Canada had already announced plans to completely decarbonize electricity grids by 2035. But some provinces, including Alberta and Saskatchewan, have said that simply isn’t feasible.
Alberta’s premier quickly responded to Ottawa’s plan by declaring that her province would immediately launch a legal challenge because the regulations infringe on provincial jurisdiction. She warned that this is a case that Alberta fully expects to win.
The country’s electricity grid is already largely green, with 85% of Canada’s electricity supply coming from non-emitting sources. But four provinces — Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — still rely on coal and natural gas to provide between 30 and 85 per cent of their electricity.
Committing to a zero-emission electricity grid is an easy decision for the other six provinces, which are already more than 90% of the way there. The territories will be exempt from the regulations because most northern communities rely on diesel generation and are relatively low emitters.
Coming into force in 2035
While most government communications in recent years have specifically referenced achieving a carbon-neutral grid by 2035 — as part of Canada’s overall goal of becoming a zero-emissions economy by 2050 — a government update in February on the regulatory work signaled a change in the timeline.
“We knew from the start that from where we are to where we need to be, we couldn’t get there in 10 years — especially considering the regulations don’t come into effect until 2035,” said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, who also previously spoke about Canada taking steps to achieve a zero-emission electricity grid by 2035.
“We always intended to see things happening before 2035. But we wouldn’t be able to achieve a decarbonized grid before 2050.”
Mr. Guilbeault also emphasized that the regulations do not come into force until 2035, as also indicated in the draft regulation.
“2035 is an important moment because, although the regulations only come into force then, the signal we send to those who will invest in and operate the networks starts now. They basically have 10 years to prepare,” declared the minister.
Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson acknowledged the government could have been more specific in its language and context regarding what exactly the 2035 target referred to.
“So 2035 was really a plan for how we were going to reduce emissions to be able to achieve a zero-emission economy by 2050,” said Wilkinson, noting that the United States also has similar regulations. with similar deadlines to achieve their carbon-neutral electricity network goals.
“Maybe we haven’t been as precise in our language as we should have been. And it’s the same thing with the Americans, and it’s the same thing with all the G7 countries. When they talked about the 2035 language, we all understood that it would take longer than that to get to a zero-emissions grid.”
The final regulations, which will be published on Wednesday, also provide for a lower reduction in greenhouse gas emissions than was anticipated in the draft regulations.
But Steven Guilbeault explained that part of the difference in the projections was due to the fact that emissions generated by cogeneration — where a single plant produces heat and electricity simultaneously — are instead covered by the cap. recently announced oil and gas emissions. It was initially covered by the proposed Clean Electricity Regulations.
These producers can produce their own heat and electricity, often at lower rates than they would otherwise get from a power grid.
“Because, even if these units produce electricity, it is mainly electricity that is consumed (…) by the companies themselves which produce it,” explained Minister Guilbeault.
More flexibility
The finalized regulations provided more flexibility than last year’s draft for provinces to comply with the changes. These include changing an annual emissions limit for electricity generation units, as well as a crediting system where provinces can pool their total emissions limit for all units in a province.
“It’s about making sure you’re doing something that’s actually going to work,” Wilkinson said. Ultimately, we want Saskatchewan to succeed. We want Nova Scotia to succeed. We want New Brunswick and Alberta to succeed. But we also want to achieve a zero-emission electricity network by 2050.”
However, this flexibility did not bring much comfort to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who criticized the regulations as unconstitutional because they regulate an area of provincial jurisdiction.
“We are pleased to see Ottawa finally admit that the Alberta government’s plan to achieve a carbon-neutral electricity grid by 2050 is a more responsible, affordable and realistic goal,” Smith wrote in a statement.
“(The regulations) force producers to meet unreasonable and unachievable interim targets imposed by the federal government starting in 2035, which will make electricity unaffordable for Canadian families.”
Premier Smith added that Alberta will launch a legal challenge to the regulations.
The federal government also announced $60 billion in aid over the next 10 years for clean energy.
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