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Mining Power Issues

Ontarians just signed up for more expensive, unreliable electricity they don’t need – by Tom Adams and Scott Luft (Financial Post – March 17, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

The costs may be high and the need questionable, but Ontarians signed up to buy a lot more renewable power last week when Ontario’s Independent Power System Operator (IESO) announced the results of the province’s latest procurement. The new deal brings “low prices” for new wind and solar generation, says Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli.

No, not “low” like Ontario’s dysfunctional market price for electricity, which was less than two cents/kilowatt-hour (kWh) over half of all hours in 2015. And not “low” like the average 1.2 cents/kWh rate that electricity bound for New York and Michigan has sold for this year.

When the Ontario government says “low,” it means seven to fourteen times as much as that, with the IESO reporting the weighted-average price of the new wind power at 8.6 cents/kWh and new solar at 15.7 cents/kWh.

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Green Illusions – Why Wind and Solar Power Cannot Displace Coal – by John Petersen (InvestorIntel.com – February 22, 2016)

http://investorintel.com/

We live in a crazy mixed-up world where half-truths abound as politicians, stock promoters, forecasters and advocates of all stripes blithely ignore the vulgar exigencies of objective truth when it comes to the energy supplies that make our industrialized economies and comfortable lives possible. It’s a golden age of green illusions, a/k/a alternative energy fairy tales.

Since this series of articles will focus on the contrast between objective truths and green illusions, I can’t think of a better way to kick it off than a quote from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass:

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said, “one can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

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Another Ontario green energy blow-up – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – February 16, 2016)

http://www.financialpost.com/index.html

Debris from the exploding Ontario Liberal green energy rocket continues to land on the hapless citizens of the province. Gas plant scandals, soaring power rates, declining electricity output, massive subsidies to money-losing wind and solar, non-stop bafflegab from government ministers: when will it stop? Not now, and maybe never.

Details of the latest meteorite-sized chunk of the Dalton McGuinty/Kathleen Wynne green power blow-up are on display at the blog of energy consultant Tom Adams, who formerly served on the Ontario Independent Electricity Market Operator board of directors and the Ontario Centre for Excellence for Energy board of management

Adams picks up a story that made brief headlines in late 2012 when Windstream Energy, a U.S. company, filed a NAFTA complaint claiming $475 million in damages.

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Hydro-Québec on a research quest for the ‘God Battery’ – by Bertrand Marotte (Globe and Mail – February 6, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

VARENNES, QUE. — Karim Zaghib powers up a Chevy Volt electric hybrid for a tour of his domain: the energy storage and conversion facilities at Hydro-Québec’s sprawling two-square-kilometre research campus in Varennes, a Montreal exoburb on the South Shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Mr. Zaghib is Hydro-Québec’s point man on a high-stakes strategic mission to develop the superbattery of the future that will propel the much-vaunted all-electric car into the realm of commercial viability and consumer receptivity.

The veteran electro-chemist is a self-described idealist who dreams of spearheading the big technological breakthrough in electric-vehicle battery technology, committed to making a major contribution to a cleaner, more liveable planet.

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Premier promises B.C. mines will be able to defer power bills – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – January 25, 2016)

http://www.vancouversun.com/

VANCOUVER – The province will let struggling B.C. mines defer electricity bills to help them weather the current downturn in commodity markets, Premier Christy Clark said Monday.

The details have yet to be finalized on exactly how deferments will be implemented, Clark said, and they can only be use a measure of last resort. But Clark promised the crowd gathered for the opening of the Association for Mineral Exploration B.C.’s annual conference that the policy will be an example of how “we’ve got your back” in tough times.

“It can’t be a subsidy that puts taxpayers at risk,” Clark said. “But we also know that getting it right means understanding that jobs and entire communities are at stake.”

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Africa’s mining sector holds the key to the region’s electrification and economic diversification – by Jean-Claude Dastos de Morais (Huffington Post – January 20, 2016)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais is a private investor, philanthropist and founder of the African Innovation Foundation.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) energy system is set to expand rapidly to 2040, with urban areas experiencing significantly improved coverage and reliability of centralised electricity supply, while mini-grid and off-grid systems will increasingly provide electricity to 70% of those in rural areas. Yet, despite these positive projections made by the International Energy Agency in its 2014 report, some 530 million Africans will probably continue to remain without electricity during this period.

At present two out of every three people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity. This is a terrible obstruction to the continent’s true growth potential, one that hampers the speed of economic diversification and job creation, and that feeds the cycle of poverty.

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Renewables require innovation and change of mining industry mindset – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – January 19, 2016)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The future success of renewables in the mining sector will require companies to overhaul the way they think about energy and mine development, according to professional services firm Deloitte.

“When we look at mining, innovation and competitiveness, we don’t often put those things together,” said Deloitte associate partner Adriaan Davidse, addressing an audience at a recent Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce renewables in mining conference.

Davidse highlighted innovation as an important value driver, as it helps attract capital and deliver alternative or new profit streams for many mining companies. Renewables played an important part within this, he said.

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Brazil cautious on re-starting hydro dams after mining spill – by Luciano Costa (Reuters U.S. – January 8, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

SAO PAULO – Four hydroelectric dams along Brazil’s Rio Doce remain closed for an indefinite time after a deadly mining spill in November flooded the river with thick mud, according to water agency ANA.

ANA said in an emailed statement that only one of four hydro plants along the 800 km (497 mile) river, which runs through states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo, had requested to power up as the others continue to assess potential damage from the spill.

The bursting of a dam at the Samarco iron ore mine on Nov. 5 caused Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, releasing between 30 million and 60 million cubic meters (7.9 billion to 15.9 billion gallons) of mining waste. The resulting flood killed at least 17 people, left hundreds homeless and polluted the river.

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How an Australian Mining Town Became a Solar Power Trailblazer – by James Paton (Bloomberg News – December 20, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Broken Hill spawned the world’s largest mining company and generated more than $75 billion in wealth. Now as its minerals ebb, Australia’s longest-lived mining city is looking to tap a more abundant resource.

On the sun-baked edge of the Outback city, 700 miles west of Sydney, a solar farm the size of London’s Hyde Park shimmers like an oasis — its panels sending enough electricity to the national grid to power 17,000 homes a year. Combined with a sister plant, the AGL Energy Ltd. and First Solar Inc.project is the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere.

Clean energy advocates are counting on the 140-hectare (346-acre) development to make Broken Hill, which at one time boasted the world’s most successful silver mine, a trailblazer once again.

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Ontario’s surging electricity prices endanger domestic manufacturing – by Adam White (Globe and Mail – December 14, 2015)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Adam White is the President of the Association of Major Power Consumers in Ontario.

Mexico and other competing jurisdictions stand to capitalize from the monstrous megawatt rates Ontario imposes on manufacturers.

As an advocate for some of Ontario’s largest manufacturers, we fear the province’s long-term electricity plan is placing too high a financial burden on industry.

Our manufacturers are currently paying excessively high electricity rates for power the system doesn’t need; this surplus energy is then sold to our competitors in neighbouring jurisdictions (Quebec, New York, Michigan, Illinois) for a heavily discounted price. The math just doesn’t make sense.

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Ontario’s energy mismanagement should feed fears about its cap-and-trade plans – by Kelly McParland (National Post – December 4, 2015)

http://news.nationalpost.com/

The overwhelming impression conveyed by Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s sweeping denunciation of Ontario’s management of the electricity system is the sheer audacity of a government that shows no hesitation whatever to putting political considerations ahead of the cost to consumers and the interests of the province.

Again and again, it shows, the governments of premiers Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne simply ignore the sensible advice they get from experts hired to oversee and operate the electricity grid on a safe, effective and efficient manner.

Tens of billions of dollars are poured into actions that please Liberal political aspirations but mean soaring costs to consumers.

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Ontario Liberals’ power regime a fiasco – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – December 3, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

At least now it must be seen as official: Ontario’s electricity regime is a gargantuan fiasco, a dysfunctional, overpriced, mismanaged system that for most of the last decade has been abandoned to the provincial Liberals’ gross incompetence and deliberate abuse of governance.

In strong language and clear analysis leading to straight-shooting conclusions, Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk has delivered one of the most devastating audit reports on government bungling and malpractice in Canadian history.

Ontario consumers and small business owners already know the hard fact: the cost of electricity has almost doubled under the McGuinty/Wynne regimes, from 5.32 cents per kilowatt hour to 10.10 cents, with many more increases to come.

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Ontario’s Liberals have completely broken the electricity system – Editorial (Globe and Mail – December 3, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

In politics, as we wrote Wednesday, people get upset about the little things. Remember Bev Oda’s $16 glass of orange juice?

In the context of a 12-figure federal budget, or ministerial trips justifiably running into the tens of thousands of dollars, some overpriced OJ hardly mattered.

And yet it galled. Small misdeeds are relatable. A big, complicated and massively costly government screw-up, in contrast, sometimes leaves people cold.

Let’s see if this warms you up. On Wednesday, Ontario’s Auditor-General announced that, between 2006 and 2014, thanks to incompetence and mismanagement on the part of the province’s Liberal government, Ontarians overpaid for electricity to the tune of $37-billion.

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Deciphering Ontario’s job-killing carbon tax – by Christine Van Geyn (National Post – November 24, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

On Nov. 13, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Environment Minister Glen Murray circulated a discussion paper to industry and business groups outlining some of their proposals for a cap-and-trade scheme.

Unfortunately, the people who will ultimately bear the cost of the program — the public, which will face higher prices on everything from fuel to manufactured goods — are not part of this “discussion.” In fact, the so-called “discussion paper” is not even available on the Ministry of the Environment website.

The 66-page document might as well have been written in another language for all the clarity of terms it provides.

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Miners worried: Hydro One sale could spell price troubles – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – November 6, 2015)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Electricity-hungry industry depends on competitive power rates

If the controversial privatization of Hydro One results in increased hydro prices, it could spell trouble for the province’s mining sector, says the Ontario Mining Association.

“We’re concerned, obviously,” said Chris Hodgson, the association’s president. “The mining market is not great, so if you want to stay in business you have to be competitive.”

Hodgson and other mining industry representatives were a Queen’s Park on Nov. 3, where they met with various MPPs for the annual Meet the Miners lobby day.

The province’s rising hydro rates were a big topic of discussion during the meetings, Hodgson said. Hydro costs represent around 15 per cent of a mine’s operating costs, and with smelting operations that can increase to 30, or even 50 per cent, Hodgson said.

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