Whitla-to-Picture-Butte power line could cost up to $500 million

By COLLIN GALLANT on November 17, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Up to $500 million worth of major power line upgrades will be needed to tie-in a burgeoning renewable electricity sector in Southeast Alberta, a new outlook from Alberta’s grid operator suggests.

The Alberta Electric Systems Operator held consultations with stakeholders last month on grid reliability and new transmission projects, including a proposal to revive a plan to link power grids around Lethbridge to areas near Bow Island.

This week, AESO is holding a conference on achieving a “net zero” power grid and the provincial Energy Ministry is planning to legislate new rules for the electricity system this week.

All are related to increasing flexibility to move power from mostly rural supply sites to high-demand urban and industrial centres, or areas where renewable production is less reliable.

A Whitla-to-Picture-Butte power line, potentially costing $490 million, would create two directions for power to flow from a cluster of wind power projects southwest of Medicine Hat, according to AESO estimates.

It was included in talks last month as a potential solution for bottlenecks and reliability concerns as more and more green power sites come online.

Altalink proposed a similar plan in 2010 as a way to accommodate wind farm proposals, but it was shelved when projects were slower than expected to develop.

Now, green power producers are racing to complete projects as economics change and capacity on the existing transmission system is used up.

Currently, Suncor, Capital Power, Berkshire Hathaway Energy Canada, Potentia, EDF Renewables and TransAlta have cumulatively planned to spend more than $1 billion on wind projects in the region over several years to complete new facilities.

Reports show wind generating capacity could grow by 3.5 times across Alberta over the next three years, as well as substantial growth in solar.

AESO also began a conference Monday to discuss advancing a “net-zero” power grid – a key goal in Canada’s climate change plan, but which would require expensive line upgrades to allow greater flow of power throughout the province.

At the same time, Alberta Associate Minister of Natural Gas and Electricity Dale Nally is expected to introduce legislative changes this week relating to the power grid.

Battery storage as well would help negate the intermittent nature of green-energy production from region to region at any given time.

In the Southeast, reinforcement options being considered include running new major lines from near Bow Island to either Brooks or the Lethbridge area, thereby creating a loop in the region.

If approved, it would be the first major upgrade in the region since the Southern Alberta Reinforcement program was largely completed in 2014. That doubled lines and improved capacity from the Brooks area to the Bowmanton substation at a cost of $408 million for the 235-kilometre power corridor. The package also ran new lines to from Bowmanton (northeast of Medicine Hat), then to the city and Whitla area.

Major power line routing in Southeast Alberta essentially forms a hook which begins at the terminus of a major north-south line starting near Brooks. Higher capacity lines run east to Bowmanton, northeast of the Hat in Cypress County and back southwest-ward to Whitla station.

The least expensive option would be to twin a lower capacity line between Bowmanton and an isolated line that connects the Empress industrial area to major lines in the Special Areas. Early estimates state that 65-kilometre line could cost $200 million to build, with the least environmental and land-use impacts, but not address bottlenecking or outage concerns.

At an estimated $500 million, a Whitla-to-Picture-Butte line would see high-capacity cable strung for 230 kilometres.