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Alberta

Alberta Premier tells environmental heckler a battery-powered electrical grid is pure ‘fantasy’

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

‘There is no industrialized economy in the world operating that way,’ Danielle Smith said at the 2023 Alberta Climate Summit

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith tore a page off a heckler’s fantasy suggestion of a solar and wind battery-powered future after she stepped into the lion’s den to advocate for oil and gas at a conference hosted by a pro-climate change think tank.

On October 26, Smith spoke at the Pembina Institute’s “2023 Alberta Climate Summit” in a Fireside Chat, Premier Smith with Dave Kelly” to argue in favor of oil and gas and against proposals to phase out Alberta’s main energy industry.

While offering remarks in support of Alberta’s energy industry that includes fighting a federal government rule decreeing net-zero power emissions by 2035, Smith said trying to have the province go off natural gas for power generation by that year would be impossible after a heckler interrupted her.

Smith responded to the heckler by saying, “Do think I can get an equivalent amount of nuclear rolled out in 12 years? Do you think I could do that in an environment that we’ve never had nuclear before?”

“And what do I do when there’s no sun and there’s no wind?” she added.

At this point, the heckler shouted, “Batteries,” which irked Smith.

“Let’s talk about batteries, because I’ve talked to somebody and I want to I want to talk about batteries for a minute, because I know that everybody thinks that this economy is going to be operated on wind and solar and battery power and it cannot,” she said.

“There is no industrialized economy in the world operating that way because they need baseload. And I’ll tell you what I know about batteries because I talked to somebody who was thinking of investing in it on a 200-megawatt plant, $1 million to be able to get each megawatt stored. That’s $200 million for his plant alone. And he would get one hour of storage.”

Smith said that if one wants to have “12,000 megawatts of storage, that’s $12 billion for one hour of storage, $24 billion for two hours of storage, $36 billion for three hours of storage.”

Companies such as Tesla offer both home as well as commercial battery pack applications that are designed to store electricity from wind, solar or the grid. However, such packs are massively costly and come with their own negative environmental footprints.

The institute’s goals align with those of the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has imposed a punitive carbon tax on all Canadians.

‘Fantasy thinking’ won’t keep the lights on in winter, Smith says

Replying to the heckler, Smith stressed how in Alberta, which gets most of its power via natural gas and coal generators, with some solar and wind, there are “long stretches in winter where we can go weeks without wind or solar.”

“That is the reason why we need legitimate real solutions that rely on baseload power rather than fantasy thinking,” she said. “And I’m not going to engage in fantasy thinking and see something is possible when I know that my principal job, I think we need to stop.”

Smith said her “principal job is to have a reliable energy grid” and added that is what she is “trying to do.”

Former Liberal MP turned gas price analyst Dan McTeague, who is against the carbon tax and the push to ban gas-powered cars in favor of electric vehicles, said Smith’s remarks were “beautiful.”

“Beautiful,” McTeague wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“Climate extremism performs poorly when confronted with reality.”

Trudeau’s carbon tax scheme falling apart

Cracks have begun to form recently. Faced with dismal polling numbers, Trudeau announced he was pausing the collection of the carbon tax on home heating oil in Atlantic Canadian provinces for three years.

This caused a immediate reaction from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who said his province will stop collecting a federal carbon tax on natural gas used to heat homes come January 1, 2024, unless it gets the similar tax break that Atlantic Canadian provinces.

The Trudeau government’s current environmental goals – in lockstep with the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” – include phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.

The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – an organization in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.

The Trudeau government has also defied a recent Supreme Court ruling and will push ahead with its net-zero emission regulations.

Canada’s Supreme Court recently ruled that the federal government’s “no more pipelines” legislation is mostly unconstitutional after a long legal battle with the province of Alberta, where the Conservative government opposes the radical climate change agenda.

Alberta has repeatedly promised to place the interests of their people above the Trudeau government’s “unconstitutional” demands while consistently reminding the federal government that their infrastructures and economies depend upon oil, gas, and coal.

