Alberta will have to "go nuclear" to meet its surging power demands and avoid the pitfalls of unreliable renewables... thus British energy consultant Kathryn Porter, a veteran expert on electrical grids and power financing with more than 25 years in the field, speaking on tonight's Hannaford show. Ms. Porter emphasized that nuclear, alongside natural gas, offers the only high-energy-density solution for a growing Alberta, struggling for power as it is, amid global supply chain strains and the rise of AI power-hungry data centres..Porter drew from Great Britain's "great green delusion," to caution Alberta against over-reliance upon wind and solar."Not all renewable energy is equal," she says: "Hydro and geothermal mimic conventional sources with controllable output, but wind and solar are intermittent and low-density."."There's no solar at night," Porter quipped, noting wind operates only about 30% of the time. This forces massive backups, escalating costs: a wind farm equivalent to an 800-megawatt gas plant requiring 150-180 times more wiring, ballooning infrastructure expenses.The UK is now dealing with the consequences of a push for net-zero emissions, comparable to the goals articulated by the Government of Canada for the last ten years. In Great Britain it has led to disaster, Porter argues..Great Britain now boasts the highest industrial electricity prices in the developed world and the fourth-highest domestic rates, fuelling inflation and de-industrialization."Households are struggling significantly," she said, "with retirees facing impossible choices between heating and eating... job losses mount — a thousand jobs were lost in the North Sea alone this week — as industries flee to Asia, ironically increasing global emissions via dirtier energy and transport."Alberta, Porter noted, is "coming to this party pretty late," something that increases the risks. Population has surged since the 2024 brownout, when frigid temperatures crippled renewables and exposed inadequate weatherproofing, and there were serious concerns of a brownout..So, the province skates on thin ice. Solar panels snow over, wind turbines freeze, and federal mandates for net-zero by 2035 ignore permitting delays that span a decade."Don't rely on intermittent generation," Porter advises Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Subsidies for wind, ongoing since 1990 in Britain, prop up immature tech that "will always have to be subsidized."Instead, Porter championed nuclear: emission-free, reliable for 60-80 years, and copper-efficient amid shortages of the metal driven by renewables and AI — which uses a lot. She spotlighted South Korea's APR-1400 reactors — eight built at $4-5 billion each in 8.5 years on average — as a "genuine solution." For Alberta's dispersed populations, large-scale nuclear minimizes line losses (just 2-2.5% at high voltage) while providing baseload stability. Data centers might opt for small gas units for flexibility, but the grid needs big reactors, not "football fields full of three-megawatt units" that are inefficient and emissive..Porter sidestepped deep climate debates but urged cost-benefit analyses: expensive, unreliable energy kills too, as seen in Spain's blackout claiming 11 lives directly and 165 excess deaths. "Voters are starting to rebel," she observed, citing Germany's election fallout from factory closures and U.S. pushback.As Alberta eyes growth, Porter's message is clear: ditch green ideology for proven tech. "Everybody needs megawatts," she said. Without nuclear, blackouts in -40°C winters could prove unforgiving. As one might say, there's a pivotal choice: nuclear progress or renewable regret.
