Canada’s changing energy landscape provides opportunities

In the lead up to the Global Energy Show, Energy Connects spoke exclusively to Robert Jones, President of Quanta Canada, about the transformational changes Canada’s energy industry is going through and the opportunities this can provide.

What is your outlook for Canada’s energy sector?

Canada’s energy sector is going through a complete transformation as it migrates from high-carbon-intensity energy sources to lower more environmentally mindful solutions. With decades of reliance on these high carbon sources such as oil and natural gas as a prime fuel source for winter heat and vehicle transportation, current federal government policies continue to pressure both the oil and gas sector and electrical utilities to reduce overall GHG emissions through increased carbon tariffs and new environmental policies.

However, with the above-noted transformational challenges, Canada is poised and in a great position to tackle these challenges through greater industry and political collaboration while increasing overall consumer awareness. Although the Canadian oil and gas sector will continue to play an important role in meeting worldwide energy demand, many Canadian oil and gas companies have begun to both adopt and employ internal policies aimed at overall GHG reductions. These initiatives are by no means semi-decade accomplishments with real reductions expected over the next 10 to 20 years.

The Canadian utility sector except for some who continue to benefit from significant hydro reserves is also in a state of renewal as continued pressure exists for real coal, heavy fuel, and natural gas generation reductions. This environmental push has seen a real surge in the development and adoption of renewable energy sources (solar, wind, thermal, and hydrogen) to both replace and augment increases in energy demands. This diverse energy mix has introduced greater cooperation amongst various regional utilities to both identify and embrace solutions that provide for greater national energy reliability instead of the current provincially siloed model that has existed for decades.

All of these changes have been welcomed by companies such as Quanta who are best positioned to support this transformational change through fully integrated and scalable solutions. Quanta continues to engage with governments and industry leaders at all levels both in an advisory and trusted partner capacity.

What are the opportunities you see in Canada?

Canada’s overall energy transformation has created an environment that is beginning to resemble that of its US neighbor through the introduction of financial incentive programs (Inflation Reduction Act) targeted at both the industrial and consumer markets. Canada’s low-density population further challenged by regional energy disparities provides a real opportunity for heavy fuel energy generation reliant (remote and northern) communities and jurisdictions to leverage both private and government sources to transform their generation mix and grids aimed at resembling many dense jurisdictions. This holds true for projects such as the Wataynikaneyap Power Project (in Northwestern Ontario) currently in its final phase of connecting 16 northern and remote Indigenous communities to the Ontario clean energy grid for the first time. Other initiatives such as the Kivalliq Hydro Fiber Link (KHFL) project in its early-stage development, can be considered as nation-building exercises both eliminating Nunavut’s 100% reliance on diesel generation while connecting the territory to the Canadian grid for the first time, further enabling commercial and industrial development while fostering a stronger sovereign presence in Canada’s Arctic.

At a lesser scale, renewable technologies such as solar, wind, and battery storage continue to see unprecedented growth across all regions of the country. These somewhat mainstream sources/technologies have become more feasible due to the rapid reduction in overall development and operational costs driven by increased global demand and true economies of scale. These energy sources will act as a catalyst to address variable energy needs both at an urban and rural level while getting distributed generation sources closer to the consumer.

What new technologies do you see impacting the power industry?

Quanta sees the following technologies both impacting and revolutionizing the power industry over the next decade:

• Renewable Energy (Clean Energy) Sources
• Small Modular Reactors (Nuclear)
• Hydrogen
• Energy Storage (Battery and Small Hydro)
• Carbon Capture Sequestration (CCS)
• Smart Energy Grids
• Micro Grids
• Demand Management
• Smart Grids

What can we do to make power grids more efficient? What is Quanta doing in this space?

Canada’s electrical grid is an aging asset that in many regions continues to lag in adopting new technologies aimed at both hardening and advancing its overall efficiency and effectiveness. With continued strains on national grids driven by the introduction of electric vehicles and overall increased industry and consumer demands, Canada’s electrical grid continues to be pushed well beyond its current capabilities driving the need for greater overall national and provincial collaboration to support a more robust and national future ready and future proof network.

This will require increased focus and investments in R&D aimed at overall reliability enhancements and optimised power delivery models to address a network that supports a more distributed energy generation mix driven by renewable/clean energy sources. In short as current and future energy sources rely more on new technologies, it will be difficult to centralize key feed sources (such as coal and gas) as solar and wind will be built in areas that may not be conveniently located, requiring new transmission and distribution infrastructure. This new infrastructure will be a catalyst to support new microgrid solutions aimed at creating an environment that is less susceptible to total network outages while allowing communities (and hospitals and schools as examples) to operate independently when needed.

Other opportunities for overall grid efficiency include Demand Side Management where utilities work closely with consumers and industry to better plan and minimise their overall energy consumption aimed at flattening peak power requirements. Technologies such as smart metering give consumers real-time power management control while also helping utilities plan and react to energy demand changes and outages. Further, as battery storage continues to improve with overall storage capacity and efficiency, this will allow energy solutions such as renewable power to play a greater and more important role in overall energy efficiency by minimizing energy waste while converting stored power to support base load needs on demand and in real time.

Quanta continues to be an industry leader and market mover through operating entities such as Blattner and Quanta Canada Renewables which are best positioned to tackle these real challenges and opportunities. With the largest energy development human resource and equipment base in North America, Quanta and its operating units continue to play an important role at all levels of development, from Government advisory to fully integrated (EPC) solutions that can transform historically challenged infrastructure to meet both existing and future cleaner energy needs. Quanta integrated solutions tackle industry needs through all levels of the energy development life cycle from predevelopment engineering, full infrastructure procurement to construction to turnkey operations management.

What pathways will be key to help Canada meet its net zero targets?

The best and most productive path to meeting Canada’s net zero emissions goals in Quanta’s opinion will be through greater engagement by all levels of government and industry. Working together collaboratively to establish both achievable timelines while fostering an environment that allows industry participants to share their voices in forming key policy decisions will result in meaningful progress.

As the US has demonstrated, the overall costs of hitting aggressive emission targets cannot be borne by industry participants alone and will require a catalyst to aid the industry (at all levels) in bridging to meet aggressive national GHG reduction targets. The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Canadian Government’s Green Energy Investment Tax credits have been welcomed as real commitments and serious efforts to encourage industry to act.

These subsidy regimes will expedite the adoption of renewable energy sources on a micro and macro level further forging a path forward to achieving net zero targets.

How important is GES going to be in terms of shaping the future of the energy sector in Canada?

GES creates an environment where global energy thought leadership and technology can come together in an environment with a future focus on improving overall energy generation and supply at all levels. The event is a great environment for showcasing advancements in existing technologies while bringing next-generation state-of-the-art advancements to the forefront – a forum where influencers, changemakers, policy leaders, advocates, manufacturers, and implementers can all come together.

Click here to register and attend the Global Energy Show 2023, which runs from 13th - 15th of June at the BMO Centre at Stampede Park in Calgary, Canada.