An interview with Cynthia Hansen, Executive Vice President & President, Gas Distribution & Storage, Enbridge Gas Inc.

1. Thank you for taking the time with us today. First, we want to congratulate you on your new role as Chair of the Canadian Gas Association’s Board of Directors. It marks another step in a significant career in the sector. What originally drew you to the energy industry?

I grew up in Northern Alberta and my dad worked in oilfield services. In fact, my first job was working for my dad so I have a long history with the energy sector.

2. What advice would you give young people who are interested in entering the energy industry today?

It’s an exciting and dynamic time to be a part of the energy industry. A career in energy is an opportunity to make a real difference in the quality of people’s lives — energy heats homes, transports goods and generates economic growth.

“A career in energy is an opportunity to make a real difference in the quality of people’s lives…”

Natural gas provides millions of Canadians with the most affordable and reliable energy choice right now and we’re working hard to integrate energy systems and green our grids, driving toward a lower-carbon future. Given our size and reach, gas utilities are uniquely positioned to lead the transition. For example, right now at Enbridge Gas, we have many low-carbon fuel programs such as hydrogen and renewable natural gas, alternative heating technologies, like geothermal and solar, and conservation programs that lower emissions in buildings and industrial sectors.

For young people interested in real-world answers to our most pressing challenges, like balancing the need for affordable energy to fuel economic growth while addressing climate change, the energy industry is the place to be.

3. Enbridge Gas has worked closely with the Province of Ontario to expand the natural gas system into rural and small communities. At a time when many municipalities are talking about gas bans, what kind of response have you received from these communities and how do you see this expansion benefiting these municipalities?

Access to reliable, affordable natural gas is essential to Ontario’s rural and northern communities. Natural gas lowers energy bills for families, creates new opportunities for Ontarians, and helps businesses become more competitive, grow, and create jobs. Natural gas also has a lower carbon footprint than alternatives like wood, heating oil, and propane.

Through the first phase of the Ontario government’s Natural Gas Expansion Program, Enbridge Gas successfully completed seven new community expansion projects. The response in these communities has been incredible, and we are on track to meet our customer attachment goal over the 10-year forecast period.

Interest in the second phase of the program was robust, and the Ontario government recently announced $234 million in funding to support gas connections in 43 rural, northern and Indigenous communities, through 28 projects. We plan to begin construction this year, with all projects expected to be underway by the end of 2025. We look forward to working together with the province and local municipalities to continue to bring natural gas to more Ontario homes and businesses.

4. Enbridge has been actively advancing its work related to renewable natural gas (RNG) and hydrogen development. What role do you see these gaseous fuels playing in the near and long term?

The three largest contributors to GHG emissions are transportation, building heat and industry. Collectively, these account for over 80 per cent of total emissions.¹ Hydrogen and RNG can be a cost-effective means to decarbonize these areas today, and we are scaling up production and injection over time.

Transportation

Transportation generates the single largest amount of GHG emissions in Ontario. Electrification of light passenger vehicles will play a critical role in decarbonizing the transportation sector. Electrification of heavy transportation, however, is prohibitive at this time due to battery size and recharging requirements. This sector can be decarbonized cost effectively today using compressed natural gas, which delivers up to 20 per cent GHG reduction and up to 40 per cent in fuel savings, compared to gasoline or diesel. Using renewable natural gas, you can achieve zero emissions, a solution which many Ontario municipalities are using today, including Toronto and Hamilton. In the longer term, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are another option for zero-emission vehicles.

Building heat

The second largest source of GHG emissions in Ontario is building heat. Today, natural gas heats about 75 per cent of Ontario homes. To replace this with electricity would take a 200–300 per cent increase in our current electricity system, which would take time to build out, and would be a significant cost.

Scaling up hydrogen and RNG production is an effective way to decarbonize building heat at a lower cost than electricity,² while preserving energy system resiliency.

Enbridge is advancing RNG and hydrogen on a number of fronts. Through our voluntary RNG program, OptUp, customers can choose to support the transition to low-carbon energy through a small monthly contribution to help offset the increased costs of acquiring carbon-neutral renewable natural gas. In Markham, we are piloting hydrogen blending at our Power-to-Gas facility, which is capable of producing 1,000 kilograms a day, enough energy to fuel 100 fuel cell cars driving 1,000 km a day. The success of these programs will support Enbridge in pursuing additional and larger-scale hydrogen blending activities enabling Canada to further reduce its already low carbon footprint on a large scale.

Over the longer term, as costs for hydrogen and RNG continue to decline with innovation and deployment, we will continue to increase the percentage of RNG and H2 in the gas supply. We will also continue our aggressive conservation programs and the adoption of other low-carbon technologies such as geothermal, solar PV, natural gas heat pumps and hybrid heating systems, offering multiple pathways to achieving net-zero emissions from building heat.

Industry

Industry is the third-largest contributor of GHG emissions in Ontario. Hydrogen is an effective solution for energy-intensive activities, like steel and concrete production.

Canada is starting to accelerate our ability to use hydrogen. In the near term, Enbridge and others are completing pilot projects and infrastructure development that will allow us to scale this resource to its maximum potential by 2050.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is also a proven technology, available now, that offers a significant pathway to achieve GHG reductions for hard-to-decarbonize industries. Canada is a world leader in CCS with longstanding projects in western Canada. Here in Ontario, the geology of southwestern Ontario is suitable for carbon storage, and Enbridge has a long history of safe and reliable underground natural gas storage.

5. The public policy discourse from elected officials is often not friendly to natural gas right now — the Ontario gas expansion program being an exception. But as that Ontario program makes clear, customers very much appreciate all we offer — affordability, reliability, and environmental performance. How do you think the industry can better convey the customer acceptance reality to our political decisionmakers?

We must tell our story and bring perspective to the energy transition discussion.

The bottom line is, our energy systems are interdependent and an integrated pathway offers a more realistic,³ lower cost and lower risk path to emission reductions. Electrification alone is not enough to get us there.

Today, natural gas accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the energy used in Ontario, and almost three and a half times as much peak energy as electricity. Replacing this with electricity, while ensuring the redundancy and reliability required during peak load will be extremely challenging. In addition, electricity cannot be stored at scale, needing on-demand backup both now and as renewable power expands, and it is not suitable for many energy intense industrial applications.

Enbridge has been actively reaching out to decisionmakers, municipalities, regulators and other stakeholders to demonstrate how energy systems must work together to drive the transition to a low-carbon future. And we’re sharing information on how we’re supporting the transition through innovative energy solutions and collaboration with governments and partners that reduce environmental impacts while keeping energy affordable and reliable.

“Enbridge has been actively reaching out to decisionmakers, municipalities, regulators and other stakeholders to demonstrate how energy systems must work together to drive the transition to a low-carbon future.”

6. CGA recently won the bid to host the global gas innovation conference known as IGRC2024, to be in your home province of Alberta, in Banff, in May of that year. Globally, natural gas use is growing at a remarkable pace — and many around the world want access to Canadian gas, and to our expertise in managing it. What do you think the Canadian industry should do to make the event a particularly valuable one?

I am excited that Canada will be able to highlight to the world all the great programs and initiatives we have that are driving lower carbon solutions. The event will be a success with the dialogue that we will generate with key decisionmakers — working together is critical to meeting the global target of net zero by 2050.