Building Saint John’s Energy Future Today

Jon Nicolle, a University of New Brunswick electrical engineering grad, is helping to build the Utility of the Future for Saint John Energy. Ray Robinson, CEO of Saint John Energy, explains the imperative of the effort: 'It is our responsibility to prepare for the future, to ensure Saint John is equipped with an electrical system designed for the demands of tomorrow.' Photo credit: Saint John Energy.

The world is changing around us, and fast. We can’t continue to be one of the highest-rated electrical utilities in the nation for customer service and reliability by standing still.

By Ray Robinson, June 3, 2021

“To limit climate change, by 2030 the world must install the equivalent of the current largest solar park — every day. The rate of energy efficiency improvements will have to triple the rate of the past two decades. And by 2035, the sale of the internal combustion engine needs to be a thing of the past.”

A report by the International Energy Association grabbed headlines around the world recently in describing the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 as “perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced.”

Alongside the dire warning, though, it said there was a viable path to success – a narrow one that “requires an unprecedented transformation of how energy is produced, transported and used globally.”

It sets a blueprint for a worldwide net-zero energy system dominated by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind – one that provides stable and affordable energy and feeds robust economic growth.

It seems at once daunting and exciting, particularly if you work in the energy sector.

At Saint John Energy, we’ve been planning for years for such a transition.

Our strategy for growth and innovation – our blueprint for building the Utility of the Future – is based on three pillars: renewable energy generation and energy storage, smart products and services for consumers, and smart grid innovation.

Today, as we approach a century of service to our customers, we’ve reached important milestones.

Fostering renewable energy

“Burchill wind farm has successfully passed through the environmental impact assessment process.”

Burchill, the first large-scale wind farm in the history of Saint John, has successfully passed through the environmental impact assessment process.

Our partner in the venture, Natural Forces, is investing more than $60 million to construct 10 turbines near the Lorneville Industrial Park. The project will generate enough electricity to power about 15 per cent of Saint John.

This is an exciting initiative: every year, Burchill is expected to save more than 43,000 tonnes of carbon emissions – the equivalent of taking more than 13,000 cars off the road.

And it provides financial stability. With wind being the cheapest form of new energy generation available today, Burchill provides us and our customers with stable power rates.

To add to our renewable portfolio, we continue to explore solar generation options.

At our recent virtual community update and annual general meeting, I shared with the audience how we’ve been working with researchers and students at the University of New Brunswick to collect and analyze solar data.

Options for solar

“In the near future, we will be engaging with the community on options for solar energy.”

In the near future, we will be engaging with the community on options for solar energy and gauge how they could participate.

Energy storage options like our Tesla Megapack will allow us to effectively manage the ebb and flow of renewable energy projects like wind and solar. These massive batteries also allow us to shift energy to help us deal with the financial and environmental consequences of peak energy.

One of the ways we are tackling the issue of peak energy is creating an intelligent electrical grid. Our smart grid will forecast and manage energy load across the city.

Innovating through smart grid

We’re pleased to report that the foundations of the $13.5 million dollar smart grid project are now firmly in place, including a new smart control centre and the key pillars of the artificial intelligence we’ve created to predict and respond to energy demands.

Saint John Energy’s vision for an intelligent electricity grid has captured a global award saluting innovation in advancing a smarter and cleaner world.

Our commitment to innovating through smart grid is being followed not only across Canada but around the world. We are honoured that our smart grid project was recently selected by the International Smart Grid Action Network to receive its prestigious 2021 Award of Excellence.

Our smart grid project brings a host of benefits that include the ability to bring on additional smart products and services for our customers, enhanced grid performance and reliability for Saint John, and a greener environment.

The smart grid promotes a greener environment because it allows us, and our customers, to be more efficient with our collective energy use.

Take peak demand – those times when we need power the most.

Tackling peak energy

Peak energy demand has consequences for the environment. To meet that demand, our wholesale electricity supplier has to bring more generation capacity online, and sometimes that means using generating stations that use fossil fuels.

Generally, generating electricity to satisfy peak demand in New Brunswick creates twice as much carbon as off-peak generation. Publicly available figures show that nearly half a tonne of carbon emissions are avoided for every megawatt of peak demand shaved.

The smart grid will greatly enhance our ability to forecast and manage peak energy events.

Saving energy and money

In March, Saint John Energy did something we have never done before – alerted our customers to a looming peak in electricity demand and asked them to reduce their energy consumption.

Our customers are joining in on the effort as well. One morning in early March, for the first time, we alerted our customers to a looming peak in energy demand and asked them to take small measures to reduce their energy consumption that day – put off using the dryer and the oven, for instance.

Thousands of Saint Johners responded. With their help, we were able to shave more than 14 megawatts off the peak that day. We’re thankful to our customers for their enthusiasm.

We’re dedicated to evolving our business to serve them even better. That’s why we are continually looking for ways to deliver smarter products and services to our customers, such as the pilots we have underway. That includes trials with smart heat pumps with thermal storage developed by New Brunswick’s Stash Energy, with residential storage options, with managed EV charging, and more.

A century of service

Next year, Saint John Energy marks 100 years of service to our customers. Given our long track record of success as dependable distributors of electricity, some question why we would venture onto new paths.

“We are doing this because it is our responsibility to prepare for the future, to ensure Saint John is equipped with an electrical system designed for the demands of tomorrow.”

The answer is clear: the world is changing around us, and fast. Those who fail to adapt risk becoming irrelevant.

Beyond that simple truth, Saint John Energy has always believed in providing the best service possible to the citizens of Saint John – that’s why we continue to be one of the highest-rated electrical utilities in the nation for customer service and reliability. You can’t do that by standing still.

We are doing this because it is our responsibility to prepare for the future, to ensure Saint John is equipped with an electrical system designed for the demands of tomorrow.

We’re doing this because these are responsible actions for the sustainability of our environment.

We’re doing this in a fiscally responsible way, as our customers have come to expect from us. Failing to evolve would be much more costly, for Saint John Energy, for our city and for the environment.

Preparing for the future today

At our annual general meeting, we were joined by Francis Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Electricity Association in Ottawa. He spoke of the transformation happening across the industry.

As President and CEO of The Canadian Electricity Association, Francis Bradley has clear and keen insight into the challenges and opportunities in the electricity sector today.

He spoke of the widespread impact of new technologies and how that is upending the traditional business models of utilities – technologies that allow for customers to generate their own electricity, for instance.

He spoke of the imperative of utilities to adapt to the needs and preferences of customers.

And he talked about the drive to net-zero – how Canada’s electricity is already among the cleanest in the world with more than 80 per cent of the power non-emitting.

But he also noted how Canada will need to generate more than triple the electricity it does today as we move away from fossil fuels and turn to electricity to meet the country’s net-zero targets.

Saint John Energy is preparing for the future today, for our customers and our city.