It seems Canada is responding to that call. Steven Guilbeault, the newly minted minister of environment and climate change, is in Glasgow and knows a thing or two about climate leadership. This is not Minister Guilbeault’s first rodeo; he has been to 19 UN climate summits. 

Canada has committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 40% to 45% below 2005 levels by 2030, and our government has pledged to decarbonize the economy by 2050. It also recently committed to achieving a 100% net-zero-emissions electricity sector by 2035. And waterpower will be central to delivering the goods on this agenda. 

We have a strong base to build on, but getting to that zero-carbon grid will require a great deal of collaboration and negotiation between different industries, utilities and governments. That’s why, two weeks ago, my organization, WaterPower Canada, joined up with five other associations to form Electricity Alliance Canada. The coalition represents the leading suppliers of electricity to consumers and markets in Canada. All of us will work together to promote the power of electrification.

Hydro is already the backbone of Canada’s enviably clean electricity grid. Water flowing through turbines produces close to 90% of Canada’s renewable electricity, and 60% of the country’s electric needs are powered by water. 

Nonetheless, despite having a grid that is 80% non-emitting, Canada’s decarbonization strategy hinges on electrification – the repowering of almost everything in our society that today burns fossil fuels to instead run on zero-emissions electricity. This will mean cars, buildings, factories and more. Efficiency will play an important role in meeting this demand surge, of course. With only 20% of our energy end-use currently electrified, transitioning everything at scale will require us to generate a great deal more new zero-emissions electricity. According to the federal government, Canada may need to double or even triple its capacity.

Some Canadian provinces, such as Saskatchewan, Alberta and Nova Scotia, generate electricity from fossil fuels, and those jurisdictions will soon want to clean up their grids and transition fossil fuels to, ideally, renewables such as wind and water. In those places and elsewhere, Canada’s waterpower fleet stands ready to not only deliver new capacity, but also help smooth and balance the load for variable renewables such as wind and solar.

Domestic electrification will drive demand for new zero-carbon electricity, but so will global markets. As policy-makers increasingly forge ahead with carbon pricing, markets will look to produce goods and services with very low-carbon electricity. Canada’s extensive waterpower fleet will make Canada an attractive destination for investment as these electrons remain the most affordable, flexible and dispatchable form of electricity. We are already seeing this with the growing number of data centres setting up operations in provinces like Quebec. Thanks in large part to this nation’s abundant, cost-competitive, low-emissions waterpower, a 2020 IT industry index, compiled by the New Statesman Media Group, recently ranked Canada the top destination for such facilities.

There is plenty of momentum to build on. We can see it in developments ranging from rapidly growing electric vehicle adoption, to cutting-edge efforts to electrify high-intensity industrial processes such as steel manufacturing and investments in green hydrogen. Whatever new commitments our government brings back from Glasgow, Canada’s waterpower industry is prepared to make them happen.

Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin is the president & CEO of WaterPower Canada.

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Canada is the world’s third largest hydropower generator. Even at this scale, Canada could still more than double its current installed capacity. What many don’t realize is that Alberta also holds a massive undeveloped reserve of clean and renewable hydroelectricity, a resource that grows more economically attractive in a carbon-constrained world. With more than 11 gigawatts of technical potential, hydro generation conceivably could supply more than three-quarters of Alberta’s electricity needs.

Currently, the province’s generation system relies on fossil fuels, especially coal, and is the most greenhouse-gas intensive electricity system in Canada. Albertans, like all Canadians, are eager to minimize the environmental impact of their power consumption. Hydropower offers a proven way to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions while maintaining the reliability and efficiency of the grid.

The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) estimates demand for electricity in the province could grow by 2.7 per cent a year for the next 20 years. During this same period, about half of Alberta’s existing coal-fired generation could be retired based on federal regulations supporting efforts to reduce GHG emissions. The oil sands industry in particular is growing rapidly and will help drive a higher rate of electricity demand growth in the northern part of the province. Any way you look at it, Alberta is poised to build significant new electricity generation capacity.

There is no question that new renewables such as wind and solar can play a much bigger role, but it would be difficult to replace Alberta’s coal-fired generation with these sources alone. A reliable grid will require large base-load generation, which hydropower can provide.

Some observers point to natural gas generation as a fix to Alberta’s growing power needs, yet with roughly half the emissions of coal when consumed as a fuel for power generation, natural gas is not a long-term answer. Hydropower emissions, on the other hand, can be 25 times less than natural gas. On a full life-cycle basis, hydropower’s net GHG emissions are closer to zero than any other form of generation.

It is true that natural gas-fired generation can be built more quickly and at less upfront cost. The positive long-term payback for hydropower, however, is undeniable. British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec generate more than 95 per cent of their electricity from hydro and they enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates in North America. The current life cycle of a natural gas facility is between 25 and 30 years while Canada has working hydro facilities that are more than 125 years old.

Hydropower does not consume water, unlike thermal electric generation such as nuclear and fossil fuel-powered plants, and the facilities are often multipurpose. That is, they can be used for flood control, irrigation, and other uses through water management planning. Properly developed, they can especially benefit Albertans who struggle with too much or too little water from season to season.

There are also important operational advantages that come with hydropower. It is the most dispatchable form of generation, meaning it can be turned on and off more quickly than any other source. This is extremely useful in levelling surges or imbalances in electricity supply and demand, which is especially valuable in supporting wind and solar, whose generation varies with weather and daylight conditions.

True, developing hydropower capacity requires patient capital; it can take time and resources to properly plan and construct facilities that can cost from millions to billions of dollars depending on size, location and the associated need for transmission lines. But as a hydro technology pioneer and leader, Canada’s landscape and history are full of examples where hydropower has paid off and continues to deliver considerable value to Canadians.

Given the abundance of coal and natural gas in Alberta, it is not surprising that for decades the province has been burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. But as Alberta moves toward a greener future, the technical, economic, environmental and multipurpose benefits of hydropower should better fit its growing and changing electricity needs.

It would make sense today for the province to think strategically about the long term, and what it needs to encourage wise energy use, achieve clean energy production and grow economic prosperity. With less than one-tenth of Alberta’s hydro potential developed, the province that is already an energy powerhouse can also become a leader in clean and renewable electricity, to be used at home or exported to other jurisdictions that also crave green power.

Jacob Irving is president of the Canadian Hydropower Association.

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