Digby Mayor Calls for Grid Upgrades

The mayor of town of Digby is warning that the lack of upgrades to the power grid in western Nova Scotia could hinder investments in renewable energy.

Ben Cleveland said the region has tremendous potential to develop into a green energy hub, boasting wind, hydroelectric and tidal power.

“There has been some suggestion that going green will be the next industrial revolution, and I think we recognize that, which is why we’re being so aggressive,” Cleveland said Thursday.

However, he said he is concerned a renewable energy industry may not get off the ground due to a shortage of transmission capacity.

“We’re going to be handicapped by a poor grid. It’s not just a Digby issue; it’s an Annapolis Valley issue, all the way around to Yarmouth.”

Linda Gregory, the warden of the Municipality of the District of Digby, reiterated the mayor’s concerns, noting that her municipality is concerned improvements to transmission and distribution capacity were not included in Nova Scotia Power’s annual capital spending plan.

“It is our assertion that this lack of investment could stymie our efforts to attract companies to our region and that interested renewable energy developers will not be in a position to develop projects as a result.”

Gregory said the two municipalities have a meeting scheduled Feb. 28 with Rob Bennett, the president of Nova Scotia Power, to “commence dialogue which we are hopeful will lead to a solution to our dilemma.”

After testifying during hearings before the provincial regulator this week, Bennett said he applauded the Municipality of the District of Digby’s initiative to promote the region as hub for renewable energy.

But he said the utility has no plans to make significant upgrades in that area because “it would be out of step with the normal sequence of development.”

“The normal sequence for a proponent for a renewable energy project would be to bring that project forward to the independent system operator, who then would assess the project,” Bennett said.

“After the assessment, we would then begin to work with that developer on the required upgrades to the system to enable them to connect. So it’s a bit out of sequence, but I can say that it’s encouraging to see municipalities interested in renewable energy.”

Bennett was responding, in part, to a letter submitted to the provincial Utility and Review Board by Municipality of the District of Digby’s renewable energy and climate change co-ordinator.

In his letter, Terry Thibodeau expressed concern with the “lack of emphasis being placed either on upgrades to our transmission line (69 kilovolts) in the Annapolis Valley or in investments to other areas of our grid system for improved efficiency.”

“Our grid system in Nova Scotia is antiquated and, over time, the upgrades in the system have been limited,” he stated.

Thibodeau said the municipality hired Lockheed Martin to assess a proposed combined heat and power plant that would generate electricity for the grid through the community feed-in-tariff program.

However, Lockheed Martin found that “there is significant risk that distribution interconnection may not be available.”

In other words, the grid could not sustain the introduction of new electricity generating capacity from renewable projects.

But Dana Morin, the president of Fundy Tidal Inc., said bolstering transmission capacity would be a significant investment.

Morin said energy suppliers would have to shoulder most of the costs to avoid passing large rate increases to Nova Scotia Power customers.

“We really have to separate large-scale projects and transmission lines from small-scale projects and distribution systems. They are apples and oranges.

“We have to first come up with some storage or smart grid solutions to overcome some of the capacity barriers that are on Digby Neck.”

He said the focus of renewable energy projects in the region should be to first serve the community.

However, once a renewable energy project is at a more advanced stage, he said the project’s developer rather than the government or Nova Scotia Power has to improve the grid.

While Cleveland said it is important for all parties to “work in co-operation,” he added that the province and Nova Scotia Power “have a social responsibility to put (the region) on equal footing with everybody else.”

“All parts of the province should be on equal footing when it comes to infrastructure, whether it’s roads or ferries or power transmission lines.”

Story by Brett Bundale

The Halifax Chronicle Herald

February 17, 2012