FORSETH: As BC election nears, pie-in-the-sky power promises from the NDP

With its NDP government overselling its plans to electrify the province, BC certainly is in election mode. The NDP is making grand-sounding spending announcements on the provincial electrical grid, setting fantasy targets for how we'll all drive electric cars and for the mandated conversion for homes away from carbon fuel use, to all electric.Even the legacy media are starting to admit that all is not well in eco-fantasyland British Columbia. Here, for example, the Financial Post's rejection of the NDP plan.However, at the risk of sounding immodest, I wrote about it first in July, the Western Standard. (See “A costly dose of EV reality." I said then of Trudeau’s national pronouncements, "The federal government has mandated that all new vehicles sold in Canada be zero-emission by 2035, with interim targets of reaching 20% by 2026 and 60% by 2030. My prediction is that the market's adjustment reality will require that the collective Liberal scheme for EVs will be cancelled.”“EVs currently represent less than 3% of vehicles on the road. That’s not enough to encourage for-profit companies to significantly invest in charging stations. Liberal policy hyperbole and myth-making don’t match the coming reality.”The electrical demand from the grid by EV cars was not achievable in the foreseeable future. I also described these shortcomings, in January 2024. The 'greenies 'still need to answer how their legislated demands on the electrical grid can be met. Electricity demand in BC is expected to increase by 15% or more between now and 2030, without the additional burden of political rules for EV cars and all-electric homes.In other words, here are consequences from legislated ‘decarbonization’ electrification schemes. There is the fantasy of nuclear fusion transitioning from the laboratory into an actual commercial device, which will never happen. Traditional nuclear energy has significant intrinsic problems.Thus, between now and 2030 the only foreseeable solution to meet the fantasy targets for the intended electrical grid demand is to maximize all hydropower opportunities with many more dams, erect thousands of windmills, and burn natural gas and LNG in new turbines.Hence the NDP's enthusiastic announcements — four in the last two weeks — and which were made less than a month before the official "writ period," when campaigning begins for the Oct. 19th provincial election. This is the old image-over-substance myth-making from the political left and a classic government communications exercise.BC. Hydro's $36 billion, 10-year capital plan is supposed to shore up the power demand to meet the province's climate goals. Still, advocates must admit that the announced plans may be just a downpayment on what British Columbians will need to meet the published expectations.Barry Penner, chair of the Energy Futures Initiative, said, "The $36 billion over ten years is just a fraction of the true cost of what would be required to reach British Columbia's unrealistic goals. I think I could safely predict that goal won’t be met.”Penner is being quoted openly in the legacy media, which in the past has soft-peddled the NDP fantasies. Energy Futures Initiative is a Washington, DC, organization that says EFI conducts rigorous, science-based analysis to identify the fastest pathways to a low-carbon energy transition. They are skeptical that the proposed work by BC Hydro resolves the electrical capacity issues faced by developers and builders trying to create new multi-family projects equipped with heat pumps, EV chargers, and no natural gas.BC Hydro is telling the builder investors that they cannot deliver the power at this time or in the immediate future while they try to upgrade the distribution to particular construction sites.Penner’s Energy Futures said that meeting BC's mandate for EV adoption would require 2,700 gigawatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to the output of two additional Site C dams.The incoming NDP Premier John Horgan nearly cancelled the Site C dam, which was started under Premier Christy Clark.In addition, factoring in general population growth, LNG development, electrifying mining, and prohibiting the use of natural gas for home heating in new construction, the recent political announcements compared to the facts on the ground do not add up.BC Hydro Corporation knows that it operates within a political context. Consequently, it continues to offer ‘word salad’, saying they are committed to working with customers looking to expand their service to accommodate greater use of clean electricity.BC. Conservative party spokesperson Anthony Koch accused NDP Premier David Eby of having rapidly introduced radical policy changes (fantasies) without a plan to address the shortfall in electrical capacity that the announced CleanBC initiatives require.The eco-friendly Energy Futures people say the targets can’t be met. My conservative view is that the targets are wrong, and the mythmakers have to be replaced with truthful, accountable leaders.

FORSETH: As BC election nears, pie-in-the-sky power promises from the NDP

Related Stories

Calgary river flood season begins with new Sunnyside barrier in place for 2026

RCMP issues public warning after convicted sex offender relocates to Fort Saskatchewan

Competition Bureau challenging Keyera's proposed acquisition

Bank of Canada holds rate at 2.25%