2030 Energy Strategy

LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS 2030 ENERGY STRATEGY (DRAFT) IZ SOLAR While the costs of solar panels is going down, the costs of delivering and installing solar panels in the NWT represents the majority of the costs of solar projects here. Natural gas could replace diesel fuel for power generation at road-connected communities. Liquefied Natural Gas, or LNG, is transported and stored in low pressure, insulated tanks and has proved to be cost-competitive with diesel for electrical generation in Inuvik. Though it is a fossil fuel, LNG produces 25% less GHG than diesel fuel at the point of combustion. If LNG was used in Fort Simpson and Tuktoyaktuk, GHG emissions would be reduced by about 1,500 tonnes per year. Depending on the price of diesel and how far the LNG must be shipped, LNG-produced electricity can be cheaper than diesel-produced electricity. In Inuvik, the GNWT is successfully replacing diesel with LNG-and is saving money. It makes sense to expand the use of LNG to other diesel communities, with the focus being on communities with all-season road access to enable year-round delivery of LNG. Regular delivery of LNG avoids the need to build larger and more expensive LNG storage tanks, a significant capital cost component. Solar Panels, Energy Storage and Efficient Generators. The NWT has long daylight hours in the spring and summer, and can harness solar power for up to 8 months of the year. The solar resource available each year in NWT and in Ontario is similar, but NWT solar is less available in the winter and more available in the summer. Solar panels are in common use and the cost of panels has decreased by 50% since 2010. It is not the cost of the panels that makes solar expensive in the NWT, but the cost and logistics of shipping and installing solar panels that represents the biggest expense in the NWT. This added cost of operating in the north means that solar electricity will likely continue to be uneconomic without subsidies-even considering the high cost of diesel power. Solar power also has technical limitations. Diesel power and solar power must work together. Too much solar electricity affects the electricity distribution system and causes conventional diesel generators to work less efficiently. That is why solar power delivers only a 2-4% reduction in diesel use. Add more solar, and the electricity system becomes unreliable. But, solar power paired with special variable speed diesel generators or energy storage such as batteries allows for more installed solar capacity and more efficient power production. This results in greater GHG reductions than solar alone, and can reduce diesel use by 20%, or more. The Colville Lake solar-battery system and the Aklavik solar variable speed generator pilot projects demonstrate that community-based high penetration solar can be successfully implemented in the North. A slate of solar panel solutions paired with battery storage and variable speed generators in twelve NWT communities will result in 2,000 tonnes of GHG reduced per year. 19

View entire presentation