1. Waterpower in Canada
Canadian Water Summit
Calgary, Alberta, June 28, 2012
Innovating Up and Down Stream:
Smarter Water Use in Energy Production
Jacob Irving
President, Canadian Hydropower Association
2. Canadian Hydro Facts
• 60% of Canada’s electricity
• 97% of Canada’s renewable electricity
• Installed capacity over 74,000 MW
• 4th Largest in world
• 355 TWh/year – 40 TWh/year exported to USA
• 3rd Largest in world
• Clean and renewable: zero air pollution and ultra
low greenhouse gas emissions
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4. Canadian Hydro Capacity and Potential 163,000
17,664
25,000
11,524
20
74,000
77 4,307
200 CANADA
33,137
25 8,540
11,775
3,000
4,200 8,785 44,100
3,955 6,795
12,608 1,600
10,270
909 300 4,500 5,500
854
5,029 3,700
37,459 614 3
8,349 922
8,499
TECHNICAL POTENTIAL in Megawatts
403
PLANNED HYDRO in Megawatts
(included as part of technical potential)
CURRENT INSTALLED CAPACITY in Megawatts
4 NB Includes only undeveloped conventional hydro projects - Refurbishment ,Tidal, Wave, Kinetic potential not displayed
5. The Hydro Advantage
• Reliable, efficient and unique dispatchability
• Only renewable electricity source with large-
scale energy storage – has its own battery
• Enables variable renewables like wind and solar
• Many dams are multipurpose (flood control,
navigation, irrigation, fisheries, etc.)
• Zero net consumption of water
• More than $127 billion in investment and a
million jobs over the next 20 years
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6. Hydropower Maturity and Innovation
Hydropower has a 130 year history in Canada.
The industry is evolving and innovating to:
• Reduce its environmental footprint
• Minimizing flooding and related impacts
• Improved mitigation measures (fish ladders, etc.)
• Improve its social acceptability
• Partnerships with First Nations
• Multistakeholder water planning processes
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7. Hydropower Maturity and Innovation
• Increase efficiency
• Refurbishment of existing facilities (new turbines)
• Introduction of HVDC power lines
• New forms of water power
• Ocean Energy – Tidal and wave energy recovery
• Kinetic – in stream turbines
• Climate change
• Ongoing studies regarding reservoir emissions
• Ouranos studies on future precipitation patterns
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8. Hydropower and electric vehicles
• Half of undeveloped Canadian potential alone
could fuel all light duty vehicles in Canada and
25% of US vehicles
• In all regions of Canada, hydro projects under
consideration would produce enough electricity to
allow the electrification of all Canadian LDVs.
• The electrification of all Canadian LDVs would
result in a reduction in GHG emissions of ~70 Mt,
or approximately 10% of the country’s total GHGs
for all sectors of the economy combined.
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9. Summary
• Hydropower industry is collaborating in water use
planning and watershed management
• Canadian hydropower is large, it is growing and
can grow more
• Hydropower can help fight climate change
• Greater electrification of our energy system is
desirable and hydropower can help (EVs)
• Hydropower is the best long term choice for
electricity generation in Canada
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