The NDP government, which has long sung the praises of northern hydro development, has asked the province’s Public Utilities Board to review two proposed projects with a price tag of $13.4 billion to determine if there is a better alternative, such as electricity generated from natural gas.
The board will do a review, though it has already said Manitoba Hydro, the government-owned public utility, could build a natural gas-fired plant to supply Manitobans with power cheaper than that from the two northern dams.
The NDP is still saying publicly the Keeyask and Conawapa projects represent a major economic-development opportunity, one that could propel the province’s economy for decades to come.
But the review has the feel of political cover for a government looking for a way out of a difficult situation. The NDP is in a tough spot, which could become a politician’s nightmare — rising electricity prices at home while Manitoba Hydro is financing expensive projects to generate power for consumers elsewhere who no longer want to buy it.
Look to the east, you fools.
An energy success story staring them right in the face: Ontario’s Green Energy Act!
I mean, it doesn’t have to be economically viable – as a matter of fact it can be downright ludicrous – but people will buy into it, again and again.
But, pssst, here’s a little secret if you want the public to believe it: Get somebody with a long-standing, unimpeachable record of truthfulness to deliver it. Matter of fact, what’s the Dildo doing now-a-days?
The Bitter truth to the enviros and to MB and Que is that for all intents and purposes natural gas is now essentially a renewable resource that is cheaper and more convenient – pipelines underground rather than large overhead powerlines – and reliable – multiple generation sites instead of a few – than large-scale hydro plants.
Hey Gord,
Yeah, those Mississauga and Oakville natural gas fired power plants are really helping keep Ontario electricity rates low..
er…
AB power de-reg just means the gubmint calls the shots on where the powerlines go and how much the consumer (u & me) pay with an extra charge each month. Does it matter where the power comes from?
Enmax is building 800 MW gas powered plant in Shepard. This makes sense, close to load.
Manitoba Hydro was going to sell power to Northwestern Ontario as part of a “green” strategy, getting off coal. Who builds and pays for that transmission line??
The Ontario government doesn’t give a hoot about anything north of Barrie. Having a fixed provincal electricity rate just spreads the misery…..
NO NO NO. Let’s spend 20 billion to build two dams and a power line twice as long as it has to be in order to bring electricity, at great inefficiency, to the Bakken shale formation.
It makes perfect sense. All of the current MB Hydro capital managed a -$50 million net profit last year. Clearly it’s time to double down and increase production.
puddin n pie
The Ontario government doesn’t give a hoot about anything north, south, east or west of the GTA.
Fixed that for ya.
The abuse and ultimate ruination of Manitoba Hydro by the NDP will be recounted in business course textbooks for years to come. Cleaning out the reserve fund, interfering with the route of BiPole 3, massive cost overruns at Wuskwatim are just a few of the egregious acts that were committed. Now to have the usually pro NDP Free Press editorializing on the situation merely underlines how low things have become.
Iv worked on gas fired power plants..rule of thumb is one million dollars per megawatts..so a 450 megawatt plant…well you can count.
puddin n pie, Conawapa has been proposed and agreed to by Ontario twice, once by Peterson in 1990 and once by McGuinty in 2003. Both times Ontario has withdrawn from the deal, the first time with a $150 million penalty.
In both cases, Ontario would be building the tie line in Ontario and Manitoba building only the dam. Problem was the power in both cases was still too expensive.
Also, the project configuration has changed greatly between 1990 and today. The proposed reservoir is only 1/5th the size of its original configuration, meaning that Conawapa cannot store water. It effectively becomes only a run-of-river project which greatly diminishes its value.
I give you one guess as to why the smaller reservoir.
The new resource extraction methods used in the US are also going to cause grief for Alberta and Saskatchewan when Americans stop buying our oil and gas. Start thinking of ways to blame the NDP for that…