Ottawa, province contribute $476M for two major Hydro clean-electricity projects

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This article was published 09/11/2023 (691 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro will be drawing on a surge of cash from the provincial and federal governments to fund two major upgrades and expansions of its electricity grid.

Premier Wab Kinew and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced a combined $475.6 million in joint funding for the publicly owned power utility Thursday morning.

“The priority for Manitoba Hydro is cheap electricity for you, the people of Manitoba,” Kinew said at Hydro’s downtown Winnipeg headquarters.

“It’s to combat global warming, it’s to create good jobs and it’s to advance reconciliation for the future of our province.”

About $314 million will go towards replacing generating units at the century-old Pointe Du Bois hydroelectric power station that are nearing the end of their lives. Manitoba is contributing nearly $200 million to the retrofit.

The upgrade is projected to increase the generating capacity by 52 megawatts and extend the station’s life to at least 2055.

A new transmission line connecting Pointe du Bois to a substation in the Whiteshell is also part of the overall project.

Another $161 million will be spent on the Portage Area Capacity Enhancement project, which will see a transmission line run from the Dorsey converter station northwest of Winnipeg to a planned station west of Portage la Prairie, called Wash’ake Mayzoon. (The name combines the Dakota and Michif words for power house).

The province is contributing $90.6 million to the PACE project.

The new line and station are needed to meet growing electricity demand in the region and to reduce reliance on the natural-gas fired Brandon Generating Station.

Ottawa’s total contribution to the projects will be $184.9 million and comes from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Plan. Federal money is conditional on meeting consultation requirements with Indigenous communities.

“Together these two projects will mean cleaner, more reliable and more affordable energy for thousands and thousands of households and businesses across this province,” said Freeland, the Liberal finance minister and MP for the Toronto riding of University-Rosedale.

Kinew said the two projects will create up to 5,000 jobs. The federal government’s clean electricity tax credit is also expected to apply, which will influence labour rates for the projects.

“To the skilled trades workers out there… call the union hall, let them know you want to work on these projects,” the premier said.

Manitoba Building Trades president Tanya Palson said the projects will hopefully send electricians and operating engineers — some of whom have struggled to find jobs locally — back to work.

“There’s really been a slowdown,” Palson said. “These are the first two major Hydro projects since Keeyask (generating station on the Nelson River).”

The two projects will be the utility’s first to qualify for the federal credit, which requires the prevailing regional union wage to apply, Palson said, adding she expects more positions will be filled by local tradespeople if contractors are required to pay union rates.

“It will definitely change how they’re procuring labour and putting those requirements onto contractors who are bidding the work,” she said.

While the projects have been in the works for some time, they are significant upgrades to the grid, Manitoba Hydro chief executive officer Jay Grewal said.

“Specifically Pointe du Bois, which is one of our older generating stations on the Winnipeg River,” Grewal said. “The fact that we’re getting an additional 52 megawatts by these new generating units, that is new electricity in Manitoba we didn’t have before.

“And without the federal dollars, the business case would not have worked. So it’s a huge benefit, I believe, for Manitobans and our customers, from so many perspectives.”

Work has already started at Pointe du Bois and the new units are scheduled for assembly and installation between spring 2024 and summer 2027.

Construction on the new transmission line from Dorsey to Wash’ake Mayzoon is scheduled to begin in 2025. The line and station is also expected to reduce emissions from the Brandon generating station by 37 per cent.

The federal and provincial tax dollars mean the cost of the projects to ratepayers will be alleviated, Grewal said.

Meanwhile, the planned transmission line and the new electrical station in Portage la Prairie will unlock economic development in the region, City of Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said.

“That gives us significantly more power out here to work with, and that’s necessary,” Fawcett said. “We want those megawatts.”

Fawcett said large customers want to locate in and around Brandon but electrical capacity for major connections has been limited.

“It’s the large users that makes a big, big difference to and those also help drive the economy,” Fawcett said.

There are companies waiting in the queue for electricity and others kicking the tires to find out when capacity will be available, he said.

“Now we can start putting timelines on some things, a lot of these projects do take a bit to get going, and so we can fall in line with the timelines Hydro will give us,” he said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca