New Energy Technologies, Decision-makers and Emissions Reductions Policies: The Case of British Columbia

Achieving significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in the energy system is a major challenge and one in which new and emerging technologies will play a critical role. This study aims to understand how new and emerging energy technologies could change the roles of public authorities if decarbonization is a priority. Changes in the roles and responsibilities in energy decision-making can influence energy system decarbonization pathways and affect public authorities’ ability to achieve emissions reduction goals.

Using the case of British Columbia, this study explores technological pathways to a future energy system with significantly lower GHG emissions achieved through the deployment of new and emerging technologies. Technological change can be rapid and uncertain in terms of which technologies become dominant in the future. In a decarbonized energy system, new and emerging technologies could change the ways in which the system is organized, structured and controlled. This represents a challenge for policymakers and regulators as it can influence their ability to effectively shape the energy future. The study includes a literature review and confidential interviews with a variety of energy decision-makers.

A wide range of technologies were suggested by interviewees as having a role in the future energy system. Interviewees agreed that electrification presented a key pathway to significant emissions reductions but the extent to which that could achieve desired emissions reductions was debated.

In the case of British Columbia, electrification is built primarily around a low carbon hydroelectricity system. A potential trade-off was evident between different technology pathways. Options include the deployment of nascent technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage within the existing structure of the energy system; or, alternatively, the deployment of more mature technologies such as solar PV and battery storage that would require more significant change to the existing energy system.

The roles and responsibilities of energy decision-makers will be impacted in different ways depending on the characteristics of the technologies that come to dominate the future energy system. For example, technologies that can be owned and deployed by individuals and communities, as opposed to utilities and large energy companies, allow for a decentralization of control over the energy system. Decision-makers need to consider how best to adapt to different scales of energy technology deployment, different technology characteristics and system control.

Moreover, public acceptance is critical for the adoption and expansion of new energy technologies. The study highlights a number of issues seen as most likely to inhibit public acceptance, including a lack of affordability due to higher costs of new technologies, inequity in the distribution of additional costs across society, and environmental and social impacts stemming from the build out of new energy system technologies and infrastructure.

James Donald, Doctoral candidate, Positive Energy, 2018-2022.