Hydro responding to changes, Grewal says

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This article was published 29/09/2021 (1620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Change is on the horizon for Manitoba Hydro as the Crown corporation responds to a series of challenges in the energy market, president and CEO Jay Grewal said on Tuesday.

Grewal spoke at the Brandon Chamber of Commerce’s September lunch, the first since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

Manitoba Hydro is responding to a series of changes in the market that at one point were never contemplated, said Grewal, the corporation’s first female CEO.

New technologies mean some consumers are becoming “pro-sumers” as they produce their own electricity through solar panels on roofs. They can then sell the energy back to the power grid.

“It won’t be energy from the north flowing to the south, it’ll be energy closer to your home, closer to where you use it,” she said, which could bring competition into the marketplace.

“Our system, and most utility systems, weren’t designed for that because it was never contemplated when the big infrastructure was built.”

There are also challenges around the increase in electric vehicles, which rely on the power grid to charge. Grewal said that will impact demand and peak times, something Manitoba Hydro has to consider as it looks to the future.

While the Crown corporation generates almost all of its electricity through hydroelectric dams, a green form of energy, the world is increasingly moving away from fossil fuels, she said. It’s a new factor and one the organization needs a plan for.

“All of these factors are coming to play in this energy landscape, and what’s going to be critical is how this plays out is in a planned way. If we do not collectively do this in a planned way, the risk we face is that we’re not getting the value from the assets Manitobans have invested.

“The second risk we face is reliability because we now have to adjust and adapt the grid. We have to harden the grid, smarten the grid, so it can handle the new demands this evolving energy landscape will place on it.”

Grewal also said the public utility is committed to staying publicly owned, and privatization isn’t on the table.

“What I want to be clear about, though, is I’m not talking about privatization. Manitoba Hydro will remain owned by Manitobans. What I am talking about is new players,” she said.

In response to the changes, Manitoba Hydro is starting work on an Integrated Resources Plan, which she said will give Manitobans a better long-term understanding of what the Crown corporation will be doing. It will “identify different pathways” for the corporation, but will be influenced by federal and provincial government policies.

The plan is scheduled to take approximately 18 months to complete.

“There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that’s been happening over the last two years and it’s going to impact and reflect what Manitobans want,” she said.

“What we’re talking about today could have implications for decades to come on what the energy landscape will look like in Manitoba.”

Approximately 180 people attended the event at the Keystone Centre. Attendees could wear a sticker on their shirt — red, yellow or green — to show how comfortable they were with handshakes and physical distancing. Full vaccination was also mandatory for the event.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

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