The Bowmanton to Whitla power line, east of Medicine Hat, was completed in 2014 but may experience capacity issues in the near future, according to regulatory documents. A glut of wind and solar projects are set to come online inthe Medicine Hat region. -- News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com
Twitter: CollinGallant
Stopping inefficient “overbuild” of Alberta’s transmission system is cited as one reason for a six-month halt to new wind and solar approvals, but new regulatory documents suggest the grid in southeast Alberta is now straining to handle existing power production.
EDF Renewables, which operates one major wind farm in Cypress County and has approval to build another, applied earlier this month for a two-year extension for its new project saying there is no certainty it could put the power produced on the Alberta system through existing lines.
“The primary reason for the delay is the impact of congestion and resulting curtailment on the transmission system in the area,” reads a letter to the Alberta Utilities Commission written by EDF’s law firm, Blakes.
EDF Renewables has already won approval to build the “Bull Trail” wind farm south of Irvine in early 2022 — it’s not affected by a current regulatory pause on new projects — with a September 2024 in-service date.
That is rapidly approaching for the large project that would see 51 turbine towers go up from three kilometres south of Irvine to secondary highway No. 515, about halfway to Elkwater.
The company is now requesting the AUC consider completion dates in either 2026 or 2028, depending on action taken by the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) to reinforce the power line system in southeast Alberta.
“There remains significant uncertainty in the development of the AESO’s plans and transmission line development has inherent timing uncertainty,” the application reads.
That comes as the province has ordered the Alberta Utilities Commission to study how to put greater emphasis on locating renewable energy projects close to power lines to avoid adding to fees most Albertans pay to cover the cost of transmission re-enforcement.
Medicine Hat power customers don’t pay into the system as the city utility system typically doesn’t import power and only pays fees on the amount of power it exports.
Premier Danielle Smith and others in the government have often cited “overbuild” of transmission line development as a driver of costs on utility bills, and directed Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf to examine the issue this spring.
“You look at cost of transmission and how it’s accelerated over the years,” Smith said in mid-August, responding to questions about federal net-zero grid plans and the AUC review.
“We need to have a reliable grid without the chance of rolling blackouts and we need to have an affordable grid, and right now we have neither.”
The AUC review will also evaluate current regulations and and make recommendations on long-established points of tension between local landowners and counties over agricultural use of land, the effect on landscapes and potential reclamation costs.
Smith, Neudorf and Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright have all said the six-month halt of new project approvals is justified and will result in certainty for developers and landowners.
The Eastern Alberta Transmission line was approved and built in the mid-2010s with the expressed purposed of carrying power from a wave of wind and solar proposals in the Medicine Hat region to larger centres.
The Bull Trail wind farm would produce a maximum of 270-megawatts of power in peak conditions, slightly more than the EDF Cypress Energy Centre windfarm on west side of Highway 41, near the Bull Trial site.
Currently, there are renewable plants with max capacity of 795 megawatts accessing the Cassils-Bowmanton-Whitla (CBW) power line that runs from Brooks to north of Medicine Hat and down southwest to the Bow Island Area.
Nearly 1,000-megawatts of production will be added in the near term on approved projects and less-advanced projects totalling 4,500 megawatts of capacity are located in the region.
That rapidly growing demand for space on the line led AESO to study the issue last winter, and eventually approving upgrades worth $11 million at the Bowmanton substation to shunt power more effectively. But, that was considered the fastest, least expensive solution.
Two years ago, AESO began discussions toward extending the hook-shaped line back to Brooks or toward Lethbridge to better direct power flows, but at a potential cost of up to $500 million and likely years to negotiate.
