NB Power
Encyclopedia
NB Power formerly known as New Brunswick Power Corporation and New Brunswick Electric Power Commission is the primary and former monopoly electrical utility in the Canadian
province of New Brunswick
. NB Power is a Crown Corporation wholly owned by the Government of New Brunswick and is composed of a holding company and 4 sub-companies: NB Power Distribution and Customer Service, NB Power Generation, NB Power Nuclear, and NB Power Transmission. The New Brunswick System Operator
, not part of NB Power, is an independent market operator that administers relationships between power generators and users.
, Fredericton and Moncton. Over the next 30 years, other cities successively electrified, so much so that in 1918, more than 20 companies were active in the electricity business, which left the province with wildly differing levels of services and prices. In Saint John for instance, the rates fluctuated between 7.5 to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the location and the monthly consumption.
Recognizing the important role that electricity was about to play in economic development, Premier Walter E. Foster proposed the creation of an provincially-owned electric company. The Legislative Assembly
passed a bill to that effect. The New Brunswick Electric Power Commission (NBEPC) was created on April 24, 1920. Immediately, the commission, headed by its first president, C. W. Robinson, launched the construction of a C$ 2 million hydroelectric dam at Musquash
, west of Saint John. To supply the cities of Saint John, Moncton and Sussex, a 88 miles (142 km) long high voltage
power line
was also built.
The new earth dam was completed on time, in 1922. But it could not withstand the 1923 spring flood and collapsed, an accident which shattered a bit of confidence in the new commission. The building of a larger facility in Grand Falls
, on the Upper Saint John River, was undertaken in 1926 by a subsidiary of International Paper Company and completed in 1930. Electricity demand increased during that decade and more generation facilities were required to supply the province. The commission decided to take advantage of coal resources in the Minto
area and built a plant near the mines. The Grand Lake Generating Station was commissioned in 1931 and then expanded five years later.
and led to rationing
in the late 1940s. Meanwhile, the commission embarked on the construction of two major dams on the Saint John River, the Tobique
and Beechwood generating station
s, which were respectively commissioned in 1953 and 1955. See below regarding First Nations relations.
The Commission bought the Grand Falls Generating Station
in 1959 and began work on the province's largest hydroelectric facility, the Mactaquac dam
, whose first three units were put on stream in 1968.
However, the new hydroelectric developments proved insufficient to bridge the imbalance between supply and demand, which grew by 12% per annum between 1960 and 1975. To cope with this demand growth, the commission began construction of the oil-fired Courtenay Bay Generating Station, near the Saint John shipyard
in 1959; it was also adjacent to the Irving Oil Refinery, which entered service in the late 1950s and which the Courtney Bay GS made use of a pipeline running from the Canaport offshore loading facility at Red Head to the refinery. The first 50 MW turbine was put in service at Courtney Bay GS the next year, while two more units were added in 1965 and 1966. To better serve northern New Brunswick, another oil-fired plant, the Dalhousie Generating Station
, was constructed in Darlington
with an initial capacity of 100 MW. It was commissioned in 1969.
In the early 1970s, the NBEPC signed a series of supply contracts with New England
distributors, justifying the construction of its largest power plant in 1972. With three 335 MW units, the oil-fired Coleson Cove Generating Station
was completed in January 1977. However, the 1973 oil shock made the operation of thermal plants more expensvie, since oil prices rose from US$3 to US$37 per barrel between 1973 and 1982. The company, which was renamed NB Power / Énergie NB during that time, needed to explore other generating options.
to keep abreast of the latest trends in the field. Formal talks between the provincial and federal governments began in 1972 and discussions between representatives of Premier Richard Hatfield
and Atomic Energy of Canada accelerated the following year. In the aftermath of the oil crisis
, the province wanted to secure a source of electricity which prices would be less volatile than oil. However, project financing was still an issue.
