Alberta’s premier and the federal environment minister are locking horns over the feasibility of abandoning fossil fuels for electricity generation and relying solely on renewable energy sources.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to respond to Steven Guilbeault, federal climate change and environment minister, following an
announcement by Mr. Guileabult on Aug.11 that there had been an “important recent finding” from Alberta’s Market Surveillance Administrator.
“Renewable energy like wind and solar in Alberta actually significantly cut electricity costs when generation was high,” he said.
Premier Smith
responded with a graph of solar and wind generation at times of Alberta emergency alerts, detailing “several critical points last winter where we barely had enough power to keep our homes and businesses running. Note the near 0 wind and solar.”
“Natural gas power kept us all warm and alive that day. Are you understanding Alberta’s situation yet?” wrote Ms. Smith.
Mr. Guilbeault then shared a
tweet from the Alberta premier saying, “Canadians should be very concerned with the federal government’s new clean electricity regulations.”
She included a statement from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), which said the group “is concerned that the proposal, as currently drafted, will limit the ability to use natural gas as a back-up to renewable energy.”
Mr. Guilbeault stated he agreed with Premier Smith and CAPP.
“That is exactly what building a clean grid is all about: limiting unabated fossil fuels by 2035, not forbidding them, but making sure we have as much renewables and cleantech, while ensuring the affordability and reliabilty of our grid,” he said.
Alberta’s premier fired back stating Mr. Guilbeault’s proposed regulation would ban natural gas “peaker” plants by 2035 unless they run only 450 hours per year.
“That’s 18 days,”
said Ms. Smith, adding the plants can “only have minimal emissions.”
“Who on earth is going to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in efficient natural gas facilities that run for a small number of days annually?” said the premier.
“Will the federal government be paying for it? Or do you expect Albertans to fork out the dough themselves for power plants that are not allowed to be used past 2035? Can we come back to reality?” she stated on Aug. 12.
A day earlier, on Aug. 11, Ms. Smith had said Ottawa’s propozed net zero regulations are
“unconstitutional” and will not be implemented in Alberta. “We are not going to harm Albertans because we’re trying to achieve some target pulled out of the sky by someone who doesn’t even understand the electricity grid in Alberta. We have to get real here,” she said.
Another day earlier, on Aug. 10, Ms. Smith had
said, “We’re just asking for time to allow the technology to develop. We’re not going to be bought with our own money. We’re going to do what’s practical. We are going to make sure Albertans are protected.”
According to the premier, the federal government’s newly proposed regulations on electricity “will
increase utility bills and basically every other good and service.”
“We will not let Albertans suffer by implementing this policy,” she stated in her tweet on Aug. 10.
Earlier, the Alberta government released a full
statement on the proposed clean electricity regulations, stating they do not “align” with Alberta’s plan to work toward a carbon-neutral power grid by 2050. In the statement Ms. Smith said the federal regulations would “not be implemented in our province—period.”
She noted the regulations were “draft” and that the province would be commencing a working group with the federal government, but that if the two could not agree, Alberta would “chart its own path.”
