Vodka from CO2? Feasible. Energy storage? Fantasy. Danielle Smith's hot-and-cold views on technology

Credit where it's due: It took guts for Danielle Smith to come and speak in front of the crowd at the Pembina Institute's Alberta Climate Summit in Calgary last week.

The event host, Dave Kelly, acknowledged as much in introducing the premier to the progressive-leaning crowd: "You couldn't have dragged your predecessor [Jason Kenney] here in his pickup truck. Why are you here?"

Smith told Kelly she genuinely enjoys talking about energy, emissions and the environment, and she certainly had a lot to say on those topics, particular as they relate to new technologies.

On stage, the premier spoke in glowing terms about the potential for high-tech solutions to meet Alberta's energy needs while reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. She effused about hydrogen cars, geothermal power, small modular nuclear reactors and even direct-air carbon capture for the production of consumer goods such as vodka and M&M candies. (Seriously.)

"It's incremental changes on incremental technology that add up to a major reduction in emissions," the premier said.

At the same time, Smith threw cold water all over another technology: energy storage.

She described industrial-scale batteries as prohibitively expensive (despite the fact that seven such facilities are already connected to the grid) and said it was "fantasy thinking" to believe storage could be coupled with renewable energy to meet the province's power demands.

Smith's critics (and there were many in the room that day) were baffled by the premier's hot-and-cold perspectives on technological solutions. Her disdain for energy storage, in particular, irked some in attendance, who say the premier is getting some basic facts wrong about a technology that already makes up a small — but growing — component of Alberta's electricity grid and has seen rapid expansion in other jurisdictions.

There's a lot to unpack in what Smith said about storage. Let's take it bit by bit.

Smith outlined her view of energy storage in an impromptu exchange with an audience member at the climate summit.

In a back-and-forth that arose spontaneously, the premier dismissed the idea of renewable energy coupled with industrial-scale batteries to sustain the province's electricity grid, which sees a peak demand of roughly 12,000 megawatts (MW).

"I'll tell you what I know about batteries because I talked to somebody who was thinking of investing in it, on a 200-MW plant: $1 million to be able to get each megawatt," she said.

"That's $200 million for his plant alone. And he would get one hour of storage. So if you want me to have 12,000 megawatts of storage, that's $12 billion for one hour of storage, $24 billion for two hours of storage, $36 billion for three hours of storage."

"That is the reason why we need legitimate, real solutions that rely on base-load power rather than fantasy thinking," Smith concluded. "And I am not going to engage in fantasy thinking."