The federal government then announced a loan program to help provinces such as New Brunswick in January 1974. Ottawa's pledge to cover half of the cost of a first nuclear plant removed the last obstacle to construction of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
. On February 5, 1974, Hatfield announced his decision to build the plant, 20 miles (32 km) west of Saint John, and even raises the possibility of constructing a second one in the future. On May 2, 1975, the Canadian Atomic Energy Commission authorized the construction of two 640-MW units within a site that can accommodate a maximum of four reactors.
Labour unrest, design problems and skyrocketing construction costs significantly increased the plant's price tag. The total price of the first operational CANDU-6
in the world was estimated at 466 million dollars in 1974. When it became operational 8 years later, on February 1, 1983, the cost had soared to C$1.4 billion.
The future of NB Power has been a concern of successive New Brunswick governments for the past 15 years. The Liberal government of Raymond Frenette has published a consultation document in February 1998 to find solutions to ensure the sustainability of NB Power in the twenty-first century.
government of Bernard Lord
commissioned TD Securities
to conduct an assessment of the company's viability. The study, whose findings were published in 2009, suggested four scenarios: the status quo; a sale to a strategic buyer; privatization through a share offering
; or splitting the utility into separate elements. The report valued the company at between $C3.6 and $C4.5 billion. This number however was very strongly contested by those familiar with the value of telecommunications rights of way and smart grid-based services, energy-related and otherwise, who considered the distribution network to have very much more value. These arguments were to be repeated often in the 2009-2010 NB Power controversy.
Between 2001 and 2004, the Lord government spent C$3.2 million to retain the services of CIBC World Markets
and Salomon Smith Barney
in order to evaluate the resale value of the Point Lepreau and Coleson Cove power plants. The studies, codenamed Cartwheel and Lighthouse, have assessed the value of these assets to roughly C$4.1 billion. A similar valuation was used in the failed 2010 proposal to vend Lepreau to Hydro-Quebec, and was extremely controversial.
to the Electricity Act. The Act reorganized NB Power into a holding
with four divisions. The Act also maintains the company's distribution, transmission, and nuclear power monopolies, but opened the door to competition in the generation business.
The reorganization also created the New Brunswick Electric Finance Corporation, which is responsible for issuing, managing and paying NB Power's debt through payments dividends, fees and taxes paid by the various subsidiaries.
Following the deregulation model, the company was subdivided in 2004 with the future aim of selling off the various components (privatization
). The distribution and customer service division of NB Power functions as a regulated monopoly and serves all the residential and industrial power consumers in the province, with the exception of those in Saint John
; Edmundston and Perth-Andover
who are served by Saint John Energy
, City of Edmundston Electric and the Perth-Andover Electric Light Commission respectively.
" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's
newsmagazine. In 2009, NB Power became the first electric utility to be recognized by the National Quality Institute by being awarded a Healthy Workplace Award.
Current members of the board of directors
of NB Power are: Chair Ed Barrett who owns various communications companies, current President Gaetan Thomas, Norman Betts
, Graham Brown
, Francis McGuire, Patrice Merrin Best, Bernard Cyr, Eloi Duguay, Leon Furlong, Lise Caissie, Normand Caissie, and Jane Fritz.
David D. Hay resigned as President after the 2010 controversy, claiming he had never been consulted on the deals, valuations or strategies involved.
NB Power operates 16 generating stations for a total installed capacity of 3,297 MW in 2008. The generation fleet uses a variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, heavy fuel oil and coal
.
According to energy analyst and long-time critic Tom Adams, NB Power "has been the most oil-dependent grid-connected utility in North America". New Brunswick historically was politically dominated by the Irving family whose company Irving Oil
remains the dominant fossil fuel supplier in the province. Conflicts of interest have often been noted between supply-side interests in petroleum or nuclear industries and the NB Power board. The utility is notably lax in energy demand management
and other means to reduce energy demand, and under current President Gaetan Thomas has been quoted in the press proposing additional nuclear reactors and other supply solutions to grid management problems. He has actively defended NB Power's reliance on nuclear power.
The main generation facilities are spread across the province. However, the Saint John area accounts for half of the total capacity, with the Coleson Cove
(978 MW) and Courtenay Bay (113 MW) thermal plants and Point Lepreau. Notably, Saint John is the hub of the Irving business interests.