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Alberta

Big win for Alberta and Canada: Statement from Premier Smith

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Premier Danielle Smith issued the following statement on the April 2, 2025 U.S. tariff announcement:

“Today was an important win for Canada and Alberta, as it appears the United States has decided to uphold the majority of the free trade agreement (CUSMA) between our two nations. It also appears this will continue to be the case until after the Canadian federal election has concluded and the newly elected Canadian government is able to renegotiate CUSMA with the U.S. administration.

“This is precisely what I have been advocating for from the U.S. administration for months.

“It means that the majority of goods sold into the United States from Canada will have no tariffs applied to them, including zero per cent tariffs on energy, minerals, agricultural products, uranium, seafood, potash and host of other Canadian goods.

“There is still work to be done, of course. Unfortunately, tariffs previously announced by the United States on Canadian automobiles, steel and aluminum have not been removed. The efforts of premiers and the federal government should therefore shift towards removing or significantly reducing these remaining tariffs as we go forward and ensuring affected workers across Canada are generously supported until the situation is resolved.

“I again call on all involved in our national advocacy efforts to focus on diplomacy and persuasion while avoiding unnecessary escalation. Clearly, this strategy has been the most effective to this point.

“As it appears the worst of this tariff dispute is behind us (though there is still work to be done), it is my sincere hope that we, as Canadians, can abandon the disastrous policies that have made Canada vulnerable to and overly dependent on the United States, fast-track national resource corridors, get out of the way of provincial resource development and turn our country into an independent economic juggernaut and energy superpower.”

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Alberta

Energy sector will fuel Alberta economy and Canada’s exports for many years to come

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From the Fraser Institute

By Jock Finlayson

By any measure, Alberta is an energy powerhouse—within Canada, but also on a global scale. In 2023, it produced 85 per cent of Canada’s oil and three-fifths of the country’s natural gas. Most of Canada’s oil reserves are in Alberta, along with a majority of natural gas reserves. Alberta is the beating heart of the Canadian energy economy. And energy, in turn, accounts for one-quarter of Canada’s international exports.

Consider some key facts about the province’s energy landscape, as noted in the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) 2023 annual report. Oil and natural gas production continued to rise (on a volume basis) in 2023, on the heels of steady increases over the preceding half decade. However, the dollar value of Alberta’s oil and gas production fell in 2023, as the surging prices recorded in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine retreated. Capital spending in the province’s energy sector reached $30 billion in 2023, making it the leading driver of private-sector investment. And completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has opened new offshore export avenues for Canada’s oil industry and should boost Alberta’s energy production and exports going forward.

In a world striving to address climate change, Alberta’s hydrocarbon-heavy energy sector faces challenges. At some point, the world may start to consume less oil and, later, less natural gas (in absolute terms). But such “peak” consumption hasn’t arrived yet, nor does it appear imminent. While the demand for certain refined petroleum products is trending down in some advanced economies, particularly in Europe, we should take a broader global perspective when assessing energy demand and supply trends.

Looking at the worldwide picture, Goldman Sachs’ 2024 global energy forecast predicts that “oil usage will increase through 2034” thanks to strong demand in emerging markets and growing production of petrochemicals that depend on oil as the principal feedstock. Global demand for natural gas (including LNG) will also continue to increase, particularly since natural gas is the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel and more of it is being traded in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Against this backdrop, there are reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for Alberta’s energy sector, particularly if the federal government dials back some of the economically destructive energy and climate policies adopted by the last government. According to the AER’s “base case” forecast, overall energy output will expand over the next 10 years. Oilsands output is projected to grow modestly; natural gas production will also rise, in part due to greater demand for Alberta’s upstream gas from LNG operators in British Columbia.

The AER’s forecast also points to a positive trajectory for capital spending across the province’s energy sector. The agency sees annual investment rising from almost $30 billion to $40 billion by 2033. Most of this takes place in the oil and gas industry, but “emerging” energy resources and projects aimed at climate mitigation are expected to represent a bigger slice of energy-related capital spending going forward.

Like many other oil and gas producing jurisdictions, Alberta must navigate the bumpy journey to a lower-carbon future. But the world is set to remain dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come. This suggests the energy sector will continue to underpin not only the Alberta economy but also Canada’s export portfolio for the foreseeable future.

Jock Finlayson

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
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