Sask. NDP says government power plan will double rates

Nuclear power has been at the forefront of conversations about SaskPower’s future for some time, but the Saskatchewan NDP is taking issue with the province’s plan to extend coal-fired power generation.

In the fall, a plan was issued with nuclear at the centre: the Saskatchewan First Energy Security Strategy and Supply Plan.

The Sask. NDP has engaged an independent third party to assess that plan, and said it’s found the plan would dramatically raise power rates in the province over the next 24 years.

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The province’s plan talks about nuclear, but also discusses expanding the province’s coal-fired power plants to bridge the gap – something SaskPower Minister Jeremy Harrison announced in a letter to SaskPower workers early last year.

Aleana Young, the NDP’s SaskPower critic, said that’s where the problem is.

“Their decision to rebuild the coal plants while looking to build out SMRs at the same time with no additional capacity being built in to mitigate any risks leads to the highest impacts on rates, the highest capital costs for the crown and there’s only one place for SaskPower … to turn and that’s to its customers,” she explained.

Young called the province’s plan anti-business and irrational, saying it’s designed to fit the Sask. Party’s politics instead of its professed concentration on affordability.

“This is clearly something that was drafted on the back of a napkin without either understanding or care about the impacts that it would have on the people of Saskatchewan and the businesses who’ve made investments here in the province,” she said.

The third-party used by the NDP – Energy Super Modelers and International Analysis (ESMiA) – is a modelling and consulting firm out of Montreal. It contemplated a number of scenarios, including nuclear, different federal policies on emissions, net zero, and renewables mix in power generation.

The report found power rates would double by 2050 with nuclear, net zero, no power imports and high power demand. Other scenarios varied renewables, demand and import volumes, but each saw power rates going up by at least two-thirds by 2050.

It came to the conclusion that the cost of coal refurbishment has a key impact on rates and emissions, but also said that a more substantial switch to clean energy as a result of policy pressure and net zero commitments could present higher rates as well.

In June, Jeremy Harrison, the minister responsible for SaskPower, announced the government would be putting money into extending the life of the province’s coal-fired power plants. (980 CJME file photo)

Young said they took the government at their word with the numbers, using those for the modelling.

She said the province needs an affordable, flexible and reliable plan, but also conceded that coal is an important part of the power generation mix right now. Young said no one, including the NDP, is talking about shutting the coal plants down tomorrow.

The NDP didn’t explain what the government should be doing instead — Young said the opposition’s plan will be released later this month.

“We think the future for Saskatchewan is going to involve natural gas, it’s going to involve renewable build out, it’s going to involve nuclear, and it’s going to involve building out transmission across this province to support that growth,” said Young.

Carbon tax and power rates

The Minister responsible for SaskPower appears to be accusing the NDP of misunderstanding the report.

In a statement, Minister Jeremy Harrison said the report asserts that the federal carbon tax and Clean Electricity Standards are what would increase power rates in the report’s scenarios, except his statement said there is no carbon tax or such standards in Saskatchewan.

“The report states that ‘government plans could drive higher rates’ due to the refurbishment of existing thermal assets. In reality, what drives costs under the consultant’s scenario is the federal carbon tax policy, Clean Electricity Standards and an assumption that Saskatchewan should rely on external jurisdictions for baseload power,” wrote Harrison.

He said the province’s energy strategy uses a diversified and “all-of-the-above” investment approach and it’s chosen to prioritize certainty and security of supply.

“Maintaining existing capacity supports reliability and resilience while Saskatchewan proceeds with planning, licensing, and constructing nuclear generation to achieve a net‑zero electricity system by 2050,” read the statement.

Harrison said renewables have a role in the system but can’t replace baseload power, and the government will use natural resources already in the province – coal – to bridge to nuclear.

“That is a more reliable and secure path than the NDP’s proposal to make Saskatchewan increasingly dependent on imported natural gas — more than 90 percent of which already comes from outside our borders,” wrote the minister.

Harrison contended that by extending the life of assets already in existence, the province reduced capital expenses by $21 billion through to 2050.