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A man writes notes at the display of a proposed British Columbia floating liquefied natural gas export facility Ksi Lisims LNG during the LNG 2023 energy trade show in Vancouver, B.C., on July 13, 2023.
CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters The B.C. government has loosened its net-zero rules for the Ksi Lisims LNG project and other proposals to export liquefied natural gas from the province, given uncertainty over how long it will take for new hydroelectricity supplies to be added to the grid.
Instead of new LNG projects under regulatory review being required to have net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, they are now being asked to be “net-zero ready.” Ksi Lisims, a proposed project backed by the Nisga’a Nation, envisages eventually using hydroelectricity from BC Hydro to power motors that would drive compressors in the liquefaction process, instead of the industry’s traditional reliance on turbines powered by natural gas. Backers of B.
C. LNG proposals must “demonstrate that the facility is net-zero ready if it is not possible, due to factors beyond the proponent’s control, for the facility to access clean electricity by 2030,” according to a two-page document titled B.C.
Climate Action Secretariat’s Net-Zero Plan Requirements. The document, published in late March, said LNG proposals must devise a “credible plan” by 2030 to achieve net-zero using the best available technology, with the option of buying carbon offsets to help reach their goals. Other industrial projects have until 2050.
Ksi Lisims is undergoing a regulatory review led by the BC Environmental Assessment Office. Floating production facilities are scheduled to be opened by Ksi Lisims on Pearse Island in 2029, with other vessels exporting LNG to Asia. “The LNG proponent’s plan must demonstrate how they will achieve net-zero GHG by 2030” for other parts of operations that do not rely on the electricity grid, Alex MacLennan, the regulator’s chief executive assessment officer, wrote in a March 28 letter to Sandra Webster, vice-president of environment and regulatory affairs at Ksi Lisims.
Besides Ksi Lisims, other energy proposals in B.C. include FortisBC’s expansion plans at its domestic Tilbury LNG site in Delta and Summit Lake PG LNG near Prince George.
BC Hydro is proposing the North Coast transmission project , in collaboration with First Nations, that would run along the existing route of its B.C. line between Prince George and Terrace.
The transmission venture could take a decade to complete, so Ksi Lisims has plans to initially use temporary barges that would supply electricity generated by natural gas-fired turbines. Mr. MacLennan wrote his letter one week after Adrian Dix, B.
C.’s Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, issued his own commentary on the provincial government’s LNG policies. LNG proposals still need to outline how they would achieve net-zero for non-electricity aspects of their operations by 2030, Mr.
Dix said in his March 21 letter to Mr. MacLennan. Ecojustice Canada, the country’s largest environmental law charity, said huge amounts of lower-carbon hydroelectricity would be required for fossil fuel proposals such as Ksi Lisims, adding that clean power is in short supply in B.
C. Ksi Lisims spokesperson Rebecca Scott defended the Nisga’a-backed project. “Our actions and intentions have not changed: Ksi Lisims LNG will be net-zero.
Our design and plans for net-zero existed before the B.C. government introduced its policy,” she said in a statement.
Exports of LNG to Asia are slated to begin by mid-2025 from LNG Canada’s new terminal in Kitimat, B.C. Shell PLC-led LNG Canada, which will become the country’s first export terminal for the fuel, already has regulatory approvals for its Phase 1 project that is now nearing completion and for the Phase 2 expansion that it is contemplating.
Woodfibre LNG near Squamish and Cedar LNG in Kitimat also have regulatory approvals, and are under construction in B.C. By contrast, eight U.
S. LNG export terminals are already operating, and another four are likely to open by 2028. Alaska LNG is a prospect for the long term, if that proposal could somehow secure massive subsidies, industry experts say.
LNG Canada received conditional approvals from B.C. and federal regulators in 2015, after the project underwent a review process led by the BC Environmental Assessment Office.
In mid-2018, the provincial regulator approved LNG Canada’s marine monitoring plan and dredge environmental management plan. The co-owners of the project made the final investment decision to forge ahead with construction in October, 2018, on the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation. The costs for Phase 1 have been pegged at $48.
3-billion, including the $18-billion Kitimat terminal, the $14.5-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline and other infrastructure, as well as annual budgets for drilling in northeastern B.C.
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