Hold on to your Gigawatts

It was a great show. Quebec Premier François Legault appeared a bit jumpy, though. He was probably wondering how Les fist-pumping Newfies would play back home where his political life is hanging by a thread.

The Parti Québécois have a massive lead over Legault’s CAQ in the Quebec polls and were quick to question the deal, calling Legault a “terrible negotiator”. PQ opposition leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the hydro projects were too expensive and asked why Quebec would pay 90 per cent of the cost of Gull Island while only owning 40 per cent of the project. 

But let’s not let the gory details get in the way of the high political theatre of the Furey and Legault show that featured tears, selfies, double cheek kissing, and hugs. The only thing missing was a spontaneous round of The Ode to Newfoundland.

Even though the MOU looks promising on paper and the affiliated media campaign is called “Our Chapter,” the our doesn’t include you and me. 

This is a deal between Hydro-Québec and NL Hydro. Any additional billions would flow between the crown corporations. If you believe in trickle-down economics, they might trickle down to your community, eventually. Maybe enough to unlock your emergency room on the weekends, or fill your potholes. Maybe enough to finally pay women on par with men. Nah, it probably won’t be enough for that. Who am I kidding?

Zut alors! There’s no break for Newfoundland and Labrador residents in the agreement. The associated news release clearly states: “There will be no rate change arising from this agreement for residential and general service customers.”

In Quebec, the price per kilowatt will increase to pay for the new hydro projects. Having enjoyed 50 years of bargain basement prices for (our) electricity, you can imagine how that change in household bills will go over in La Belle Province, especially when Legault campaigned on a promise to keep residential tariff increases below three per cent. 

In 2023, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians paid 14.8 cents per kilowatt hour, while Quebecers paid roughly half that at 7.8 cents per kilowatt hour.

If the new deal is so historic, such a game-changer, such a righting of past injustices, why not truly make it matter for the average Newfoundlander and Labradorian? 

Our Jobs, Our Money, Our Power

If it really is ‘ours’, why are we paying for it?

Why not question who owns the energy? Instead of relying on trickle-down economics—which might put pennies in the average person’s pocket, or in this case the vague promise that our bills won’t increase—why not hive off what Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are used to using (about 2,200 MW currently), then sell the rest for profit? 

That would be a shining example of energy justice. If we want a more affordable, more sustainable system, the time to advocate for change is right now, because Newfoundland and Labrador is bracing to become a very profitable renewable energy powerhouse, which means profits will be flowing out of the province for decades to come. 

Imagine, for a moment, not having a monthly electricity bill. That would truly change everything, wouldn’t it? 

It would help reduce poverty in the province and could alleviate the shortage of affordable housing, as presumably more homes would be built.

It could increase the electrification of household heating and the uptake of electric vehicles — gas-powered transportation being one of the highest emitters. 

Free electricity could also increase immigration, given the megaprojects would require thousands of workers. People would be more likely to move to the province if it were an affordable place to live. They might even stay.

Residents would have more money in their pockets every month to support local businesses. 

Beyond all of this, there’s no doubt it would be a politically popular policy.

Let’s apply the same logic to the wind-hydrogen projects being proposed for crown lands all over the province. Calculated together, there could be approximately 3,000 wind turbines built on the island. 

Let that number sink in: Three. Thousand. Turbines.

Imagine three thousand turbines turning in the green areas on this map.

There’s no other place in the Western Hemisphere with that many wind turbines. The closest existing comparison is Pattern Energy’s SunZia Wind farm in Central New Mexico. When completed in 2026, it will have 900 turbines and a generating capacity of 3,500 MW. 

If you’re a clean energy advocate, an abundance of wind power sounds great. But hold on to your gigawatts — this is not wind to green our grid, to get us off oil, or to save our lives as the climate collapses. These ‘wind’ projects will convert electricity to green hydrogen for shipping to Europe. Every single one of those 3,000 turbines will turn for decades, creating global profits, not local benefits.

Sound like short-term, Smallwoodian thinking?

Yes, there will be construction money spent here; the province will receive rent for leasing crown lands; some municipalities and Indigenous communities will receive some benefits. But the industrialization of large swaths of land, ports, harbours, and towns will happen with little or no long-term local benefits. None of these companies have offered to share the power they generate, or the profits. 

But there will be jobs, right?

Get out your biggest allen key. Like IKEA furniture, those turbines will likely arrive here in pieces to be fitted together and erected. Thousands of workers will descend on the province, most of them for the short-lived construction phase. They will likely live in camps. Aside from buying groceries, booze and gas, they will contribute little to our communities.

Researchers from Memorial University are already concerned about the social pressures of the construction phase, which would see the worker influx draw heavily on already stretched rural resources like health care, housing, and education. Grenfell assistant professor Camille Ouellet-Dallaire’s research points to how the pressures will be felt more severely by women, who will benefit the least from these projects.

Taking matters into our own hands

There are presently five companies developing wind/hydrogen projects in Newfoundland.

EverWind NL Company is proposing a 1,500-turbine multi-phase wind energy project to produce and export hydrogen/ammonia from facilities on the Burin Peninsula. This is a U.S.-based company with CEO Trent Vichie based in New York. 

Exploits Valley Renewable Energy Corporation (EVREC) is proposing a multi-phase wind energy project in central Newfoundland and a hydrogen/ammonia production facility in Botwood to produce and export green hydrogen/ammonia. This one includes up to 530 turbines. CEO Colter Eadie of Abraxas and EVREC is based in Toronto. 

Toqlukuti’k Wind and Hydrogen Ltd. (ABO Energy) is proposing a three-phase wind energy project near the Avalon isthmus to install 500 turbines which would produce and export hydrogen/ammonia with Braya Renewable Fuels through the joint development of green hydrogen production at the Come-By-Chance refinery. ABO is registered in Germany the company founders and majority owners are Dr Jochen Ahn and Matthias Bockholt. Update: On Dec. 17, 2024 ABO Energy sold 90 per cent of its stake to Copenhagen Investment Partners.

World Energy GH2 Inc. (GH2) is proposing a three-phase wind energy project on the province’s west coast and a hydrogen/ammonia production facility in Stephenville. Using around 330 windmills, it would produce and export green hydrogen/ammonia, or run data centres. It’s a North American team with investors John Risley, Brendan Paddick and Los Angeles-based CEO Gene Gebolys. 

Pattern Energy is proposing a 150-wind turbine green hydrogen project on the former Argentia base. The company’s CEO Hunter Armistead is based in Houston, Texas.

North Atlantic is proposing a 47-turbine green hydrogen development east of Sunnyside using the Come By Chance jetty. CEO Ted Lomond is based in St. John’s.

If you’re wondering why all the sudden interest in green hydrogen, here’s a helpful graphic (click to expand).

This was created by Michael Liebreich, who says the ladder is based on scientific, economic and environmental factors. The lower level of the ladder shows applications that are not that profitable whereas the higher rungs represent more profit potential. I wonder why data centres aren’t in the graphic? Or would they be included in the lowest rung: Power Generation Using Non-Stored Hydrogen?

Liebreich also says green hydrogen is a long play — 10-20 years at least before the money flows.

But it will flow. Experts like Eric Pineault of UQAM, author of The Social Ecology of Capital, said at a recent Memorial University presentation that green hydrogen is here for good and communities need to think long term, and demand long-term benefits. 

Mayors from Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula have formed The Eastern Energy Alliance. Although it sounds like something from Star Wars, it’s a group of municipalities working together to ensure international wind/hydrogen companies looking to profit off their resources will contribute to the long-term betterment of life in their rural communities. 

With many Newfoundland and Labrador communities soon to be impacted by green hydrogen projects, could we too see regional alliances to demand long-term benefits?

Which brings us back to who owns the energy. 

If you add together the generating capacity of all these proposed energy projects: 3,000 wind/hydrogen turbines + Churchill Falls (lower and upper), Muskrat Falls, and Gull Island, Newfoundland and Labrador could one day generate upward of 30,000 MW of electricity. Meanwhile, we, the residents, will use less than  eight per cent of that. With the hundreds of billions being touted, why not cut us a real break? 

The wind will blow and the Mista-Shipu will flow for decades to come — we hope. We’ve got to get this right now or we’ll be trapped in even more humiliating deals of our own making.

Oh, and there’s more: Have you head of the proposed plans for offshore wind projects?

Here’s some hefty holiday reading.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated there were five companies developing wind/hydrogen projects in Newfoundland. There are actually six and the article has been updated to include the additional information. A previous version also stated that North Atlantic is proposing a proposing a 100-turbine green hydrogen project near Sunnyside; the current projected number of turbines for the project is 47. The article also referred to François Legault as a Liberal premier, which has been changed to reflect that he is leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ).