Canada Has The Power: Utilities May Need Its 'Renewables'

Sep 26 - The Hartford Courant, Connecticut

State laws in New England that require utilities to buy increasing amounts of electricity generated by renewable resources, such as wind turbines, will eventually force utilities to purchase "renewable power" from Canada, Northeast Utilities CEO Charles Shivery said Tuesday.

"If you take all the existing renewables, all the [proposed] renewables and all the renewables that may seem possible in New England -- we're still deficient," Shivery told a Merrill Lynch-sponsored conference in New York City.

Shivery said estimates show that there will be a gap of 1,500 megawatts -- enough electricity to power up to 1.5 million typical homes -- in New England by 2015 between the amount of renewable power available in the region and what state standards will require.

New England will have to import renewable power from Quebec and the Canada Maritime Provinces to keep up, he said.

Canada has "significant energy resources and, more importantly, [is] willing to build some of the energy resources that may be difficult to build in New England," Shivery said.

But Shivery also sees opportunities for the Berlin-based utility, whose subsidiaries include Connecticut Light & Power, in rules that require utilities to buy more electricity generated by the sun, the wind or by biomass plants that use wood for fuel.

Connecticut and the other New England states have passed "renewable portfolio standards" that require a percentage of each state's electricity to come from renewable resources.

In Connecticut, the percentage requirement grows each year, reaching 20 percent in 2020. The region also will begin requiring reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which also could fuel the demand for renewable energy.

The state renewable energy standards could provide areas for NU to increase revenue through construction projects, said Michael Worms, an analyst for BMO Capital Markets in New York.

Possibilities include building new renewable generation facilities or transmission lines that connect with Canada or link southern New England with rural areas in northern New England, where renewable energy projects are most likely to be built.

NU takes in millions of dollars building transmission lines and has expressed an interest in connecting New England and Canada. The company has also developed one biomass power plant in New Hampshire and shown interested in building more.

In contrast to Shivery's view, Derek Murrow, director of policy analysis for Environment Northeast, a regional environmental advocacy and research group, sees New England being less reliant on its northern neighbors in the future.

Murrow said that while it's possible some imports from Canada may be needed to keep up with rising renewable energy requirements, new projects proposed for New England should be able to keep up with demand.

"We are optimistic that New England will site and develop significant quantities of renewables," Murrow said.

Contact Mark Peters at mrpeters@courant.com.