Saskatchewan's residential electricity rate ranks among the highest in Canada. Households pay an average of 20.7 cents per kWh, which is higher than the national average and well above the rates in provinces that rely heavily on low-cost hydroelectricity.
Scott Moe's decision to refurbish coal burning power plants to the tune of $26 billion will drive up costs to consumers even higher. His plan is to eventually transition to nuclear which is, and always will be, the most expensive way to make electricity.
His plan will be undone by the market. The costs of rooftop solar continue to drop and 2026 will be the breakout year for the adoption of sodium-ion storage batteries that are half the cost of current lithium-iron phosphate.
Initially, consumers will purchase them to power their EVs, but the economy will be so obvious that harvesting solar energy will expand.
2026 will also be a breakout year for American manufacturers of combined heat and power fuel cell furnaces of the type that Japan is promoting through their Ene-Farm project. They are fueled with natural gas but carbon emissions are 50-60% less than natural gas fired power plants
...and they are hydrogen ready. The Japanese government’s Strategic Roadmap for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells targets a massive scaling of the Ene-Farm project, aiming for 5.3 million installed systems by 2030 (roughly 10% of all households in Japan).
Scott Moe has said that heat pumps won't be adequate to heat homes in Saskatchewan's winters, so presumably natural gas will continue to flow through the province's 20,000 kilometres of gas lines despite his investment in nuclear generated electricity.
Technically, a home provisioned with rooftop solar, storage batteries and a fuel cell furnace could generate all of its needs for electricity. If it is cheaper than the rates charged to consumers by the state owned electric utility monopoly, then it will happen.
What then, a ban on these technologies? Saskatchewan has a highly regulated energy economy — regulated to suppress the development of renewable electricity generation.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
