Like its neighbor to the south, Canada faces enormous costs to upgrade and expand its transmission and distribution system. The desire to integrate more renewable power into the grid, build a smarter grid, and export more power are providing the rationale for action, but capital and political will lag behind.
One of the great challenges facing any electrical system is the constant need for decisions regarding the transmission and distribution of power. Canada’s high-voltage network consists of more than 160,000 kilometers of high-voltage lines. Beyond maintaining the aging facilities, operators are tasked with integrating more intermittent generation from renewable sources and incorporating smarter grid systems.
Like generation decisions, decisions about transmission are mostly made at a provincial level. Federal powers only intervene when international interconnection is involved and in certain intra-provincial matters. But it seems that across the country there is a need for upgrades. “There are cycles of activity in the renewal of transmission and distribution networks. We are coming to the stage of the cycle where large parts of the system need to be renewed. Power and transmission grids will be a good market for the next five to 10 years,” predicts Franck Willier, managing director, Cicame Energie Inc. Cicame is part of Sicame, which purchased Alcan Accessories in 2000 and has since built up a broad service offering of equipment for utilities. “New technology can increase efficiency and take better decisions on the network, all the way up to decisions on new generation or transmission,” Willier continues.
Canada has three power grids: the Western grid, the Eastern grid, and the Québec grid, which includes Atlantic Canada. More than from east to west, the grid is designed to allow for a flow of power down to the U.S. “If you look at a map where the transmission lines are shown, you’ll see that most of them go north-south. It’s the way that it developed,” explains Pierre Guimond, president of the Canadian Energy Association. “We never really sold electricity east-west, because there were no customers, as the provinces were self-sufficient. Since the California market exploded in the mid-1990s, we’ve really had a lot of commerce in electricity with the United States.”
This integrated grid means that Canada is a major supplier of power to the New England states, New York, and California, as well as to states in the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest (Figure 1). Some Canadian players are now looking for longer-term contracts on their U.S. exports so that they can be leveraged toward further grid development. “B.C. has an abundance of renewable possibilities, but in order to exploit this potential we must find a market,” says Bev Van Ruyven, deputy CEO and executive vice president of BC Hydro, the dominant electrical utility of British Columbia. “If we can lock in long-term contracts of 20 to 30 years, this will allow us to invest further in transmission and perhaps even invest in a green corridor to reach those U.S. markets.”
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| 1. Cross-border transmission. This aerial view of the static inverter plant at Sandy Pond in Ayer, Mass., is part of the long-distance high-voltage direct current Québec–New England transmission line that links Québec hydro power and New England load centers. Courtesy: ABB |
Connecting Renewables
“One thing that often gets forgotten is that if you are a big supporter of renewable energy, you also have to be a big supporter of increased transmission. It is easier to build generation that has a small, defined footprint than to build a transmission line that covers hundreds of miles,” insists Paul Murphy, CEO of the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), which was created to independently and reliably oversee the transmission system, administer the wholesale electricity market, and manage the import and export trade in Ontario.
Dealing with variable generation facilities is something relatively new to the industry. “Integrating renewables into the system and the market is the biggest challenge. Maintaining reliability is at the core of our reason for being. Maintaining reliability in a sector that is transforming substantially is quite a test,” confesses Murphy.
Anthony Ciccone, principal, power sector at Golder Associates, notes, “We are seeing a lot more district energy and cogeneration facilities being developed across the country. The result of these ‘energy campuses’ is a more balanced load that is less dependent on the grid. These smaller, more neighborhood-friendly projects are well received in populous areas where residents are averse to the large transmission lines and power plants. This shift means a lot more projects and a lot more development.”
Nevertheless, the need for major investment in long-distance transmission networks could emerge as the greatest constraint on Canada reaching its renewable energy goals. Policymakers and utilities across the country are aware of this issue, but the expenditure and public unease associated with large-scale transmission projects will require continuous and concerted political will.
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