A community-based advocacy co-op on Prince Edward Island is speaking out against plans to install two PROENERGY combustion turbines in Charlottetown at a cost of $334 million.

The co-op, Energy Democracy Now, was responding to the privately owned power company Maritime Electric’s proposal to install two 50 MW turbines in addition to the 10 that NB Power wants built on the Chignecto Isthmus near Centre Village.

Maritime Electric applied for approval to install the turbines to the PEI commission that regulates electricity in August.

In its application, the company said it had received a “time-sensitive” opportunity to join with NB Power in ordering the turbines to meet rising electricity demand on the Island.

The company says that in a meeting with PROENERGY, the US company said it typically does not pursue projects of less than 300 MW, but that it could consider a 100 MW project with Maritime Electric if the schedule aligned with NB Power’s project so that resources and costs could be shared between the two.

Maritime Electric says it intends to install two additional two-million litre ultra-low sulfur diesel storage tanks at the Charlottetown Generating Station site. “This amount of fuel storage ensures that all three combustion turbines located at the Charlottetown Generating Station can operate at full load for a minimum of seven days without additional fuel deliveries,” its application says.

Town hall

On October 6th, Energy Democracy Now, held a town hall at the Charlottetown Library to express opposition to the project.

“First of all, P.E.I. has made a firm commitment to get to net zero by 2040. You don’t get to net zero by putting in two gigantic jet engines on your waterfront to make electricity,” Darcie Lanthier told the CBC during the meeting.

According to her Facebook page, Lanthier is president of Solar Island Electric Inc. She also serves on the board of Energy Democracy Now which says on its website that “the climate crisis demands more than small fixes — it requires a bold shift from corporate control of fossil fuels to renewable energy that is owned, governed, and guided by local communities.”

At the town hall, attended by about 30 people, Lanthier told the CBC that alternatives such as batteries, smart meters and prices that encourage the use of electricity during off-peak hours would be better than burning gas and diesel.

“We’ve spent millions and millions of dollars getting homeowners to get off oil and electrify their systems, and that’s the correct step. But then we cannot turn around and add fossil fuels to our electricity mix. It just defeats the whole purpose,” she said.

Maritime Electric says the generating capacity that would be supplied by the PROENERGY turbines is needed to meet peak demand in the most cost-effective way by 2028 and to avoid the risk of grid failures.

“Solution represents the only viable and cost-effective path to mitigate this risk within the required time frame,” its application for approval states.

To read the Maritime Electric application to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC), click here.

For CBC coverage, click here and here.

Facebook slide posted by PEI group Energy Democracy Now

NS pursuing gas plant

Meantime, Nova Scotia’s new independent energy system operator (IESO) announced last week that it is seeking expressions of interest from organizations that “would build, own and operate at least 300 megawatts of fast acting gas fired electricity generation.”

In a news release, the IESO said it has identified two possible locations in Pictou County near a natural gas pipeline.

The release quotes Johnny Johnston, President and CEO of IESO Nova Scotia:

“Under Nova Scotia’s Clean Power Plan, coal plants are soon closing and renewable energy is significantly increasing. To ensure the province’s ambitious clean energy goals for 2030 and beyond are met, Nova Scotia needs fast acting generation that acts as a counterbalance to changing winds and is ultimately there to provide stable, reliable and affordable electricity at those rare times when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.”

To read the IESO news release, click here.

For CBC coverage, click here.