Our newsletter: 10 October 2024
World LNG players go electric
LNG projects with electric motor drives are setting new benchmarks for facilities with low greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in North America and beyond.
New LNG projects in the Asia-Pacific are at the low end of the scale in terms of GHG intensity, aided by carbon capture and storage, with hydro-powered Canadian facilities close behind, says David Drury, managing consultant at Gas Strategies.
In Canada, the Woodfibre and Cedar LNG projects will also use electric equipment once up and running, rather than burning some of their natural gas to generate power, which many world LNG plants still do. The Nisga’a Nation’s Ksi Lisims LNG project also eyes electrified production.
Woodfibre has pointed out: “We are the first e-drive LNG facility in Canada. This means our liquefaction process will be powered by renewable hydroelectricity, which is 14 times less emitting than a conventional liquefaction process powered by gas.”
Despite electric drives quickly becoming the norm in Canada, Drury notes the LNG Canada project has yet to determine whether it will power a second phase with hydroelectricity, as grid resources are expected to become strained.
- Story from Energy Intelligence: https://ow.ly/17JB50TFa7S
Can BC Hydro meet LNG power needs?
The story above on electrified LNG plants reminds us that, for LNG production and other purposes, British Columbia faces a serious power crunch. And so does Canada.
In a report on B.C. power supply and demand, the B.C.-based Energy Futures Institute notes: “The Quebec government has recently expressed the need to increase electrical generation capacity by 100% in the next 25 years to support their GHG reduction goals.
“Given that British Columbia has a similar GHG profile associated with its domestic electricity production, and has legislated decarbonization objectives that are at least as aggressive as Quebec, it is reasonable to assume British Columbia is facing a similarly daunting challenge in terms of generating more electricity, i.e., doubling existing generation capacity.”
And the electricity grid’s capacity across the country will also have to double in the next 21 years to meet the forecast demand.
- Energy Futures Institute report: https://ow.ly/oqw850TFarr
- Resource Works on ‘BC Hydro’s impossible task’: https://ow.ly/u6UX50TFarA
Japan’s long-term LNG deals benefit us
Japan is proposing new measures to encourage the signing of long-term LNG import contracts.
Buyers in Japan, the world’s second-largest LNG consumer, have been reluctant to commit to long-term deals. But Japan’s coming strategic energy plan is expected to provide a clearer definition of LNG’s role in Japan’s decarbonization.
Ongoing discussions are said to be focused on classifying LNG-fired power generation as critical or important to meeting expected demand growth.
And Japan is eyeing western Canada as a supply source because of its proximity to Asian markets and its ability to ship cargoes that would bypass the transit chokepoint of the Panama Canal.
Japanese buyers have already committed to taking 2.1 million tonnes a year from LNG Canada. And they have been looking at purchases from two Indigenous LNG projects: the Haisla Nation’s Cedar LNG and the Nisga’a Nations Ksi Lisims LNG.
- Story from Energy Intelligence: https://ow.ly/ZbRf50TEuM7
- Meanwhile, Japan firms unite to cut methane emissions from LNG supply: https://ow.ly/FQ4I50TFaHS
Indigenous clean-energy news
- Twenty-one First Nation-backed projects have submitted clean-electricity proposals to BC Hydro: https://ow.ly/o8Pc50Txc2S
- Manitoba to launch expression of interest for wind projects with Indigenous majority ownership: https://ow.ly/xaNl50TEeic
- Indigenous communities lead Canada in the energy transition: https://ow.ly/GSjR50TA9PP
- Indigenous-owned group in Ontario to recycle electric vehicle batteries: https://ow.ly/zbby50TAako
- Lac Seul First Nation in Ontario gets a federal grant for a bio-energy production facility: https://ow.ly/Tptx50TF82N
- Nova Scotia wind project, with an Indigenous partner, gets federal loan to build 17 turbines: https://ow.ly/HtRl50TFChl
ALSO IN THE NEWS
- Our blog: With the B.C. election coming up Oct. 19, here are some things that candidates need to know about First Nations, LNG development, and natural resource extraction: https://ow.ly/X9VW50TBKh0
- Construction at the Woodfibre LNG site includes work on foundations for the LNG processing equipment and modules that are expected to begin arriving in 2025. https://ow.ly/lcLM50TBvLw
- Canada is set to see significant growth in Indigenous financing of resource projects: https://ow.ly/SE1N50TAGr8
- The PRGT pipeline, to feed natural gas to Nisga’a Nation’s Ksi Lisims LNG project, is to be rerouted to avoid caribou habitat. This after Nisga’a consultations with Treaty 8 nations in BC: https://ow.ly/s5Ps50TxSnH
- Commentary: Canada’s new greenwashing rules could hamper climate action: https://ow.ly/XhGC50TA0tg See also our Alliance blog: https://ow.ly/gAbU50TA0tf
- LNG is needed for decades to ensure energy security, importers say: https://ow.ly/GTwU50TGHLs
EVENTS
- Canadian Council for Indigenous Business, Indigenous procurement event, Oct. 16, Enoch AB: https://bit.ly/47luCDA
- Forward Summit West Coast, Oct. 22-23, Vancouver: https://ow.ly/4UQe50R3CY2
- Indigenous Clean Energy’s 2024 ICE Gathering, Nov. 27-29, Toronto: https://ow.ly/E32W50SREmg
- First Nations Energy Summit, Dec. 2-3, Vancouver. Info/register: https://ow.ly/2sQP50TjtNl
2025
- Prince George hosts Future Fuels Forum Jan. 13-14, to ‘explore the future of hydrogen and sustainable energy solutions.’ https://ow.ly/6Nki50TE83B
- 22nd Annual BC Natural Resources Forum, Jan. 14-16, Prince George: https://ow.ly/BajJ50Tr1aU
- Nation2Nation Women’s Gathering, April 24 -25, Kitimat BC: https://ow.ly/A8yo50SYpkv
- National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, Indigenous Prosperity Forum, May 6-8, Gatineau PQ. Details TBA.
- Ninth Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference, June 18-20, Nanaimo BC: https://ow.ly/m1rW50SHvIp
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(Posted here 13 October 2024)