FREDERICTON — New Brunswick and Nova Scotia want to bolster the regional energy grid to act as an electricity corridor for power from as far away as Newfoundland and Labrador after the collapse of a deal to sell New Brunswick’s public utility to Hydro-Quebec.
Power utilities from the neighbouring provinces announced Tuesday they want to build new transmission lines to more than double the capacity they have to ship electricity between them. The proposed 500-megawatt connection would run between southern New Brunswick and Colchester County, adding to the existing 300-megawatt connection.
"This new transmission capacity is a crucial piece of infrastructure that will open the door for new renewable energy projects in New Brunswick and power exports to Nova Scotia," New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham told a news conference in Fredericton, where he was joined by his Nova Scotia counterpart Darrell Dexter and officials from NB Power and Nova Scotia Power.
"Historically, Nova Scotia was an energy island, and now, because of this project, the province will have a stronger grid that can import and export power," said Dexter. "Businesses and Nova Scotians from one end of the province to the other will have stable energy prices, which will result in more affordable power in the foreseeable future."
Dexter said it also opens the door to using his province as part of a route to get power from Lower Churchill in Labrador to waiting markets in New England.
"We’re still in the process of talking with Newfoundland about how that could happen and there are ongoing negotiations," Dexter said. "But this puts you in the position to be able to facilitate that kind of eventual agreement."
Tim Curry, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy, an industry association, said any effort to bolster the transmission grid creates opportunities.
"There are a lot of additional steps that probably need to be contemplated and some decisions made on them in order to really get the full potential of what we can do in this region, not only with generation but movement of energy through and around the region," he said.
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