Electricty rides free from the critical eye!

Electrical energy as administered by this Government is not the free for all it appears to be. It is a practiced and deliberate rip off. The electricity companies and the Government are plying to the massive ignorance of Albertans when it comes to the complicated issues of Electricity supply and transmission.

AESO have said recently they are opening up the Wind Power generation in this province moving the generation threshold up to 900 mw (megawatts). The lines that are in place now are a 300 kv (kilovolt) line into BC that was put in place to export power to BC but, finds that it is moving power from BC to Alberta. It is possible to move 800 mw of power over a 900 kv line but, not with the existing power already on the grid!

Questions beg to be asked, where are the new power lines being planned for the wind farms?

Fording, of the Sherritt Fording (Ontario Teachers Pension Fund) group is courting the sale of its last remaining metallurgical coal to a US company. That would leave Fording in the power generation business. (They have already divested themselves of the heating coal by turning it over to the Sherritt part of the organization)

Add
Fording is working through a professional Environmental company on the Environmental approval package now.



How soon is the Fording Company going to be before the power generated at Brooks Alberta is going to be available for the grid? And, what of the power lines to hook it up, north and south. It will be 90% for export and the price of the electricity will be dependent on how much Sherritt charges Fording for the coal it will use.

When that generation comes on line, the new 500 kv line will be in place from Genesse to Calgary. Because of the new southern generation the new lines will be under utilized and it will be said that that is the reason Albertans have to pay for the use of lines for export of electricity.

What is really needed is a Government who will look out for the interests of the population of Alberta. Not just the oil and energy companies.

Where are the explanations from ENMAX and EPCOR on why on top of their billions in profits do they need extra percentages on rate increases. If we have leaned anything in this past couple weeks is the EUB cannot be trusted to do other than what the Government tells them to do.

Bottom line is Alberta is short of transmission lines to export electricity and is adequate for supplies of our present needs. While weighing this, consider many US power suppliers and power line companies are in trouble financially because of bad policy and inflation. Outages shorts and meyham are ever present.

John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca