Opinion: The bill is coming for net zero — and it’s big, both politically and economically

financialpost.com:

By Shannon Joseph

Governments across Canada and around the world have been promoting both electrification and net zero. That’s fine, go for it. But please stop saying it’s going to be cheap. It isn’t. And voters will find out.

Today, electricity fulfills about 20 per cent of our energy needs. That means 80 per cent of the energy Canadians rely on is from direct use of natural gas, refined petroleum products and other fuels. What is being proposed in Canada’s electricity strategy is not just fewer or even no emissions from our electricity systems. It is to have electricity provide that other 80 per cent.

This is a challenge for two reasons. First, some things — including many industrial processes — simply can’t be done by electricity. Second, the electricity needed to do the rest that could be possible does not exist today. And we are not even close to having it. Electricity is a technology that mobilizes electrons by using a fuel (moving water or wind, uranium, natural gas, coal, oil, sunshine). You need the fuel, you need to build generating capacity and you need new infrastructure to move the electricity to where it is needed.

Getting it all up and running in the next 26 years means Canadians should forget about saving money over the next two decades. We will be spending. Big time. Electricity Canada, the trade association of Canada’s electricity industry, estimates it will cost $50 to $60 billion per year to get the power we need. According to the Canadian Energy Regulator’s Net-Zero Scenario, electricity generation capacity would need to grow from about 152 GW today to 350 GW — or about 2.3 times — to reach net zero by 2050.

This is a huge expenditure in a short time.

“Can it be done?” is one question, and the best