Restarting renewables in Nova Scotia

IF YOUR green targets are lemons, seize the chance to make lemonade.

That looks like the thinking in acting Energy Minister Frank Corbett’s bold response to Nova Scotia Power Inc.’s fretting that it might not meet provincial targets for renewable-source electricity without buying power from a 60-megawatt biomass project that has been criticized as risky for customers and bad for the forests.

Yesterday Mr. Corbett did what few people would have expected after the Utility and Review Board refused to bless NSPI’s biomass proposal as a prudent deal for customers. He set even more ambitious medium-term targets for green power, mandating that one-quarter of the province’s electricity come from renewables by 2015. This is five years ahead of the previous government’s green plan.

But he has thrown in an important carrot - both for NSPI and for would-be small power producers who want a so-called feed-in rate, a standing offer by the utility to buy green power at a price that reflects the long-term efficiencies of cleaner energy.

Mr. Corbett has appointed David Wheeler, dean of Dalhousie University’s faculty of management, to consult with interested parties and to work out how best to achieve the new greener targets.

Part of his mandate is to understand the role of biomass, a contentious issue at the URB hearings. (Critics said feeding a 60-megawatt unit would lead to excessive clearcutting and a loss of soil nutrients.) He will also look at how to expand small and community-based projects. This is a potential win for feed-in-rate advocates who were angry that NSPI was prepared to do a $1-billion biomass-power purchase without any competitive bidding, while opposing standing-offer contracts for small green-power deals.

This is a thoughtful response to important issues raised at the URB hearings, where NSPI argued that its chosen windpower suppliers are having problems with financing. The board’s expert adviser, Liberty Consulting, said it was imprudent for NSPI not to seek some adjustments on green targets from government if the only alternative was to ask the board to waive consumer safeguards (like requiring competitive bidding for the biomass deal) and to approve a project that is risky for customers. Liberty said NSPI hadn’t fully explored whether the province would let it meet green targets by burning some biomass in its own plants, directly financing or owning wind projects or importing green power.

Mr. Corbett’s review is a chance to look at these and other alternatives. But it also holds out the possibility of a win-win proposition: a greater shift to renewable electricity in five years if we’re willing to try some new ways of getting there.