Hydro reaches long-term deal to export power to Saskatchewan
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/10/2018 (2153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitoba Hydro has reached a long-term agreement with Saskatchewan’s power utility to export up to 215 megawatts of power to the neighbouring province beginning in 2022.
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The new deal is for a minimum of 18 years, with a potential extension to a total of 30 years. It would provide Saskatchewan with enough electricity to power 82,000 homes.
The latest deal, announced Monday, is the largest of three recent power deals between the two provinces. By 2022, Manitoba Hydro will be supplying up to 315 megawatts of hydroelectricity to Saskatchewan.
No financial terms were released.
“It’s a significant advance for Manitoba Hydro, and it’s something that shows Manitoba’s sincere commitment to… reducing the carbon output, not only of our province, but also of our neighbouring provinces,” Premier Brian Pallister said.
An official with SaskPower said the deal will help the corporation meet its commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent (compared with 2005 levels) by 2030.
“Projects like this help meet that target,” said Doug Opseth, director of generation asset management and planning with SaskPower.
Opseth said the sale will also help Saskatchewan cope with a growing demand for power.
Saskatchewan still uses coal to generate electricity. Ottawa has mandated an end to coal-fired power generation by 2030.
The two utilities have signed what they call a “term sheet” for the power sale. The final legal contract is expected to be concluded by mid-2019.
The latest sale will use capacity provided by a new 230,000-volt transmission line planned for construction between Birtle and Tantallon, Sask. When completed, the 80-kilometre line — announced in 2015 — will also improve the reliability of the electrical grid between the two provinces.
The line is anticipated to be in service by June 2021.
Province shrinking fleet
Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires
The Manitoba government announced Monday that it will remove 400 vehicles from its fleet, at an annual operating savings of up to $2.3 million, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 4,000 tonnes.
Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires said provincial staff will be encouraged to reduce their travel to meetings and, instead, rely on video and conference calls whenever possible.
The Manitoba government announced Monday that it will remove 400 vehicles from its fleet, at an annual operating savings of up to $2.3 million, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 4,000 tonnes.
Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires said provincial staff will be encouraged to reduce their travel to meetings and, instead, rely on video and conference calls whenever possible.
The province’s Vehicle and Equipment Management Agency will co-ordinate the removal of the vehicles from government service, she said.
Last year, the provincial fleet consisted of 2,000 vehicles, each annually using an average of 4,400 litres of fuel. Over the next five years, with a smaller fleet, the government estimates the province will save about 8.8 million litres of fuel and could eliminate production of about 23,300 tonnes of greenhouse gases.
The province will install monitoring devices on remaining light-duty vehicles, including cars, to help track driving practices — such as idling times and speed — and fuel consumption.
The province will use the data to assist in monitoring the provincial fleet’s overall greenhouse-gas reductions, Squires said.
About 46 km of the proposed line is in Manitoba. The proposed budget for that portion of the line was pegged at $57 million in 2015.
The proposed line is still in the licensing process in Manitoba. Manitoba Hydro expects a decision by September 2019, after which construction will begin, spokesman Bruce Owen said.
He said the sale will utilize surplus power from the entire Manitoba generating system. It is not linked to the completion of the Keeyask Generating Station, he said, although when the first turbine in that project comes into service in October 2020 it will increase the corporation’s generating capacity. When fully on stream, Keeyask will produce 695 megawatts of power.
Meanwhile, Pallister said Ottawa has not indicated that it would be giving Manitoba any credit for the construction of infrastructure to expand sales of renewable electricity to Saskatchewan customers, “though they are indicating they’re giving credit to other jurisdictions on the east side of the country for such investments.”
Manitoba estimates that the exports could lead to emissions reductions of about 1.3 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by displacing fossil-fuel power generation in Saskatchewan.
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Larry Kusch
Legislature reporter
Larry Kusch didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life until he attended a high school newspaper editor’s workshop in Regina in the summer of 1969 and listened to a university student speak glowingly about the journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa.
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