People, business and industry will suffer the costs for new power lines when what Alberta really needs is more generation, says an industry leader.
Roughly a year since the government of Alberta enacted Bill 50, the cost estimates continue to soar for transmission upgrades that will benefit only the companies building the lines, says Sheldon Fulton, executive director of Calgary-based Industrial Power Consumers Association of Alberta.
Last fall, ICPAA joined a coalition of consumer groups in lobbying the province and the Alberta Electrical System Operator (AESO) to reconsider Bill 50 and the direction it was taking with power transmission.
Included in its efforts, the Consumers for Competitive Transmission created a presentation listing 11 arguments against new high-voltage power lines being proposed.
It concludes Alberta industries would lose their competitive footing and that there is no justification for rushing to build new transmission lines. Also, the presentation says costs of assets should be covered by the companies that would benefit, suggesting that the plan should be reviewed with those factors taken into account.
Coalition members took the presentation to government and AESO representatives in the fall of 2009, before Bill 50 was passed, said Fulton.
Contents of the 26-page power point presentation were made public for the first time on Thursday when Rimbey town Councillor Joe Anglin, a leader in protesting AltaLink’s proposal for a 500-kilovolt line from Genesee to Calgary, sent copies to newsrooms throughout the province.
Anglin said someone had sent the report to him, but refused to reveal his source.
Colette Chekerda, executive director of the Edmonton-based Alberta Direct Connect Consumers Association, confirmed that until Anglin started distributing copies, the presentation had not been made public.
The only thing that has changed in the year since the presentation was first made to the province and AESO is that the costs have climbed, said Fulton.
Estimates for the Heartland project alone — which would put a new line down the eastern side of the province — have risen from $287 million to $580 million in that time, he said.
Dawn Delaney, external communications advisor for AESO, said from her office in Calgary that she never saw the presentation until Thursday afternoon.
AESO officials need more time to review its contents before responding to the 11 issues it raises and the conclusions arising from those issues, said Delaney.
However, at first blush, she said the presentation is “littered with inaccuracies and mistruths.”
For example, in discussing potential for power failures and brownouts, the presentation states that there has been no major request for anyone to reduce their power usage in Southern Alberta during the past five years.
“Right now, we’ve got 5,000 megawatts of generation that can’t be connected due to constrainment issues throughout the province,” she said.
Delaney also found flaws in the coalition’s issue with load growth. While the presentation said load had grown at one per cent per year over the last five years, growth has actually been at three per cent per year and is projected to continue at that rate through 2028, she said.
Putting that level of growth in perspective, she said it’s like adding two cities the size of Red Deer every year.
AESO is a non-profit organization acting in the public interest to create a reliable grid for all Albertans for now and the future and has no investment in transmission facilities, said Delaney.
Jay O’Neill, a spokesman for Energy Minister Ron Liepert, said he has never seen the presentation. Minister Liepert has not replied yet to a request for an interview.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com