While Summerside city staff continue working on building a detailed proposal for a $23 million utility generation project, a Summerside resident is raising concerns, saying there are greener options.
Steve Howard of Renewable Lifestyles, a local green energy company, says investing in a diesel/natural gas generator is contrary to the renewable energy direction the city has been moving towards.
In the proposal presented to city councillors during a March council meeting, safety, reliability, availability, local resiliency and security were listed as five opportunities a new utility would create.
“We don’t make diesel locally and we don’t have local access to natural gas, so availability isn’t there. But we do make wind locally, so why wouldn’t we put in an asset that could work with that?” asked Howard.
Howard is also worried by the potential increase in costs of diesel fuel.
“We know the price of diesel is only going to increase. And as that increases, will the city be able to afford the amount needed to run this generator? I’m worried it would become what you call a stranded asset.”
A stranded asset is something that loses its value or turns into a liability before the end of its expected economic life.
“This is a big project, and we’re talking about something that may never run. I think this is a path we shouldn’t go down. It would be a missed opportunity to put in the green infrastructure we want for the future.”
Howard says he doesn’t see the logic in buying a multi-million dollar asset that may never be needed before it’s paid for.
“Storage options exist and a great deal of it can come online over the 35-year life expectancy and 25-year debt of this proposed turbine.”
Howard also has issue with the original RFP the city issued, saying a new one should be put forward to allow load reduction and load levelling, not just capacity.
The RFP should be re-issued and options should be weighed before the final decision on what is the best path forward is put before council. If we want more green energy in Summerside we want to work towards a smart storage future. We have already taken some baby steps with our distributed heat from wind storage program and our CUP battery storage with solar system. Now let's build on our momentum and become leaders.
Greg Gaudet, the director of municipal services for Summerside, said the generator that has been recommended by staff is what is called a cold standby generator.
“It’s function on the electrical system is to sit there, be maintained and ready to go at a moment’s notice, in less than 10 minutes, to be fired up and put on the system at full load and run in times of need.”
The amount of time the city expects to run the unit per year is less than 30 hours.
“So, diesel fuel costs and their rising costs are minimal to the cost of what the unit is placed there for. Which is the capacity option call when its needed.”
Although the plan isn’t to run the utility often, the set of standards set by a national entity are what led city to recommend the generator.
“The electricity system must be reliable to its customer and the gross domestic product of the nation… it must be secure, reliable and resilient for back up contingencies, say if the two largest parts of your system were to fail.”
Right now the city buys additional capacity from New Brunswick.
“We would prefer to take the money we are spending in New Brunswick for capacity, take that value, and invest it in a generator that is locally installed in Summerside, so we can insure a higher level of resiliency should the outside grid have a problem.”
Council is expected to hear more about the generator at the next committee of council meeting, in early April.