Ottawa, BC Commit to Green Power for LNG

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and BC premier John Horgan announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on August 29 affirming their joint commitment to powering BC’s natural gas business and its emerging LNG industry with clean electricity.

BC’s natural gas industry, concentrated in the northeast corner of the province where the LNG Canada liquefaction and export terminal under construction in Kitimat will source its feed gas, is responsible for about 18% of the province’s greenhouse gas emissions. Electrifying as much of the upstream production facilities, pipelines and downstream liquefaction facilities as possible, the two said, will avoid emissions and position Canada as a supplier of the world’s cleanest natural gas.

“Our governments are working collaboratively to electrify industries and reduce emissions as we put BC on a path to a cleaner, better future,” Horgan said. “With this memorandum of understanding, we are taking an important step forward to build a more sustainable economy and protect our environment, while creating opportunities for people.”

Federal energy minister Amarjeet Sohi and BC energy minister Michelle Mungall signed the MOU.

The 14mn mt/yr LNG Canada project will use 100 MW of clean electricity from BC Hydro at its Kitimat terminal, while much of Shell Canada’s Groundbirch production complex in northeast BC – which is expected to supply up to 40% of LNG Canada’s feed gas – has been electrified. Earlier this year, the federal government committed C$83.6mn toward the Peace Region Electricity Supply project, with BC Hydro committing C$205.4mn.

Elsewhere, the 2.1mn mt/yr Woodfibre LNG project under construction in Squamish, north of Vancouver, will be completely electric, as will the planned 18mn mt/yr Kitimat LNG project at Bish Cove, on BC’s northern coast near Kitimat. That project, by Chevron Canada and Australia's Woodside Energy, has just entered a joint provincial/federal environmental review process, and is expected to be operational late in the next decade.

In addition to the MOU, Ottawa and BC also announced the creation of a new Canada-British Columbia Clean Power Planning Committee that will work to advance projects that increase power transmission and electrification across the province.