Philip Cross: Canada's 'energy blindness' must end

financialpost.com:

In its monthly update on energy trends, Statistics Canada reported this week that this year, for the first time ever, Canada has become a net importer of electricity. The switchover in our electricity trade balance reveals the shortcomings of an energy strategy that now emphasizes decarbonization over energy security, leaving customers vulnerable to supply shortfalls and higher prices.

Traditionally, Canada has generated surplus electricity that it has exported to the U.S. But in April total electricity generation was down 6.9 per cent from a year ago, continuing a trend that began earlier this year. The decline is the result of droughts across much of the country that have curtailed hydroelectric generation as well as planned maintenance at nuclear stations.

Hydro and nuclear account for just over two-thirds of all electricity generation in Canada. Hydro contributed 26.0 million megawatt-hours (MWh) and nuclear 5.2 MWh of the total electrical production of 45.7 MWh in April. With hydro and nuclear power generation falling at home, we had to import 2.6 million MWh from the United States in April, while our exports plunged a whopping 64.4 per cent to 1.7 million MWh.

Canada’s plan to lower greenhouse gas emissions largely depends on hydro power supplying most of our rapidly growing energy needs. We remain ambivalent about nuclear power, with Ontario and New Brunswick the only two provinces producing it after the Parti Québécois government closed Quebec’s only nuclear plant in 2012.

Critics of wind and solar power often emphasize their intermittent nature when the wind is not blowing or the sun not shining. Intermittent electricity sources like these require maintaining reliable backup energy sources, notably power plants