BC Hydro’s latest financial report estimates the Crown-owned power company will earn net income of $294 million this fiscal year, down $44 million from their last estimate.
Along with higher operating and financing costs, the decrease is a result of having to purchase more electricity from outside the province, said Alister Cowan, BC Hydro’s chief financial officer.
Last year BC Hydro imported about 14 percent of the province’s power needs. So far this year total power sales are up six percent, with more than 8,000 new customers added to the system.
The recent BC budget noted a substantial increase in BC Hydro debt. Finance Minister Carole Taylor was quick to clarify that “Site C is not in this budget,“ referring to the proposed third dam on the Peace River, mytelus.com said.
The extra costs are instead a hint of how old the hydroelectric system is, including major generator upgrades at the Mica and Peace Canyon dams.
Then there’s coal. Activity is picking up again in the established coal mining areas around Tumbler Ridge and in the Kootenays, but that’s not the only place. Ranchers near Quesnel were surprised not long ago to find out that West Hawk Development Corp. had acquired mineral rights to coal deposits there, not to mine for export but to fuel a coal gasification plant.
“Coal to gasification is the way of the future,“ said Mark Hart, CEO of West Hawk. “It’s green energy.“
It’s difficult to think of coal as being “green,“ but with available technology it can be, writes SFU professor Mark Jaccard in his new book, Sustainable Fossil Fuels. Jaccard, a former chairman of the BC Utilities Commission, has caused a stir with the book’s conclusion that the world has enough coal to last as long as the next 2,000 years.
His book describes a new process that can produce electrical power, as well as feed a plant that makes synthetic gasoline and diesel fuel.
Jaccard describes technology that’s not new, but used in a new way in the age of global climate change. The gasification plant could capture carbon dioxide, making the operation effectively emission- free.
It’s a neat idea. Instead of spewing all that carbon dioxide into the air, it could be pumped down into depleted oil and gas reservoirs, and in the process increase the output from those resource areas and reduce the need to open up new ones.

Republicans back higher fuel efficiency standards as uniformly as Democrats.

With high fuel prices and instability in the Middle East, Americans are increasingly concerned about the nation’s energy situation. In January, 58% rated “dealing with the nation’s energy problem“ a top priority, up from just 47% a year ago and 40% in January of 2003, according to new research and poll analysis from the non-partisan Pew Research Center.
And while finding new energy and protecting the environment are often seen as conflicting goals, the public makes no such distinction. In concert with rising energy worries, Americans are becoming increasingly anxious about the environment. In January, 57% rated “protecting the environment“ a top priority, up from 49% a year ago and just 39% in 2003.
The outgrowth of this concern about both energy and the environment is that the public expresses almost universal support for solutions that address both problems at the same time. Fully 86% favor the government requiring better fuel efficiency standards for cars, trucks and SUVs, and 82% favor increased federal funding for research on wind, solar and hydrogen energy, according to solaraccess.com.
Even more striking in today’s politicized environment, is the level of bipartisan consensus behind these proposals. Republicans back higher fuel efficiency standards as uniformly as Democrats, and, if anything, are even stronger backers of federal research programs on alternative energy sources.
Even expanding government spending on mass transportation, supported by two-in-three Americans overall, is backed equally by both Democrats and Republicans.
But other proposals are far more divisive--both across party lines and within each party itself. There is growing opposition to the idea of giving tax cuts to energy companies to support oil exploration, at least partly in reaction to record profits posted by major oil companies. Also, just 44% of Americans support the idea of promoting nuclear power to address the country’s energy needs, while 49% are opposed. Most Democrats oppose these proposals and most Republicans favor them, but the parties themselves are hardly unified. For example, while roughly four-in-ten Democrats favor promoting nuclear power, an equal number of Republicans oppose the idea. Similarly, while 57% of Democrats oppose allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a third supports the proposal--hardly a unified party position. These internal conflicts within both parties over the specifics of environmental protection and energy development pose a potential roadblock to consensus on policy alternatives.
The extent to which constituencies within each party differ starkly over environmental priorities was highlighted by the Pew Research Center’s 2005 Political Typology. That survey, which classified segments of the US electorate in terms of their underlying values, found that Americans take an overwhelmingly pro-environmental position on one of the survey’s core questions. More than three-quarters of the public (77%) say that the country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment. Just 18% take the opposing position, that the country has gone too far in its efforts to protect the environment.
But a critical subgroup within the Republican coalition disagrees with this overall assessment. Enterprisers--Republicans who take a strong pro-business and small-government position on most issues--are of the view that the country has already gone too far on the environment. Social Conservatives and Pro-Government Conservatives, on the other hand, are as firmly behind environmental protection as most Democratic and centrist groups.
And when the potential impact of environmental regulations on jobs and the economy are raised, significant divisions within the Democratic base also emerge. Many of those who are financially struggling and skeptical of both government and business -- a group we refer to as Disadvantaged Democrats--say that environmental regulations cost too many jobs and hurt the economy. Other Democrats are far more likely to believe that environmental regulations are worth these costs. On the right, Enterprisers continue to diverge from the views of other GOP groups in their criticism of environmental efforts.

