Jeremy Harrison has announced that the Sask. Party plan for our energy future is to keep burning coal until we can get nuclear power plants built. (Daily Herald, October 27)
Conservative and Liberal federal governments have set a deadline of 2030 to close coal plants, and Saskatchewan will be the only province not to comply. (Alberta shut theirs down in 2024.)
This decision comes at a time when the rest of the world is moving to renewable energy. Solar, for example, has gone from the smallest to the largest source of global capacity in just 15 years. In Saskatchewan, we have taken baby steps with wind, but we are barely crawling with solar. We are “light years” behind other countries.
I once met European energy analysts who were flabbergasted at how slow we have been to take advantage of our superior wind and solar resources. In their countries, you see wind turbines and solar fields everywhere, as well as solar panels on many homes.
For skeptics, I suggest looking to Europe to see how it’s done. Or even to their grandparents.
After all, the first farmers in Saskatchewan knew how valuable wind could be. We once had windmills across this province, powering 32V “light plants” (with battery storage). Farmers did this out of necessity and for self-sufficiency. We could learn from them.
Out of necessity, we should do our share to address the climate crisis. And, like our ancestors, we need to find ways that are self-sufficient. The Sask. Party plan is to truck our uranium to Ontario and the United States for processing and enrichment, and then truck the fuel back for nuclear plants (SMRs) that we buy from Ontario. Not very self-sufficient is it?
Or cost-effective. Imagine what we could do if we invested those mega-dollars in renewable energy!
Lon Borgerson
MacDowall