The nuclear plant, whose rehabilitation has been hotly debated during the first part of the 2000s, was authorized by Bernard Lord
's government in July 2005 and a $C 1.4 billion contract was signed with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
(AECL). Refurbishment work began in April 2008 and was expected to last 18 months. However, due to a series of delays caused in part by problems with the robotic equipment used to remove pressure tubes, the reopening was first postponed by three months in January 2009, and further delayed by four more months in July. In October 2009, New Brunswick Energy Minister Jack Keir stated that the plant is now scheduled to return in operation in February 2011. The costs have been estimated at over one million dollars per day in substitute of supply. Lawsuits were threatened by Premier Shawn Graham in 2010 and meetings were held in Ottawa regarding this liability and the proposed sale of AECL to private non-Canadian interests.
Despite these concerns, Gaetan Thomas, a board member of the Canadian Nuclear Association
, continued to promote additional nuclear reactor builds, indicating that as many as four more could be added to Point Lepreau. Plans to build a new nuclear reactor at the southwestern New Brunswick facility received a boost in July 2010, when the province and French manufacturer Areva
signed a letter of intent. However, these plans were shelved within hours of the election of a Progressive Conservative
government led by David Alward
in September 2010.
Northern New Brunswick is served mainly by the Dalhousie plant (300 MW) and the coal-fired plant at Belledune
(458 MW). These two facilities are the company's two main sources of greenhouse gas
emissions. In 2007, the Belledune plant released 2.94 million tonnes of while the Dalhousie generating station was responsible for 1.69 million tonnes.
The main hydroelectric facilities are located on the Saint John River. The province's largest, the Mactaquac generating station
(672 MW), stands some 20 miles (32 km) upstream
of the capital city, Fredericton. It was built between 1965 and 1968 at a cost of C$ 128 million. The plant has been a concern for some time due to a phenomenon called alkali-aggregate reaction
, causing the dam to expand and crack. The problem has been known since the 1970s and could reduce the dam's life by half, according to a 2000 report by a panel of international engineering experts commissioned by the Crown corporation.
, Nova Scotia Power
, Maritime Electric
in Prince Edward Island
and the ISO New England
network in the United States. The network is operated by the transmission division of NB Power, on behalf of the New Brunswick System Operator, a nonprofit organization that oversees the application of North American reliability standards and facilitates the development of a competitive electricity market in the province.
The main power grid forms an "O"-shaped loop and is linked by 345 kV lines. The main substations
are located in Edmundston, Saint-André
, Eel River, Bathurst
, Newcastle
, Salisbury
, Norton
and Keswick. The last two substations are connected to the Saint John area by a series of main lines.
NB Power supplies electricity to Maritime Electric
in Prince Edward Island
through a sub-sea interconnection cable on the floor of the Northumberland Strait
, and imports/exports from/to Nova Scotia
via Canada's first electrical interconnection between two provinces. NB Power also has interconnections to Maine
.
Because of the asynchronous nature of Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system
, interconnections between the two neighboring provinces require HVDC converters. The first one, the Eel River Converter Station, was installed in 1972 and has a 350 MW transfer capacity. It is the first operative HVDC system equipped with thyristors The second converter, the Madawaska substation (435 MW), was built on the Quebec side of the border in 1985 and is operated by Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie. The two systems are linked by two 230-kV lines between Matapédia and Eel River, and by two 315-kV lines between the Madawaska and Edmundston substations. Some of NB Power loads in these areas can be islanded and supplied as part of the Quebec grid, which increases New Brunswick's import capability to 1,080 MW, whereas export capability to Quebec is limited to 785 MW.
through its NB Coal subsidiary. The company extracts 150,000 tons of coal per year to fuel the Grand Lake Generating Station. On September 30, 2009, the company announced the mine phaseout in conjunction with the decommissioning of its only customer, the 57 MW power plant, built in 1963. The 38 permanent employees at the plant will be redeployed while 57 positions at the mine were eliminated. The company management explained the end of NB Power's presence in the region after nearly 8 decades by stressing the high cost of complying with stricter
regulations.
to sell most assets of NB Power to Hydro-Québec
. This agreement reached after a 9-month negotiation process undertaken at the request of New Brunswick, would have transferred most generation, transmission and distribution assets of the New Brunswick utility to a subsidiary of the Quebec-based Crown corporation, including the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
and 7 hydroelectric plants, but would exclude fossil-fuel fired plants in Dalhousie, Belledune and Coleson Cove.
