GAS SQUEEZE WORRIES GROWERS
Greenhouses fear explosion fallout
Fortis B.C. will be challenged to manage the supply of natural gas, but will not run out as long as people conserve as they have been doing since an Oct. 9 rupture of the Enbridge pipeline north of Prince George, the company says.
The firm estimates that supplies this winter will be half to 80 per cent of what they would normally be.
But there shouldn’t be an immediate rate spike, said Sean Beardow, manager of corporate communications for Fortis.
“We wouldn’t see the impact on the current situation until next year,” he said. “Our goal is to make sure all our customers have natural gas and that’s where we are at now. If we hit a situation where demand increases and are worried about supply, there are things we can do.”
Greenhouse operators, however, are concerned.
“There’s a good chance it may affect next year’s production,” said Linda Delli Santi, executive director of the B.C. Greenhouse Growers Association.
Delli Santi said labour and natural gas for heating are a grower’s highest costs, so right now they’re being careful as always about gas consumption.
But there is concern that after the pipeline is repaired, it won’t run at full capacity for a while, she added.
“I actually had a call from one of my members today who said if this is going to be the case, he may not plant this year,” she said. “He said, ‘My seeds are very expensive and my costs are still there, and if natural gas is not available, that window of getting a decent return is closed.’”
Delli Santi said almost all members of her association use interruptible gas, meaning they pay a slightly lower rate. But it also means they can be without gas for a few hours up to three days during rare occasions when demand spikes for residential and other customers due to problems with capacity, particularly during the coldest months.
Greenhouses have boilers that can burn alternate fuels, typically diesel, but this can only be done for a few days without special systems maintenance, Delli Santi said.
“The unfortunate thing is that we export a lot of our products to the U.S. and they aren’t being affected by this, so of course we’ll come to the table with a higher cost of production than the competitors.”
Jos Moerman, co-owner of Sunnyside Produce, said gas service to its Surrey and Delta greenhouses was interrupted after the pipeline explosion, so staff were temporarily forced to switch to their woodburning and diesel backups.
Sunnyside has since returned to natural gas but at a higher price and Moerman said that will cut into their profit. They sell a lot of their sweet bell peppers to Costco in the U.S. and Canada, which will turn to Ontario, Mexico or elsewhere if they try to raise prices, Moerman said.
“We are a supply and demand business,” he said. “We don’t get any subsidies and we compete on the open market.”
Moerman said Sunnyside will likely spend about $300,000 for natural gas this month for the two greenhouses. It will still remove the old crop in November and plant in December, to have product ready for market in March. But the financial impacts of the explosion are expected to be severe.
“The impact of gas prices is very negative for us,” he said.
One silver lining is that meteorologists expect above-average temperatures in the coming months.
Matt MacDonald, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said this is mainly for two reasons: Sea-surface temperature anomalies off B.C.’s coast — colloquially known as “The Blob” — and the development of an El Nino in the equatorial Pacific, which typically brings above-average temperatures to the province in early January.
At the end of the day we’re just asking that people be conscious of their natural gas use.
MacDonald said that over the next month British Columbians can expect temperatures to be higher than normal by between 1 and 2 C in the southern half of the province and about 2 or 3 C in the northern half.
Fortis can tap its Tilbury Liquefied Natural Gas facility in Delta, which currently sends small shipments of LNG to Asia; it can draw from its reserves on Vancouver Island at the Mount Hayes storage tank outside Ladysmith; and it can buy on the spot market.
“And there are a lot of things we can do now to encourage conservation,” Beardow said.
“At the end of the day we’re just asking that people be conscious of their natural gas use: Turn your thermostat down a degree or two, put on a sweater, just those small things help a great deal.”