Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
How big will the battery pack have to be for a 620 horsepower tractor like these? The size of the air cart? And where do you charge it? Photo by Brian Zinchuk
KIPLING – If you regulate it, they will come. Electric tractors, that is.
That was the gist of a response from federal Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, when asked about the Clean Fuel Regulations, affordability and electric tractors on June 29.
Wilkinson was southeast of Kipling, at the site of a new 200 megawatt wind power generation facility. He announced the federal government was providing $50 million to Cowessess First Nation to assist it in its 17 per cent stake in the project, worth hundreds of millions of dollars overall.
A Kipling reporter asked about how the Clean Fuel Regulations will cause an increase in prices, and make “life essentially more costly for people in rural Saskatchewan.”
Wilkinson responded, “Well, I would say the Clean Fuel Regulations are not unique to Canada. There are many other jurisdictions that have Clean Fuels Regulations. And, in fact, there was a previous regulation around blending of ethanol that the Harper government brought in that’s not dissimilar to what the Clean Fuels Regulation is.
“But the Clean Fuels Regulation is about decarbonizing the energy that we use. It is one of the ways that you can actually try to ensure that as we continue to use oil as a primary transportation option, that we are reducing the amount of carbon that we are emitting into the atmosphere. At the end of the day, the science is the science.
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“We obviously need to be sensitive to affordability concerns, and that’s across the piece. And that’s something that the federal government certainly is thinking very hard about. But I would also say that for provinces like Saskatchewan, the Clean Fuels Regulation has an enormous economic opportunity. Like, Federated Co-ops is looking at actually building a large-scale facility to do biodiesel because of the Clean Fuels regulation. Imperial Oil in Alberta just announced that three quarters of a billion dollar investment in a biodiesel refinery. That is because of the Clean Fuels regulation. I was in Newfoundland three weeks ago, announcing the conversion of an existing refinery that was likely to be shut down to a new biodiesel refinery. So, there are huge opportunities, especially for provinces like Saskatchewan.”
Focussing on cost of operations for farmers, the reporter noted, “That’s going to make life harder for them because, you know, the bottom line is there is no such thing in Saskatchewan right now as an electronic tractor. You know, it’s just not feasible. And so, as they’re making this transition, what sort of investment is the federal government prepared to get to that?”
Wilkinson replied, “Well, I would say a couple of things. I mean, I think the first thing that you said about it’s just not feasible, people would have said exactly the same thing about an electric vehicle 10 years ago, and they would have said the same thing about an electric pickup truck. And now those are available to buy them. There are companies that are working on large scale equipment, including equipment for farming, that will be electric on a go-forward basis. So those kinds of solutions are actually driven by regulations like this. But what I would say is, and I do say, that this will create jobs and economic opportunity, including in the agricultural sector, because you use canola, and soy, and often agricultural residuals to make the products that are going to be driven by this whole thing. So, there are benefits associated with it.
“But I would also say it’s important that we are thoughtful about how we do this in a manner that actually addresses affordability concerns. That’s something that we are going to continue to be working on, not just with the farming community but with all communities.”
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