The memorandum of understanding fostered a spirited public debate in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada
. Despite positive feedback from the province's busineess leaders, reactions to the MOU have been hostile. In addition to opposition parties, Newfoundland and Labrador
's Danny Williams
, the union representing most NB Power employees and wind energy supporters quickly condemned the agreement as detrimental to the interests of New Brunswick.
Opponents in the general public used social media to show their displeasure and contest the various arguments for the deal. On Facebook
, 14,000 people joined a group in opposition to the sale within five days of the announcement. A demonstration organized by the group and trade unions drew approximately 600 people outside the Legislative Assembly building on November 17, 2009. A Leger Marketing
opinion poll
conducted on behalf of Quebecor Media newspapers in November 2009 in New Brunswick and Quebec showed that 60% of New Brunswickers polled opposed the deal, while 22% supported it.
After months of controversies, New Brunswick and Quebec reprentatives signed a second agreement in January 2010, reducing the scope of the sale. Under the revised agreement, the sale would have transferred the hydroelectric and nuclear power plant to Hydro-Quebec
for C$3.4 billion. The government of New Brunswick would still own the transmission and distribution divisions and NB Power would enter into a long-term power purchase agreement with Hydro-Québec. The PPA would allow NB Power to deliver the rate freeze for residential and general customers. However, the industrial rates rollback would be smaller than under the original MOU.
On March 24, 2010, Premier Graham announced the deal had fallen through, due to Hydro-Québec's concern over unanticipated risks and costs of some aspects such as dam security and water levels. However, this interpretation was contested by analysts, who blamed the collapse of the deal on the political situation in New Brunswick.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. NB Power is a Crown Corporation wholly owned by the Government of New Brunswick and is composed of a holding company and 4 sub-companies: NB Power Distribution and Customer Service, NB Power Generation, NB Power Nuclear, and NB Power Transmission. The New Brunswick System Operator
New Brunswick System Operator
The New Brunswick System Operator is an independent not-for-profit statutory corporation created under New Brunswick’s Electricity Act on October 1, 2004. Under the Act, NBSO is responsible for the adequacy and reliability of the integrated electricity system, and for facilitating the development...
, not part of NB Power, is an independent market operator that administers relationships between power generators and users.
History
The development of the electricity industry in New Brunswick started the 1880s with the establishment of small private power plants in Saint JohnSaint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
, Fredericton and Moncton. Over the next 30 years, other cities successively electrified, so much so that in 1918, more than 20 companies were active in the electricity business, which left the province with wildly differing levels of services and prices. In Saint John for instance, the rates fluctuated between 7.5 to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the location and the monthly consumption.
Recognizing the important role that electricity was about to play in economic development, Premier Walter E. Foster proposed the creation of an provincially-owned electric company. The Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick is located in Fredericton. It was established de jure when the colony was created in 1784, but only came in to session in 1786 following the first elections in late 1785. Until 1891, it was the lower house in a bicameral legislature when its upper house...
passed a bill to that effect. The New Brunswick Electric Power Commission (NBEPC) was created on April 24, 1920. Immediately, the commission, headed by its first president, C. W. Robinson, launched the construction of a C$ 2 million hydroelectric dam at Musquash
Musquash
-Places:* Musquash, New Brunswick, a municipality in Saint John County, New Brunswick* Musquash River , a river in Ontario, Canada* Musquash River , a river in New Brunswick, Canada...
