Reshape Infrastructure Strategies

Glad to be back in the EU for a month of events and.meetings. Starting with the 10th European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns put on by ICLEI in Aalborg Kommune Denmark (#aalborg2024). And what a thought provoking first plenary.... I think this will be a key theme for most of my discussions this month. It's always great to hear of local leadership and #innovation on #climateaction and #urbanplanning. Interesting to see more discussion on multi-level/shared governance ofoe addressing climate change.... still a challenge in Canada. This event and most of my trip will be focussed on local planning for the #energytransition (which must include adaptation), #finance, and collaboration between the private and public sectors. More to come.

What a great report from RMI and NATIONALGRID (full report here: https://lnkd.in/gPeb628j). It's refreshing to see these concepts advanced by a #naturalgas utility, albeit one with both gas and electric assets (which helps in these conversations). Also good to see the input from our friends at Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), Energy Cities, Agora Energiewende, Énergir and Con Edison. We've been following these concepts and case studies pretty closely. Requirements for gas utilities to consider non-pipe alternatives in lieu of major upgrades, replacements and expansions is a necessary step to reduce the long-term costs and equity impacts of the #energytransition, particularly given most independent studies show that climate targets will require a significant reduction in throughput on gas grids over time (even with substitution of biomethane and other green gases). But these policies aren't sufficient. We need comparable requirements for electric utilities to consider non-wire alternatives when replacing or upgrading grids to support #electrification, including both demand response and thermal networks (aka #districtheating). Thermal networks (and associated strategies such as thermal storage and waste heat) remain a major blind spot in policy, planning and regulation for the energy transition in most jurisdictions in North America. We also need more proactive approaches for coordinating infrastructure transitions at the local level, including coordination with building renovations, to minimize overall costs, risks and lock in during the transition. This is the role of local heat planning. It's great to see the shout out for the role of local communities and local heat planning in this report. Local heat planning is really gaining traction across Europe, although there are still a lot of detailed implementation issues to sort out. At least they've started the conversation. #climateaction #urbanplanning #innovation #netzero #smartcities

Just back from speaking on thermal networks and area-based planning at the Building Decarbonization Alliance in Ottawa last week. An excellent event. Coincidentally, nice article over the weekend in The Wall Street Journal on thermal networks, which references one of our projects. It's amazing to see the level of interest and accompanying policy development on thermal networks in Europe and now the U.S. Comparable awareness and policy is sadly lacking in Canada, despite the local leadership of some forward-thinking utilities, developers and municipalities. Perhaps the day will come for thermal networks to have their moment more broadly in Canada! #districtheating #sustainability #energytransition #renewableenergy #urbanplanning #innovation #electrification #smartcities https://lnkd.in/gKkWWQMf

Look forward to seeing a lot of colleagues and clients next week at the Building Decarbonization Alliance event in Ottawa (a part of The Transition Accelerator/ L’Accélérateur de transition). I'll be discussing global trends and Canadian opportunities for neighbourhood-scale building decarbonization, including thermal networks (#districtenergy) and area-based plans. Check out the event page if you haven't already (https://lnkd.in/gdq4JjVp). Very diverse list of sponsors and participants from across Canada including colleagues from BC Hydro, Toronto Hydro, Canadian Climate Institute / Institut climatique du Canada, Canada Infrastructure Bank/ Banque de l'infrastructure du Canada, Trane, City of Edmonton, Durham Region (The Regional Municipality of Durham), and Metro Vancouver to name a few. #electrification #climateaction #energytransition #urbanplanning

