Tom McLean

A member of the Core Group with the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB) says he reacts with disbelief when he hears officials from NB Power and the US company PROENERGY say that a big gas/diesel generating plant on the Chignecto Isthmus is the best way of safeguarding energy security as more renewable sources are added to the electrical grid.

“It’s bewildering to say the least as to why they’re making these statements,” Tom McLean said in an interview Friday with Warktimes.

“Unfortunately, I react with disbelief, and because they’re hiding all their numbers, I also react with mistrust,” he added.

McLean was referring to comments at a public meeting in Sackville last week where Mat Gorman of NB Power and Landon Tessmer of PROENERGY argued against alternatives to the gas/diesel plant saying that in an emergency where half the grid goes down, battery energy storage systems could supply power for only four hours when it may be needed for four days.

“First off, they’re saying power for four days,” McLean says. “I bet you we’re going to have lots of wind during those four days. So, OK, let’s use that wind. And we’re probably going to have some sun too, so let’s use that sun.”

He adds that while it’s true that a fully charged 400 MW battery could supply power for four hours if the full 400 MW were needed, that time would increase to 16 hours if only 100 MW were required.

“The other thing about the gas fired plants is that they’re not a silver bullet because they fail too,” he said referring to catastrophic gas plant failures in Texas in February 2021 and more recently in Alberta in January, 2024.

Grid stability

Overhead view of Tehachapi Energy Storage Project, Tehachapi, California. Photo: Wikipedia

McLean also took issue with claims from Gorman and Tessmer that battery storage systems aren’t capable of providing stability and voltage control the way gas turbines can.

He referred to a newly-published article headlined: “Australia’s most powerful battery is now officially operating as the grid’s biggest shock absorber.”

“Batteries all over the world are providing grid stability,” McLean says and probably the most famous one is the Hornsdale Power Reserve in Australia.

GHG emissions

McLean disputes NB Power’s claim that a gas and diesel fired generating plant would actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing the grid stability needed to integrate more renewables such as wind and solar to replace coal and oil.

“You can use battery storage and other forms of storage to add wind and solar to the grid,” he says.

“The other thing about gas-fired power plants, of course, is they encourage the distribution of gas and gas is mostly methane, which is a very high-impact greenhouse gas. Over 20 years, it’s about 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in terms of climate change,” he adds.

McLean says leaks and venting in the  distribution system push gas into the atmosphere before it actually gets to the plant.

“That’s not included in their calculations,” he says.

Affordable electricity

McLean cites NB Power’s own figures from its 2023 Integrated Resource Plan showing that a dual-fuel combustion turbine is much more expensive than other alternatives.

“It’s $418 per megawatt hour from a gas-fired combustion turbine which is what they’re planning to install,” he says.

“From wind, it’s $47, from sun it’s $80, so what would you rather buy? he asks.

NB Power’s table shows that the cost of power from a four-hour lithium-ion battery is $193 per megawatt hour and $195 for a 12-hour one.

But McLean notes that battery storage costs have fallen by more than 50% since 2022.

This graph appears on page 53 of NB Power’s Integrated Resource Plan, 2023

Managing demand

McLean says NB Power should be promoting ways of reducing the demand for electricity during peak periods.

He says it could follow Ontario’s example by providing its customers with incentives to install energy-saving devices to shift hot water tank heating or EV car battery charging, for example, to times when demand for electricity is low and also, by making power rates cheaper during off-peak periods.

He says hot water heaters alone use huge amounts of power, so shifting their demand for power for even short times during peak periods could reduce the need for more generating capacity.

“Using NB Power’s figures, if you add up all the hot water heaters and their demand across the province, that comes to one gigawatt,” McLean says.

“So to give you an idea of how big one gigawatt is, the whole provincial grid during the summertime runs between one and two gigawatts,” he adds.

“My main motivation here is to take action on climate change and when NB Power is saying that the best way to go is by installing a gas-fired power plant, I’m somewhat bewildered,” he concludes.

To read Tom McLean’s submission to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada on the proposed PROENERGY gas plant, click here.

To read CRED-NB’s submission, click here.