, west of Saint John. To supply the cities of Saint John, Moncton and Sussex, a 88 miles (142 km) long high voltage
High voltage
The term high voltage characterizes electrical circuits in which the voltage used is the cause of particular safety concerns and insulation requirements...
power line
Power Line
Power Line is an American political blog, providing news and commentary from a conservative point-of-view. It was originally written by three lawyers who attended Dartmouth College together: John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff...
was also built.
The new earth dam was completed on time, in 1922. But it could not withstand the 1923 spring flood and collapsed, an accident which shattered a bit of confidence in the new commission. The building of a larger facility in Grand Falls
Grand Falls Generating Station
The Grand Falls Generating Station is a hydroelectric dam built on the Saint John River in Grand Falls in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and is operated by NB Power corporation. It was built in 1931 and its power house has a capacity of 66 megawatts with its 4 turbines....
, on the Upper Saint John River, was undertaken in 1926 by a subsidiary of International Paper Company and completed in 1930. Electricity demand increased during that decade and more generation facilities were required to supply the province. The commission decided to take advantage of coal resources in the Minto
Minto
-Places:Antarctica*Mount Minto Australia*Minto, New South WalesCanada*Minto , a provincial electoral division in Manitoba*Minto, Manitoba, a community located in the Rural Municipality of Whitewater.*Minto, New Brunswick...
area and built a plant near the mines. The Grand Lake Generating Station was commissioned in 1931 and then expanded five years later.
WWII and after
Demand for electricity exploded during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and led to rationing
Rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
in the late 1940s. Meanwhile, the commission embarked on the construction of two major dams on the Saint John River, the Tobique
Tobique Narrows Dam
The Tobique Narrows Dam is a hydroelectric dam built on the Tobique River in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and operated by NB Power corporation...
and Beechwood generating station
Beechwood Dam
The Beechwood Dam is a hydroelectric dam built on the Saint John River in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and operated by NB Power corporation. Its power house has a capacity of 113 megawatts....
s, which were respectively commissioned in 1953 and 1955. See below regarding First Nations relations.
The Commission bought the Grand Falls Generating Station
Grand Falls Generating Station
The Grand Falls Generating Station is a hydroelectric dam built on the Saint John River in Grand Falls in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and is operated by NB Power corporation. It was built in 1931 and its power house has a capacity of 66 megawatts with its 4 turbines....
in 1959 and began work on the province's largest hydroelectric facility, the Mactaquac dam
Mactaquac Dam
The Mactaquac Dam is an embankment dam used to generate hydroelectricity in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It dams the waters of the Saint John River and is operated by NB Power with a capacity to generate 653 megawatts of electricity from 6 turbines; this represents 20 percent of New...
, whose first three units were put on stream in 1968.
However, the new hydroelectric developments proved insufficient to bridge the imbalance between supply and demand, which grew by 12% per annum between 1960 and 1975. To cope with this demand growth, the commission began construction of the oil-fired Courtenay Bay Generating Station, near the Saint John shipyard
Saint John Shipbuilding
Saint John Shipbuilding was a Canadian shipbuilding company located in Saint John, New Brunswick. It operated from 1923-2003.-History:Numerous shipyards were located on the shores of Courtney Bay in the east end of Saint John Harbour where extensive mud flats dried at low tide.In 1918 it was...
in 1959; it was also adjacent to the Irving Oil Refinery, which entered service in the late 1950s and which the Courtney Bay GS made use of a pipeline running from the Canaport offshore loading facility at Red Head to the refinery. The first 50 MW turbine was put in service at Courtney Bay GS the next year, while two more units were added in 1965 and 1966. To better serve northern New Brunswick, another oil-fired plant, the Dalhousie Generating Station
Dalhousie Generating Station
The Dalhousie Generating Station is a 315 MW Canadian electrical generating station located in the community of Darlington in Restigouche County, New Brunswick....
, was constructed in Darlington
Darlington, New Brunswick
Darlington is a former village in Restigouche County, New Brunswick, Canada. it is now a part of the Town of Dalhousie. It was incorporated as a Village in 1977 then merged into the Town of Dalhousie November 4, 1982. The main street through the former village was renamed Darlington Drive after...
with an initial capacity of 100 MW. It was commissioned in 1969.
