PEIA community-based advocacy group on P.E.I. wants to look at more renewable energy options when it comes to providing reliable electricity across the province.Energy Democracy Now! wants a renewable solution to P.E.I.’s electrical issuesTony Davis · CBC News · Posted: Oct 07, 2025 5:16 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoBack in August, Maritime Electric officals told IRAC it had received a ‘time-sensitive’ offer to secure two 50 MW combustion turbines to be installed in Charlottetown at a cost of $334 million. (Kirk Pennell/CBC)Members of a community-based advocacy group on P.E.I. want to look at more renewable energy options when it comes to providing reliable electricity across the province.Energy Democracy Now! has applied for intervener status with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission in Maritime Electric’s application to spend close to half a billion dollars to boost electricity generation on Prince Edward Island.This summer the utility submitted an application to IRAC to add two 50 megawatt combustion turbines.”First of all, P.E.I. has made a firm commitment to get to net zero by 2040. You don’t get to net zero by putting in two gigantic jet engines on your waterfront to make electricity,” says Darcie Lanthier, who is a director on the board of Energy Democracy Now! The group is a community advocacy group aimed at giving Islanders more say in how power is generated in the province.Just over 30 people attended the group’s first town hall at the Charlottetown Library on Monday night.”It’s going to cost more than twice as much to go with fossil fuel generators as it would to go with nice, clean batteries, for example. So we’re spending more, we’re getting less,” Lanthier said.’We cannot turn around and add fossil fuels to our electricity mix. It just defeats the whole purpose,’ says Darcie Lanthier, who is a director on the board of Energy Democracy Now! (Jane Robertson/CBC)Initially the utility said it wanted to spend $427 million to build 150 MW of generating capacity on P.E.I., most of that powered by fossil fuels rather than renewable sources of energy.Back in August, the utility told IRAC it had received a “time-sensitive” offer to secure two 50 MW combustion turbines to be installed in Charlottetown at a cost of $334 million. The utility has been insisting it needs to spend money on generating more power locally or risk the grid being over capacity when Islanders need it the most. Lanthier believes there is a better way, she said.”We’ve spent millions and millions of dollars getting homeowners to get off oil and electrify their systems, and that’s the correct step. But then we cannot turn around and add fossil fuels to our electricity mix. It just defeats the whole purpose,” she said, adding that smart meters with pricing fixed to specific times of day with renewable energy backing that up is a better way to go.”So batteries, battery storage, battery backup, time of use pricing, which will bring down the peak demand because that’s all these generators support. They’re not going to make power during a storm.”‘There are lots of other ways of providing that dispatchable capacity energy for Islanders that are cheaper,’ says Green MLA Peter Bevan-Baker. (CBC)Green MLA Peter Bevan-Baker, who also applied for intervener status on the utility’s application, was also at Monday’s meeting.”The rest of the world is moving away from such technologies. It’s last century’s technology, that’s the first thing and the second thing is that Maritime Electric is really holding a gun to Islanders heads and IRAC’s head actually in the way that they have presented this saying that we must buy these combustion turbines immediately… it goes so far in their second application, it’s to say this is the only option available,” he said.Officials with Maritime Electric have said grid capacity needs to be increased quickly, partly due to people shifting from furnace oil to heat pumps, and if trends continue there’s a risk of rolling power outages if it gets too cold in the winter.Bevan-Baker said he understands there are issues with grid capacity, but he doesn’t believe more diesel is the answer.”There are lots of other ways of providing that dispatchable capacity energy for Islanders that are cheaper, that are more reliable and that provide us with an opportunity to create a system that is far more energy independent than this,” Bevan-Baker said.That initial cost of Maritime Electric’s plan would push up electricity rates by 10 per cent, according to the company.That number didn’t sit well with some people at the meeting.’It seems a bit strange that consumers are consistently bearing the burden,’ says Jill MacIntyre. (Tony Davis/CBC)”I have Maritime Electric as everyone else on the Island aside from the City of Summerside is forced to. It’s not OK. I think we have seen so many costs over the last few years downloaded onto consumers,” said Jill MacIntyre who lives in Charlottetown.Fortis, who owns Maritime Electric, is also one of the most profitable corporations across the country, she said. “It seems a bit strange that consumers are consistently bearing the burden of their transitions and their political choices. And I’m definitely also just not looking forward to a 10% increase in my bills.”The next steps for Climate Action Now! are to have more town halls to engage Islanders. The group will also be launching an ad campaign soon, Lanthier said.ABOUT THE AUTHORTony Davis is a video journalist with a focus on municipal government, housing and addiction for CBC Prince Edward Island. He produces content for radio, digital and television. He grew up on P.E.I. and studied journalism at Holland College. You can email story ideas to anthony.davis@cbc.ca.
Group gathering support against Maritime Electric’s plan to add combustion turbines
