BURSTPrime Minister Mark Carney says adding the North Coast Transmission Line to his national importance project list last week is part of a larger strategy to expand the country’s clean electricity grid and ensure Canada benefits from its enormous gas and critical mineral reserves.
The $6-billion transmission line in northern B.C. will be fast-tracked by the Major Projects Office, developed by the federal government to speed proposals expected to boost Canada’s economy and lessen trade dependence with the United States.
“Clean electrification is the path — the only path — to building a sustainable, prosperous economy,” Carney said.
The NCTL also features in the development of another new major project: a proposed northwest critical conservation corridor across northern BC and the Yukon meant to open access to the critical minerals in the region while also creating a conservation area the size of Greece, the prime minister said.
As part of the corridor proposal, the government will aim to build new transmission lines, upgrade highways, install fibre and cell towers and invest in communities in the region while encouraging “meaningful Indigenous ownership” and “promoting the conservation of our natural heritage for future generations,” Carney said.
The North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL), expected to take between eight and 10 years to construct, will power liquified natural gas (LNG) export facilities, mining and natural gas production, as well as Prince Rupert port expansions.
It will double electricity flowing from Prince George to Terrace and, at a later stage, northward to Bob Quinn Lake.
The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) is providing a $140 million loan to fund early work on the transmission line to BC Hydro, Carney added.
Transmission line powers multiple ambitions
The NCTL is the backbone for provincial and federal ambitions to expand and secure LNG export projects on the West Coast and to provide needed power to draw mining investment to the northern reaches of BC.
It will also provide clean electricity to power those industries and natural gas production and transport to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and curb the resulting carbon pollution.
The NCTL plans also include a potential substation expansion and spur line to serve the Port of Prince Rupert and expand the nearby Ridley Island export terminal, now dubbed the Ridley Island Energy Export Facility(REEF), to boost the export of propane, butane and possibly ethane to Asian markets.
The third phase of the transmission line project spans Terrace north to Bob Quinn Lake and is still in early development. It is key to a proposal to link the power grids of B.C. and Yukon..
The two governments signed a memorandum of understanding in May intended to drive economic development and increase the flow of clean energy to the territory, which still leans on fossil fuels for electricity, especially in remote areas.
The B.C. government has already taken steps to fast-track the power project, including bypassing a review by the province’s independent regulator, the BC Utilities Commission, to stave off a possible 18-month delay to construction. However, the push by the province is raising questions of transparency, cost allocation and risk to ratepayers.
The project has also been exempted from an environmental review, a move drawing heavy criticism from conservation groups and First Nations concerned about the lack of consultation and potential environmental impacts of the project.
Grid ‘greenwashes’ LNG, say critics
Using clean power to produce LNG won’t protect Canada from climate impacts when it’s burned overseas, said Marc Lee, senior economist with the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives.
Despite the transmission line’s potential economic benefits for First Nations and mining expansion in the North to diversify exports, there’s a real risk that the provincial and federal government’s LNG ambitions won’t be realized, leaving the province with stranded assets and a surplus of energy without enough customers to pay for it, Lee said.
It’s mostly LNG demand that’s driving the NCTL, Lee said. Yet there are numerous predictions that there will be a decline in demand in the coming decade.
“Our politicians are all racing to get this stuff built to show that they’re doing stuff for the economy, but it may just be a complete white elephant.”
Carney suggested otherwise on Thursday, claiming that by 2040, global LNG demand is expected to rise by 60 per cent and “Canada will be ready.”
The NCTL line does open up opportunities for port electrification, mining and economic development in northern B.C. and potentially the Yukon and the benefit of construction jobs in various regions where it will be built, said Werner Antweiler, a Sauder School of Business professor at the University of British Columbia.
Given that a number of LNG projects are set to come online, the project offers the potential for significantly reduced emissions.
“I think the benefit to the BC economy is pretty clear,” Antweiler said, but “the billion-dollar question” is who will pay for it.
The province needs to be transparent about its new tariff scheme and set a rate structure to “recover the cost from project proponents.”
Lee isn’t optimistic that will happen.
“It’s going to be spread over all rate payers like you and me and the small businesses and office buildings down the street,” he said.