The headline is a bit misleading, but this is still a significant story. I credit much of my passion and ideas for the energy transition on my considerable time in Germany over the years. But Germany (like many other countries) has not had as much success in the heat transition within the broader #energytransition. That's slowly changing. Among other things, the recent "heat law" in Germany mandated municipal heat planning for all cities over 20,000 inhabitants (a process adapted from Denmark and pioneered initially in a few states such as Baden-Württemberg). A logical next step is the managed transition of the gas grid in light of declining use of conventional #naturalgas. Even with green gases (#biomethane and #hydrogen) there is an expectation that gas grids will need to shrink and change to reflect the different volume, locations and uses of green gases. Growing research suggests a managed transition of the gas grid is preferrable to an unmanaged transition (in particular for my German speaking colleagues some excellent work by our friends at Agora Energiewende on the risks of an unmanaged transition can be found here https://lnkd.in/gKpF-KC9). Heat plans are one approach to managing the transition by highlighting the spatial priorities for direct #electrification, #districtheat, hydrogen conversion and gas grid pruning. The headline is misleading because the leaked discussion paper from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (here: https://lnkd.in/gURetngA) really just signals a political recognition of the need for a managed transition and poses a series of technical and regulatory questions to ensure a just, cost-effective, and secure transition to 2045. Gas grids won't disappear. But they will look very different (and more focussed). Still, it's refreshing to see the level of thoughtful discussion on these topics emerging in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, particularly concepts such as spatial planning for the energy transition and a managed gas grid transition. #sustainability #urbanplanning #innovation https://lnkd.in/geKhNwFX

Yesterday the British Columbia Utilities Commission released a pretty important decision on FortisBC's Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) program. There has been some misreporting on it so I'll provide a quick summary of the decision (which can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gBZteGqT). FortisBC has been a North American leader in acquiring RNG for use by its customers. The Government of British Columbia (which was largely absent from this important proceeding) has also established supportive policies to promote the acquisition and sale of RNG by gas distributors in B.C. The decision yesterday is in respect of an application filed by FortisBC over 2 years ago that sought various revisions to its Renewable Natural Gas program. The decision yesterday is important because it rejects a proposal which would have permitted FortisBC to allocate 100% RNG to new buildings (which have increasingly stringent GHG emission limits in B.C.) at the same cost as conventional natural gas. Our client the City of Richmond (and its wholly owned thermal energy utility Lulu Island Company) was part of a very small group of local governments (which included City of Vancouver, City of Victoria BC, District of Saanich, District of North Vancouver, and Metro Vancouver) that actively intervened in the proceeding. The Decision relied heavily on the IRs and evidence prepared by this group. Basically, the BCUC agreed that the cross-subsidization of RNG for new buildings by existing gas users was "unreasonable and unduly discriminatory." The estimated magnitude of the cross subsidy between 2024 and 2032 alone was $750 million. Not only is this unfair, it could distort investment decisions for new buildings to pursue the most cost-effective solutions for mandated reductions (such as #electrification). That said, we need to acknowledge that RNG has a role to play in the #energytransition. This role is limited by the available supplies of RNG and therefore we need to ensure RNG is allocated to the highest and best uses in the transition. New buildings are not necessarily the best use, but the BCUC decision does not actually preclude that. It merely prevents FortisBC from cross-subsidizing the full cost of RNG for new buildings. The BCUC did approve a mandatory blend of RNG for ALL gas users (paid for by all users) and it also approved a continuation of a voluntary program for individual customers to acquire a higher blend at a premium (albeit with some subsidy but not nearly the level of subsidy contemplated in the RNG Connection Service for new buildings). Kudos to the City of Richmond and other local governments for their leadership in preparing some of the most extensive and reasoned IRs and counter evidence in this important proceeding. #sustainability #alternativeenergy #naturalgas #climateaction

Data centre electricity use in the U.S. alone is 17 GW, and set to double by 2030 according to DatacenterDynamics. For my colleagues in B.C., that's equivalent to adding over 1.5 times BC Hydro's current generating capacity to the U.S. grid in 6 years. Digitalization is providing considerable societal benefits, but we need to do it smartly. A lot of that waste heat can be re-used for heating buildings and industry (effectively recycling the electricity used for digitalization rather than building separate capacity to electrify these loads). Europe is ahead but we've been working on opportunities across North America. I'm really looking forward to connecting with new and current colleagues at #DCDConnect in New York next week on this topic. #innoation #heatrecovery #districtheating #sustainability