Hydro-Quebec’s move last month to boost its power exports to the United States by acquiring New Brunswick Power’s transmission lines has raised eyebrows in New England, where renewable energy venture…
Hydro-Quebec’s move last month to boost its power exports to the United States by acquiring New Brunswick Power’s transmission lines has raised eyebrows in New England, where renewable energy ventures would face stiff competition from low-cost hydro generated north of the border.
Immediately after the acquisition was unveiled, Angie O’Connor, president of the New England Power Generators Association, warned that the deal could harm smaller American utilities looking to develop renewable energy projects.
But Mr. Vandal said the utility’s strategy going forward was to develop 4,000 megawatts of large-scale wind farms in conjunction with several new hydroelectric dams equipped with storage reservoirs that stabilize supply on low-wind days.
Close to 40 per cent of Hydro-Québec’s profits come from export sales. That’s only natural when your average cost of production is presently 2.2 cents per kWh and the retail cost of energy in New England is roughly between 15 and 20 cents U.S. for residential rates. However, the average retail cost of energy in New Brunswick is only 9.5 cents, giving a lower return than in the U.S. Perhaps New Brunswick is an export road to New England – or, as Newfoundland suggests, perhaps this is a way to tie up existing capacity through New Brunswick.
Under the tentative agreement between the provincially owned utilities, Hydro-Quebec will own NB Power's transmission system, which runs into the state of Maine.
"From Hydro-Quebec's perspective, this is about geography and access to northeast regional markets in terms of gaining further access to the New England market, but also supplying New Brunswick with power," Hydro-Quebec Chief Executive Thierry Vandal said in an interview.
Strategically, the deal makes sense as a way for Hydro-Quebec to make bigger inroads into the U.S. market, said Michael Caranci, an energy analyst at DBRS.
"Right now Hydro-Quebec has good connections to New England through Vermont, so this will expand that because they will have some going through New Brunswick into Maine."
Hydro-Quebec's Vandal said the new assets will initially add a little more than 500 megawatts transmission access to the New England market.
"In the overall scheme of things in Quebec, we have roughly 5,000 megawatts of interconnections, so this addition, it's important, but this is something that may grow over time also," he said.
have an American neighbor that needs energy, needs clean and renewable energy, and needs to obtain this energy from a reliable source, and that source is here," Charest said after the agreement was announced.
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Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
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Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
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(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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