Amemorandum of understanding has recently been signed by the founding members of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association, thus creating the first voluntary, non-profit association of its kind in the Middle East.
The main role of the GPCA is to identify, address and manage the common interests of its members by utilizing the consolidated resources of the association. This cooperation will also be extended to other similar organizations outside the Persian Gulf region, ameinfo.com said.
The GPCA was created based on the concept of offering its members networking opportunities through various platforms to meet and share knowledge; exchange opinions and experiences, promote free and fair trade and competition; and advocate the development, growth and prosperity of the petrochemicals and chemicals industry and related businesses in the Persian Gulf.
’Topics like environmental issues, safety and regulation, logistics, education, standardization and the promotion of the petrochemicals and chemicals downstream industry can be addressed more efficiently if we are speaking in one voice’, said Mohamed Al-Mady, Vice Chairman and CEO of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), who has been elected as the first Chairman of the GPCA. ’The setting up of the GPCA will not only help solve these problems, but is also the first step in creating a global presence for the regional petrochemical and chemical industry’, he added.
In addition to acting as the industry’s spokesperson in all matters of public interest and general concern, the GPCA aims to encourage research related to the industry and provide solutions to scientific and technical issues, promote human resource development within the industry and organize industrial conferences and seminars. Through this, it will promote the relationship and mutual cooperation among companies, institutions, research centers, organizations dedicated to the industry’s safety and environmental matters, products standardization authorities and committees, and other organizations and non profit bodies related to the industry.
The GPCA will be managed by a Board of Directors elected by the founding members.

Germany provides one-fifth of its own gas supply.

Rising energy demand has boosted trade in the German oil and gas industry. Producers say the outlook for 2006 is good, citing rising demand and increased investment.
The German gas and oil industry is small, but German gas production in particular makes up a significant chunk of the country’s energy supply.
With sales on the rise in 2005, German oil and gas producers pumped money into investment. The Federation of the German Gas and Oil Industry, or WEG, said at its annual press conference that German energy firms boosted investment by more than a third last year, to approximately 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion).
Georg Schoning, head of German energy and water company RWE Dea AG is also head of the WEG. He chalked the good results up to the world’s seemingly unquenchable thirst for oil, especially in China, dw-world.de reported.
“We saw already a year ago, that huge demand exists in China. It was admittedly slightly lower in 2004, but in general, global demand has kept growing.“

Industry Expects Price Stability
The oil and gas companies and their subcontractors are counting on continued strong demand for oil. Although high demand has led to sharp oil and gas price increases in the past, the WEG predicts this trend is waning.
The WEG also said it expects less price fluctuation than in the last year, although no price decrease is expected. This is mainly a question of supply and demand: in the short term, output cannot be increased.
“We’ve seen global demand grow in the last couple of years and we have to say that the possibility of increasing output further is limited. That means É extremely limited availability of extra supplies,“ Schoning said
No one at the WEG is keen to talk about a future when oil reserves run out. They stress, instead, the projection that currently known oil reserves will last for another 50 years, and gas reserves should last another 60 years.

Political Stability Key
“The oil and gas reserves are predominantly located in the Middle- and Far East. That means areas that we, as a Western industry, don’t always have easy access to (the reserves), neither do we have any influence on these countries’ political stability,“ Schoning said.
This supply could be damaged by political instability, such as recent developments in Nigeria, where local regions have been fighting over their share of oil wealth. German oil producers hope transparency is the answer.
Schoning said his company RWE is an example. “Our activities in Egypt É are clearly regulated through production-sharing agreements. That means contractual agreements exist with the countries stating exactly what is due to the state and what belongs to the oil companies.“
Despite the turbulence in world markets and increasing tensions in the major oil-producing nations, WEG claims Germany’s oil supply is secure. The fact that the country produces even a fraction of its own oil supply adds an element of stability, Schoning said.

Germany Cites Balanced Supply
“Here in Germany, we have a fairly balanced supply structure. This applies to both the oil and gas markets,“ said Schoning. “If we take the UK as an example, we can see that local oil production will in the future no longer be possible, and they’ll have to rely on the global market for all their energy needs. This in turn means that price volatility is likely to increase.“
One fifth of Germany’s gas supply comes from national sources, although its gas production has been decreasing for several years. Moreover, technologically, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Germany to exploit its own gas resources in an economically viable manner.
Schoning discounted the effects political conflicts could have on energy supplies, saying, “I’m really not that greatly concerned about oil supplies for Europe as a whole, as the past has proven. None of the political conflicts we’ve experienced have threatened supplies to any great extent.“

Plans are underway in northern California for a project that would combine three renewable energy resources--one wind power, one biomass and one ocean energy project--all into one interconnected project.
The public was given an opportunity to identify issues to be addressed as the project develops in a public forum hosted last month by the Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) on the proposed Fairhaven Tri-Renewable Energy Park project, recently announced by the CEO of DG Energy Solutions CEO Steve Mueller, solaraccess.com said.
This project, which Mueller said is the first in the world to combine three renewable energy technologies in one location, is hoped to augment an existing 18 megawatts (MW) of biomass-fueled electrical generating capacity at the DG Fairhaven biomass plant on the Samoa Peninsula by adding 20 MW of wind-generated energy and 20 MW of wave generated energy. DG Energy is the parent company of the DG Fairhaven biomass plant, which has been producing local renewable energy since 1986.
According to DG Energy Solutions, this project will include a field of Ocean Power Technology power buoys tethered to the ocean floor approximately 4,500 feet offshore from its Fairhaven facility. Each power buoy will produce up to 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity in average ocean conditions. The project will also include ten 2 MW wind turbines located on the Fairhaven property and adjacent parcels. The energy produced by this project will interconnect with PG&E transmission lines using existing substations on the peninsula.
“The prospect of locally producing upwards of 58 MW of clean, sustainable, renewable energy is very exciting,“ said David Boyd, RCEA’s Executive Director. The Draft Energy Element recently prepared for the County by RCEA identified the need for Humboldt County to increase its local renewable energy capacity in order to meet future energy demand. According to Boyd, peak electricity demand in Humboldt County is about 158 MW, so this project could meet more than one third of Humboldt’s present power needs.
“As promising as the Tri-Renewable project appears, considering its possible impacts to the coastal environment, it deserves a careful review,“ said Boyd. To further dialogue on this project, RCEA invited key stakeholders from public agencies, community groups, and environmental organizations to the forum.