Powering remote northern communities through renewable energy sources

Remote communities have restricted access to energy. In Canada, there are more than 280 remote communities that are neither connected to the North American power grid, nor to the piped natural gas network, and about 60 per cent of them are Indigenous communities. The electricity of nearly 65 per cent of Canada's remote communities is supplied through isolated microgrids operated by provincial or territory-wide utilities, and remaining sites are operated by community-owned utilities or independent service providers. Most remote communities rely on diesel as the primary source of electricity generation and heating, which puts energy security at risk. As defined by the International Energy Agency, energy security is “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price.” It can be categorized into long-term and short-term energy security. Long-term energy security can be enhanced by timely investments to supply energy in line with economic developments and sustainable environmental needs; short-term energy security focuses on the energy system’s ability to react promptly to sudden changes within the supply-demand balance. Lack of energy security has negative economic and social impacts due to either physical unavailability of energy, or prices that are not competitive or are overly volatile. For diesel-based generation in Canada's remote communities, electricity rates are high and vary significantly depending on the community’s transportation access: $0.45/kWh for a community with year-round road access; $1.50/ kWh to $2.50/kWh for the Arctic region. North of the Arctic Circle, transporting diesel can be a major logistical challenge. Communities on the coast can only receive deliveries when their local port is free of sea ice, and inland communities need tankers to run on ice roads that provide a temporary link to the outside world, but the ice road season is brief (usually from January to March). Even with large government subsidies, average energy prices for remote communities in Arctic Canada are six to 10 times higher than the rest of the country, according to the Pembina Institute's 2021 report, "Diesel Subsidies—Simplified, Part 1." Energy generation and distribution infrastructure in remote northern communities must withstand harsh weather with minimal maintenance because qualified technicians may need to be flown in to conduct preventive and corrective maintenance, and such activities become very challenging due to heavy snowfall and extremely low temperatures. Energy limitations can affect a community’s development when the electricity demand approaches the current system’s generation capacity. There are also environmental concerns: diesel combustion causes air pollution, while diesel leaks and spillage during transportation and storage create environmental hazards. Integration of renewable energy sources and energy storage into isolated microgrids is a viable solution to overcome these challenges, and can significantly reduce diesel consumption, especially as renewable energy technology has sharply falling costs and supportive policies. Several renewable energy projects in Canadian northern communities have been successful, such as a microgrid with solar photovoltaic panels—supplying 20 per cent of the community’s electricity demand— new diesel generators, and an energy storage system to supply the community with a peak load of 160 kW in Colville Lake, a First Nation community in the Northwest Territories, located 50 km north of the Arctic Circle. The new system experienced fewer power outages, and displaced roughly 80,000 L of diesel per year. A successful project like this serves as proof of concept, but their design and operation remain at trial-and-error phases. Isolated renewable-based microgrids in remote communities must balance generation and load demand in real time to maintain frequency and voltage within acceptable limits, and ensure the system recovers to normal operation after disturbances. Isolated microgrids have small generation capacity, and cannot rely on neighbouring jurisdictions for support. Further, integrating intermittent renewable energy—solar energy in the North is also seasonal—plus factors such as extremely harsh environment, and unavailability of qualified local technical personnel make their operation more complicated and challenging. Providing funding and support to develop innovative cutting-edge technologies for renewable energy integration in isolated microgrids for northern remote community electrification is essential, including developing long-term energy storage technologies. This will encourage utilities and communities to adopt clean energy. Another barrier is lack of technical training on renewable energy integrated system operations for electric utilities and communities. Increasing work force training on planning, operation and maintenance of renewable energy-based microgrids will facilitate sustainable energy transition in Canada North. Editor's note: This column has been updated to reflect that one section should have been attributed to the Pembina Institute's 2021 report, "Diesel Subsidies—Simplified, Part 1." Dr. Xiaodong Liang is a Canada Research Chair in Technology Solutions for Energy Security in Remote, Northern, and Indigenous Communities, and is a professor of electrical and computer engineering for the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. The Hill Times