Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier today as the head of our energy issues. The recent comment in the House about renewable energy was that from an economic or commercial objective, you would be lucky to recover your capital costs within 15 to 20 years and by then you are almost at the point of replacement, so the vicious cycle repeats itself. Such uninformed and misleading statements undermine the very opportunity that citizens have to help themselves to cut energy costs and they derail effective government action yielding the unaffordable energy costs of today.
That didn’t come from that side of the House, Mr. Speaker, but a simple review of Public Works and Services’ energy project indicates simple payback, as short as a year or two. Solar panels themselves are guaranteed for 25 years.
So my question is: At tomorrow’s charrette, how has the Premier assured that the think-tank will start off with accurate baseline information and with the principles and the context that affordable energy systems must be based on from now on? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure whether the Member is attributing the comment to myself or to some anonymous source or not, but by all means, it is our intention to make sure that the charrette is informed as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Premier didn’t catch that. I said it was from this side of the House. The one-size-fits-all power system has been disastrous for our communities. In fact, community generation opportunities are diverse, from geothermal in Fort Liard and Yellowknife, to small scale hydro in Wekweeti, to solar in Colville. NTPC has considerable experience in some areas, but solutions may or may not overlap with their experience.
How has the Premier ensured that NTPC plays a supportive role rather than an influential role on the direction the charrette takes, given their record of short stopping community-owned renewable energy systems to date? Mahsi.
Over the past two assemblies, the role of NTPC has evolved. We now have the Ministerial Energy Coordination Committee, where all of the Ministers and departments that have responsibilities in this area come together, and the Power Corporation is working much more closely with the government to fulfill the objectives of the government, and certainly we are recognizing that one size fits all is not necessarily the way to go. We are looking to the Energy Charrette to point us in the right direction. Thank you.
Thanks to the Premier. If new clean and renewable energy systems are to have a maximum economic benefit for our communities, they must be locally owned and operated. Buy-in, efficiency, community self-sufficiency and economic stability are all positive impacts of locally based power systems.
What steps has the Premier taken to ensure discussions are open to, or directed to, consider a community-based approach to energy solutions moving forward? Mahsi.
We’ve endeavored to have a very representative group at the Energy Charrette. We have over 130 people, I believe, that will be there. It is our expectation that with the facilitators that we have, with the speakers that we have, the outcomes will be focussed in that direction and certainly we are very prepared, as the ENR Minister has said, and the Finance Minister has said, we are prepared to move in that direction, pending the outcome of the charrette. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is good to hear. Cabinet’s recent subsidy of $20 million to cover diesel generation due to climate change-induced drought brings a total over the past few years, as we’ve heard, to $58 million if we ignore the indirect subsidy effects or costs. This perpetuates our reliance on diesel, obviously, by taking resources that could have been used to develop renewable energy systems and pouring them into a seemingly bottomless tank of diesel.
Has the Premier, or if not will he, include the question about where we should subsidize to get the best return for our citizenry and goals as a key question to be addressed in the charrette? Mahsi.
I guess you will just have to wait for tonight where we address that front and centre in both my remarks and in the Minister of ENR’s remarks. Certainly, we recognize that subsidizing is not sustainable, and at some point, very soon if not now, we have to have a very sustainable method of providing electricity going forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
