by DAVE MILLS
Local communities could generate affordable, clean power – and free themselves from fossil fuels. To an energy monopoly, that’s a threat.
As viral outbreaks and wavering stock markets add to the threat of climate breakdown, it feels like we’re edging closer to the type of crisis last seen during the Great Depression or World War II. Many are calling for the type of intervention – a “New Deal” or a “wartime effort” – that governments used to combat last century’s catastrophes.
BC is home to shovel-ready projects that could cut emissions, strengthen local communities and restore some of the power and self-determination of Indigenous peoples. What’s lacking so far is political will.
In the New York Times bestseller Drawdown, groundbreaking research by one of the best scientific teams ever assembled concluded that if we act right now, we have both the time and technology to stabilize our deteriorating climate. Despite the battles we’ve lost, a big reason for their conditional optimism is readily available renewable energy.
There’s an assumption BC is powered by “clean” hydro, but the reality is most of the energy we use is fossil fuel: gasoline, diesel, natural gas and furnace oil. Electrifying transport and buildings is our biggest opportunity to cut emissions. It could save households thousands of dollars a year, and create an army of good-paying local jobs.
But it will require a lot more juice. A pressing question is: do we rely on last century’s destructive mega dam model to create it? If we don’t build new renewable capacity quickly, we could find ourselves charging electric cars with coal power purchased from Alberta or Wyoming.
But rather than encourage people trying to generate clean, local electricity, BC Hydro is cancelling existing contracts and trying to kill new projects in the cradle.
The urgent case for renewables
Globally, renewable energy is a game-changer for our climate. In free market settings, it now outcompetes conventional fossil-fuel generation systems like coal-fired or continuous cycle gas turbines. Since power generation is the single largest source of GHGs on the planet, making the switch to clean energy drastically reduces emissions while stimulating local economies.
In western Canada, a drop in the cost of photovoltaic cells means large-scale solar farms and rooftop solar are now the most affordable forms of new power. That’s led more than 2,000 BC households to join BC Hydro’s net metering program – where customers use “smart” meters to connect solar panels on their roof to the grid, earning a credit on their bill that slowly offsets the cost of the equipment.
It’s a start. But without accessible financing, tax credits, or other incentives, most families can’t afford the up-front cost of solar panels. And now BC Hydro is trying to stifle the net metering program, complaining that some customers are generating too much clean power. Yes, you read that right: too much!
The fight for Indigenous utilities
Meanwhile, Indigenous communities are leading the way in developing ambitious and affordable clean power projects. But BC Hydro has been indifferent at best, and in some cases actively hostile.
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