Pipe Dream No More
The Saturday Huddle is a weekly column that features opinion, analysis and reflections on Huddle stories, podcasts and business news in the region. Mark Leger is the editor of Huddle and the Director of News Content for Acadia Broadcasting.
I remember having mixed feelings when we first learned in 2006 that Irving Oil wanted to build a second refinery in Saint John. Government and business leaders who envisioned the city as an emerging regional “energy hub” celebrated plans for a 300,000-barrel facility that would employ 1,000 people.
But for environmentally minded people, it felt like we were going in the wrong direction. As progressive communities were becoming more focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and exploring renewable energy alternatives, here we were in good old industrial Saint John doubling down (literally) on growing the fossil fuel economy.
There was one encouraging development. In 2008, as they were going through the planning process for the new refinery to be built in partnership with BP, Irving announced that they would explore using tidal power generated in the Bay of Fundy as a renewable energy source for refinery operations.
That bold initiative died not long after the refinery project itself was shelved more than a decade ago.
Since then, fossil fuel projects have continued to command the attention of politicians, business leaders, and communities at large; the failed efforts to develop natural gas reserves and the Energy East pipeline are the most prominent examples.
But there are companies and communities around the region changing the conversation around energy development and usage. And Irving Oil is one of them.
Related: Irving Oil, Port To Buy ‘Renewable Energy Certificates’ From Saint John Energy
Earlier this week, Saint John Energy announced the first participants in its Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) program, an internationally recognized system for tracking renewable energy use.
Halifax-based Natural Forces is constructing the 42-megawatt, 10 turbine Burchill wind farm on the west side of Saint John; the power will be fed into the grid for use by Saint Energy customers.
The REC program will allow customers – Irving Oil and Port Saint John the first among them – to include renewable power as part of their sustainability initiatives.
In a 2021 report, Irving Oil identified sustainability targets, including a 30 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.
Andy Carson, the director of energy transition with Irving Oil, told Huddle reporter Tyler Mclean that purchasing RECs allows the company to have a certified renewable electricity supply once Burchill comes online later this year.
The company purchased the number of RECs that would supply wind energy to more than 30 Irving Oil properties that are Saint John Energy customers, including the Irving headquarters uptown, the Irving Blending And Packaging facility and East Saint John Terminal on Courtenay Bay.
Port Saint John also purchased enough RECs to power its cruise facilities, corporate office locations and cargo terminals.
This wasn’t the only good-news story on renewable energy in New Brunswick this week.
Huddle reporter Sam Macdonald wrote about an 800-acre family farm in the Port Elgin area that will be fully powered by solar energy by the end of the year.
Related: Timber River Preps For Transition To 100-Per-Cent Renewable Power
In 2021, Timber River Eco Farms started with an 18-kilowatt, 96-panel solar electric system that produces about 40 percent of the farm’s power.
With the help of The Smart Energy Company, based in Quispamsis, operations manager Jonathan Kummer says they decided complete the transformation this summer.
“My dad and I were driving by the solar panels every day, seeing it running and thought, ‘We’ve got it here, why don’t we try to go the full way?’” said Kummer.
Environmental sustainability and health are bedrock values for Timber River. Its Eco-Spud line of potatoes includes the FABULA, which contains 30 percent fewer carbohydrates than the average potato.
When Jonathan and his wife, Emily Ryan, moved home from Halifax to work in the business with his parents, they did things like redesign the bags the farm’s potatoes are sold in, making them 100 percent compostable.
Related: N.S. Couple Heeds The Call Of The Family Farm, Sets Down N.B. Roots
An eco-friendly family farm may not share much in common with a family-owned oil business, which is still in the fossil-fuel business after all, but Irving still takes pride in the steps it does take to reduce emissions where it can.
“It’s pretty crazy to think about not too far down the road here … where I can come into my office, turn on my computer, make a coffee and know that the electricity powering all of those tools that I use every day are being sourced one hundred percent by green power,” said Carson.
The Burchill wind farm will not power the Irving refinery, which is not a Saint John Energy customer.
The Burchill wind farm will not help power the Irving refinery, which is not a Saint John Energy customer.
But the company did sign an agreement last year with TC Energy on decarbonization initiatives that include helping the refinery continue to lower emissions through the production and use of lower-carbon power generation.
So, there are no grand tidal energy-like projects on the horizon to excite progressives like me. But maybe incremental, measurable gains are better than pipe dreams in the end.