Tory MP on bandwagon of east-west power grid

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This article was published 16/08/2013 (4777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WHY go south, when you can go west?

That’s an idea being floated by Winnipeg Conservative MP Steven Fletcher on Manitoba Hydro getting involved in building a new transmission line to Alberta, taking a route directly from its northern dams across Saskatchewan to Fort McMurray.

Fletcher says such a route is roughly the same distance as the 1,364-kilometre-Bipole III route to be built from northern Manitoba to Winnipeg. The line, which got its environmental licence from the province Wednesday, is being built to bring more reliability to the domestic grid and to send more power south to the United States.

The former federal cabinet minister — he was demoted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a recent cabinet shuffle — also said money to pay for the line could come out of the new federal infrastructure Building Canada Plan 2013.

The Charleswood-St.James-Assiniboia MP raised the idea in a recent Edmonton Journal opinion piece.

“The right people are supportive,” Fletcher said Thursday.

The Building Canada Plan has about $4 billion, which is to be used to pay for infrastructure projects that cross provincial boundaries, he said.

An example is the building of the Lower Churchill generation and transmission system from Labrador to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Hydro power from Manitoba could be used by Alberta to ween itself off fossil fuels. About 41 per cent of Alberta’s electricity generation is from coal and almost 40 per cent from natural gas.

“It seems unreasonable when we have a green energy resource,” Fletcher said.

None of this is a surprise to the NDP.

Premier Greg Selinger, who has already had preliminary discussions with the Alberta government, has long advocated an east-west power grid. The province is also discussing hydro sales with Ontario and Saskatchewan.

In June, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said a deal was close.

Dave Chomiak, the minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, said while he welcomes Fletcher’s support, he would prefer not to build a transmission directly to Fort McMurray.

“Our preferred option is to south incrementally and build into the West,” Chomiak said. “But there will be at least the beginnings of a western grid. It makes the point we will not be without customers building the Conawapa and Keeyask generating stations.”

The Keeyask dam is to be in service by 2019 and Conawapa by 2025.

Fletcher said an east-west power line would help reduce the carbon footprint of Alberta’s oilsands and see U.S. approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from Alberta to the U.S.

He said U.S. President Barack Obama has said approval of the pipeline should only happen with the assurance the carbon footprint of Alberta’s oilsands is minimized.

Fletcher added a new line also helps Manitoba as Hydro’s export market to the U.S. has collapsed because new drilling techniques have flooded the U.S. power market with cheap natural gas. Prices for shale gas are expected to remain low for at least the next two decades.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca