Bill would allow companies to self-supply unlimited power, sell excess to Alberta power grid

Source: Jennie Russell · CBC · | November 17, 2021

Proposed law would improve reliability of grid, lower costs for consumers, associate minister says

Source: Dale Nally, associate minister of electricity and natural gas, said the proposed changes in Bill 86 would eventually lead to lower prices for consumers because of increased competition in the market. (CBC)

A new bill introduced in the Alberta legislature Wednesday would open up participation in the province's power grid, allowing companies to self-supply unlimited amounts of power and sell excess amounts to the grid for consumer use.

If passed, Bill 86, the Electricity Statutes Amendment Act, would change existing laws and regulations that govern energy storage, sale, and transmission in Alberta.

Currently, self-supply and export is not allowed in the province except in four specific scenarios including at designated industrial sites and in the case of municipalities generating their own power.

"This would allow all companies that want to produce electricity for their own use, as well as sell it back to the marketplace, to participate," Dale Nally, associate minister of natural gas and electricity, said at a news conference Wednesday.

"Industry is asking for this and we want to be able to provide this investor certainty in this space in the electricity marketplace," Nally said, calling the current system "very restricted."

The companies would also be able to draw from the province's power grid when needed. The government said the bill would allow for all forms of electricity generation.

Bill 86 would encourage other forms of energy storage — the ability to keep excess electricity for later use — like battery storage systems which could help deal with the "intermittency" of renewable energy, decrease carbon emissions, and improve the reliability of the power grid, Nally said

Eventually, the proposed changes would lower prices for consumers, he said.

"Businesses, using energy storage, could purchase cheap electricity at night, sell it back into the marketplace during the day," Nally said. "And it is this type of increased competition and increased choice that will bring down the cost of electricity in this province."

Would incorporate new technologies 

Under the bill, the new self-suppliers and sellers would have to meet public health and safety requirements on generators, as well as rules around participation in Alberta's power pool.

These companies would have to pay an "appropriate tariff," Nally said, that would ensure they couldn't bypass transmission costs and drive up prices for consumers. The Alberta Electric System Operator would set that tariff.