Alberta approves Heartland transmission project

CALGARY — The Heartland transmission project has been approved by provincial regulators, with conditions that could increase costs of the 66-kilometre line to $610 million.

The Alberta Utilities Commission said Tuesday the 500-kilovolt line was in the public interest and “met the need specified in law by the provincial government.”

The line will be built following the proponent’s preferred east route which will see the dual current line extend from south Edmonton, skirting the city’s east side before ending at a substation near Fort Saskatchewan.

“We are pleased with the decision, it has been a very long process dating back to 2007, and in earnest to 2009,” said Guy Bridgeman, Epcor senior vice-president of development. “This is a very important piece of infrastructure in the Alberta interconnected electric system. You build these facilities for the next 40 years, you don’t build them for the next couple of years.”

Opponents say the line is part of a huge overbuild in transmission which will cost Alberta consumers millions of dollars, dubbing Heartland a “line to nowhere.”

Critics question the need for a 500-kv system in a region where the demand profile has been substantially reduced, and need for interties with other projects has been scaled back a decade.

“Why spend more than $600 million on something that won’t get used,” said Sheldon Fulton, with Industrial Power Consumers Association of Alberta.

“Industry really only needs a 240-Kv line, so why build a really expensive line.”

The double circuit line would have the capacity to move 1,500 megawatts of power while provincial power loads peak around 9,500 MW, Fulton noted.

A 240-kv line could be built with capacity to upgrade as required for roughly 60 per cent of the cost of the proposed Heartland system, around $300 million, he said.

The Heartland project, a joint venture between Epcor and AltaLink, and two Edmonton-to-Calgary lines faced controversy after being designated critical upgrades under Bill 50 passed in 2009, and were not subject to full public hearings.

In late October Energy Minister Ted Morton asked the Alberta Utilities Commission to suspend hearings on the two multibillion-dollar north-south lines as well as the Heartland line.

The order was made public days before a decision was expected on Heartland, and was overturned hour later by Premier Alison Redford, long a supporter of the line. Redford said a “miscommunication” had led to Heartland being included in the suspension order.

Costs for the Heartland project have almost doubled since first tabled under the bill at $387 million.

Joe Anglin, who has waged a long-running provincial campaign opposing the lines, was horrified when Redford pulled Heartland out of the review.

Anglin opposes the lines as being primarily designed to support power exports to the U.S. while being funded by Alberta consumers.

He said the Heartland was required to connect the two north-south (eastern and western Alberta) lines under review, “so not including the Heartland in that review process doesn’t make sense.”

More to come ...

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