Reisender wrote:

The BC hydro website digs into this a bit. Essentially the province doesn’t have a problem with generating capacity. But distribution and grid will adapt in the normal course of maintenance and up keep going forward to adapt to the changing load in neighborhoods etc.

RoyJ wrote:



Nailed it. Gen capacity is not (too much of) an issue in BC, especially once Site C comes online. We're at around 2,000 MW remaining capacity at peak usage, simplified math says 330,000 6kW home slow chargers. If charged overnight then virtually unlimited.

But we have a lot of neighborhoods still fed by single phase 12kV lines, and older substations are tapped out. Upgrading the entire province to 25kV will take a long time (took 5 years just to get rid of the last 3 4kV substations).

I fully support a 2-tier rate system with cheaper off-peak hours. However, if that means higher peak hour rates, then non-EV owners won't be happy.

Michelle.S wrote:

BUT, what happens to the Grid when the remaining Coal Fired Plants are taken off line??
Remember burning Coal is bad just like gas and Diesel.

Michelle.S wrote:

BUT, what happens to the Grid when the remaining Coal Fired Plants are taken off line??
Remember burning Coal is bad just like gas and Diesel.

pianotuna wrote:

Reisender,

Unfortunately Saskatchewan is one of the 3. We are extremely dependant on coal--even though the mine near Estevan is supposed to close in 2024.

"About 81% of electricity in Saskatchewan is produced from fossil fuels

–approximately 40% from natural gas, 41% from coal, and a very small amount of petroleum in remote off-grid communities. The remaining 19% is produced from renewables, primarily hydroelectricity."

map40 wrote:

Without the complicated mechanics and the short range of a plug in hybrid (not a hybrid). Might sound similar, but it is a world of difference.
Always remember, an ICE is 30% efficient on converting fuel into motion. Parasitic loads, brakes converting kinetic energy into heat, they are all waste. An EV is 95% efficient converting power into motion.
As I said, they are a great alternative for the right use, but they won't replace all ICEs uses. And Trucks are the most difficult use for EV applications.

map40 wrote:

There are a many reports in favor as there are against them. If what the reports against it say is true, why are all automakers going into it? NO AUTOMAKER WOULD GO INTO EVS IF THE REAL CASE WAS THAT BAD. Will it replace ICEs? NO WAY, THE TECHNOLOGY IN ITS CURRENT PATH CAN'T. When we learn to evaluate things objectively with no preconceptions or politics we will understand that EVs are just a variant type of vehicle that thanks to the advance of technology is now getting into the masker after 140 of being invented (remember, EVs are older than ICEs).

thomas201 wrote:

I address the design of a straight renewable system, because I was one of the engineers that studied it for my company, to support the pumping and lease custody systems on about 1,000 coalbed methane wells. The study was due to our local utility putting us at the bottom of the priority list when power was knocked out by a snowstorm for about a week. Despite the fact that we supplied the natural gas for their power plants.

First, you design for your peak load, plus about 25%, for planned and unplanned outages, along with either real hot or cold weather. The average load is meaningless. You need 99+% up time. Now if you do not want to always have a spinning fossil back up generation capacity (big money waster) you need storage. In the Mid Atlantic of the United States from research, modeling and monte carlo simulations, plus engineering judgement, then better figure about 3 days (peak usage not average). Three days is also good, because it takes about 3 days to bring a laid up, cold, utility sized steam boiler on line.

Now you see it. You will need at least three times your average usage in renewable generation capacity. Gotta plan for peaks, gotta plan for night (what is solar giving me on a 16 hour winter night), windless days and nights, something broken, a tree falls on the wrong power line and the big one, you gotta charge up your storage when you pull it down. Fossil plants were built with this stuff in mind, ditto a true renewable system. This design stuff fills books by the way. Most authors still say at the end you need a dispatchable back up, probably fossil. If it was easy, this is how we would do it.