, claiming it “violated community standards” as spam.

Well, that was a smooth move

Climate Cult 53 Comments

Alberta’s last coal plant shuts down, and days later, a grid alert is declared.

Oh, and that new grid-scale battery that SaskPower just went $10 million over the initial announced price on – Alberta has 10 (albeit a different manufacturer). Three haven’t lit a light bulb since March, and they were no shows on Monday.

But that’s okay, the Pembina Institute wrote a piece celebrating the end of coal, which they strongly advocated for over many years. They published it two days before the grid alert.

And it’s going to be hot two more days in Alberta. Anyone want to make a bet there will be more grid alerts?

Again, Alberta has more coal, oil and gas than God, because God gave all of his to Alberta. For that province to ever be running short of energy is a result of sheer incompetence at the top. And Saskatchewan is following that path – shutting down coal, building more wind, solar, and now batteries. SaskPower has had announcements for all three in recent weeks. Will I be writing about Saskatchewan grid alerts, because we failed to heed what is happening west of us?

Guilbeault’s letter to Saskatchewan on Clean Electricity Regulations

Climate Cult 24 Comments
Steven Guilbeault

Read the Government of Canada’s submission, written by Guilbeault

The proposed Clean Electricity Regulations are among the most significant policy moves in recent Canadian history. The fundamental thrust is to all but eliminate fossil fuel combustion from the Canadian electrical grid. On any given day, up to 88 per cent of Saskatchewan’s power comes from natural gas and coal.

If implemented in their current form, they will utterly remake Canada, its economy and society. The Government of Saskatchewan, on June 25, rejected these regulations, based on a report by the Economic Impact Assessment Tribunal, convened under the Saskatchewan First Act. That act, in turn, was brought into law to counter numerous onerous federal climate change initiatives.

Within the tribunals report are all the submissions made by numerous companies and agencies, several of which Pipeline Online is publishing verbatim in the coming days and weeks. But perhaps the most significant was the Feb. 15 submission by Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, who, with Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, is one of the leading figures from the federal government on this front. As such, his submission is the stance of the federal government. Notably, he does not explain how Saskatchewan is to replace all of its fossil fuel-based power in the 10 years, five months and 30 days remaining from today. Here it is, verbatim

 

First implementation of the Sask First Act – Saskatchewan won’t follow Clean Electricity Regulations

Climate Cult 16 Comments
Jim Reiter, Bronwyn Eyre, Michael Milani. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

For a long time, Premier Scott Moe has been saying it’s impossible to comply with federal regulations regarding getting rid of our fossil-fueled power generation, in the timeline the federal Liberal government wants.

It’s coming to a head.

This is the first action of this type thus far under the Saskatchewan First Act. This is what it was meant for.

If implemented in their current form, the Clean Electricity Regulations mean to all but eliminate the burning of fossil fuels for power generation in 10 years, six months and three days from now. Saskatchewan relies on natural gas and coal to produce the vast majority of its power, up to 88 per cent on some days. And if implemented, these regulations will fundamentally alter Canada and its economy, and affect all of its people in one form or another. It’s one of the most important policy pieces in generations, seeking to remake Canada.

Saskatchewan won’t follow Clean Electricity Regulation, citing Economic Assessment Tribunal report.

Executive summary of the report

The government released all the submissions to the tribunal. I will be reprinting many of them over the coming days, maybe weeks. There’s a lot. And there’s a lot to be said.

Clean Electricity Regulations, part of the biggest story of our times

Climate Cult 13 Comments
Boundary Dam Power Station

I’ve been saying for a while now, this whole “energy transition” is the biggest story of our times. And the biggest part of that is implementation of the Clean Electricity Regulations, which will affect every person, business and industry in this country. On Tuesday, Saskatchewan said it’s not going to follow them, because they’re impossible to follow.

I will have numerous stories on this over the coming days and weeks, deep dives into what this is all about. I just got off the phone with one cabinet minister and will be talking to another in a few minutes. Watch for that in a bit. In the meantime, this is the executive summary of the report prepared for the Saskatchewan government, a report whose purpose is to give backing to our saying “F off” to the feds. That’s basically what Saskatchewan is doing.

 

 

So long, spinny things in front of mountains!

Climate Cult 42 Comments
Wind turbines won’t be allowed near mountains anymore. And when these reach end of life, those sites won’t be rebuilt with new, larger ones, if these rules stick.

Don’t block our mountains or mess with good farmland: #Alberta releases renewable power rules. And reclamation is going to be paid up front. This story is the full meat, potatoes, gravy and carrots on Wednesday’s wind and solar announcement.

And what’s the pool at for Trudeau resigning today? It’s 40 years to the day since daddy took his “walk in the snow.”

Guilbeault takes out the trash on Clean Electricity Regulations

Climate Cult 10 Comments

 

The Friday before a long weekend, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault released his updates to the proposed Clean Electricity Regulations. This is the full update, verbatim.

In Pipeline Online’s continuing mission to ensure Canadians know exactly what Guilbeault is telling them, here’s his verbatim release on the Clean Electricity Regulations.

Remember what I said the previous week about taking out the trash day? Guilbeault did exactly that. Interesting, that.

And for something a little different, yesterday was Family Day. Not everyone gets to go sledding. While I took these photos three weeks ago, they’re pretty representative of what Family Day is to a lot of people in the oil sector – just another day.

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