For some time, Rob1 and I have been yapping about developing wind power on PEI. PEI is both fortunate and unfortunate in God’s selection of blessings, lacking for example the natural resources such as a forested hinterland and mining resources that other parts of Canada take for granted. As the weather reports over at Craig’s site remind, however, strong winds were clearly on God’s list when he created the place. Having some experience with electric utilities, I have a sense that for PEI with its draw of 180 to 200 megawatts and dependency on expensive power from elsewhere, it is possibly sensible to put up at least the 200 towers that would supply 100% of local need. At least it is worth the review. Movement this way has been with them for some time.
What is disconcerting – as we find local politicians finding themselves on their road to Damascus all of a sudden, creating great excitement in those who get excited when local politicians deem a scientific and business idea great – is how the deal will actually work. PEI, like the rest of Atlantic Canada, loves the megaproject dream, preferrably run by a local monopoly on a contract not necessarily open to public scrutiny. As the statute books create a closed market for electricity despite all the unbundling and competition being seen in the eastern North American electricity market, you can bet a cornerstone of the deal is access to a few selected companies. Also potentially fascinating and yet worrying is the hydrogen aspect of it – they may be banking on a technology unproven in the market of using wind to split water to burn the hydrogen in various ways. Having had their very own symposium, however, the local politicians may now feel they are all world-classy lab-coatists. What would be easier is to see an open market of simple wind generation into the existing electricity grid with individual operators able to sell into the eastern North American grid. That would, however, require “wheeling” – use of someone else’s power lines to move power through an area – as well as denying someone a monopoly on generation. The harsh and illogical reception Irving got to a proposal for privately funding such a development, tactily supported by the local Tory government, speaks to the likelihood of the marketplace being involved in the development. Introducing hydrogen into the mix allows for mesmerification of the whole project.
Given the problems the provincial government has had with things like arithmatic and the continuing tradition of state involvement in enterprise that would embarrass an disco-era East German, government control is not reassuring cornerstone of this still interesting development. Will it turn out to be more cucumbers in Newfoundland?