In the early 1970s, the NBEPC signed a series of supply contracts with New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
distributors, justifying the construction of its largest power plant in 1972. With three 335 MW units, the oil-fired Coleson Cove Generating Station
Coleson Cove Generating Station
The Coleson Cove Generating Station is a 1050 MW Canadian electrical generating station located at 4077 King William Road in the community of Seaview on the extreme western boundary of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick....
was completed in January 1977. However, the 1973 oil shock made the operation of thermal plants more expensvie, since oil prices rose from US$3 to US$37 per barrel between 1973 and 1982. The company, which was renamed NB Power / Énergie NB during that time, needed to explore other generating options.
Point Lepreau
The construction of a nuclear plant in New Brunswick has been discussed since the late 1950s. For over 15 years, engineers from the NBEPC visited the Chalk River LaboratoriesChalk River Laboratories
The Chalk River Laboratories is a Canadian nuclear research facility located near Chalk River, about north-west of Ottawa in the province of Ontario.CRL is a site of major research and development to support and advance nuclear technology, in particular CANDU reactor...
to keep abreast of the latest trends in the field. Formal talks between the provincial and federal governments began in 1972 and discussions between representatives of Premier Richard Hatfield
Richard Hatfield
Richard Bennett Hatfield, PC, ONB was a New Brunswick politician and long time Premier of the province .- Early life :...
and Atomic Energy of Canada accelerated the following year. In the aftermath of the oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
, the province wanted to secure a source of electricity which prices would be less volatile than oil. However, project financing was still an issue.
The federal government then announced a loan program to help provinces such as New Brunswick in January 1974. Ottawa's pledge to cover half of the cost of a first nuclear plant removed the last obstacle to construction of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located 2 km northeast of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick. The facility was constructed between 1975-1983 by NB Power, the provincially-owned public utility....
. On February 5, 1974, Hatfield announced his decision to build the plant, 20 miles (32 km) west of Saint John, and even raises the possibility of constructing a second one in the future. On May 2, 1975, the Canadian Atomic Energy Commission authorized the construction of two 640-MW units within a site that can accommodate a maximum of four reactors.
Labour unrest, design problems and skyrocketing construction costs significantly increased the plant's price tag. The total price of the first operational CANDU-6
CANDU reactor
The CANDU reactor is a Canadian-invented, pressurized heavy water reactor. The acronym refers to its deuterium-oxide moderator and its use of uranium fuel...
in the world was estimated at 466 million dollars in 1974. When it became operational 8 years later, on February 1, 1983, the cost had soared to C$1.4 billion.
Corporate structure
Valuation
Shortly after taking office in 1999, the ConservativeProgressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a centre-right political party in New Brunswick, Canada. It has its origins in the pre-Canadian confederation Conservative Party that opposed the granting of responsible government to the colony...
government of Bernard Lord
Bernard Lord
Bernard Lord, ONB, QC, is a Canadian politician and lobbyist. Lord served as the 30th Premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006.-Early life:...
commissioned TD Securities
Toronto-Dominion Bank
The Toronto-Dominion Bank , is the second-largest bank in Canada by market capitalization and based on assets. It is also the sixth largest bank in North America. Commonly known as TD and operating as TD Bank Group, the bank was created in 1955 through the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the...
to conduct an assessment of the company's viability. The study, whose findings were published in 2009, suggested four scenarios: the status quo; a sale to a strategic buyer; privatization through a share offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
; or splitting the utility into separate elements. The report valued the company at between $C3.6 and $C4.5 billion. This number however was very strongly contested by those familiar with the value of telecommunications rights of way and smart grid-based services, energy-related and otherwise, who considered the distribution network to have very much more value. These arguments were to be repeated often in the 2009-2010 NB Power controversy.
Between 2001 and 2004, the Lord government spent C$3.2 million to retain the services of CIBC World Markets
CIBC World Markets
CIBC World Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in the domestic and international equity and debt capital markets...
and Salomon Smith Barney
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers was a bulge bracket, Wall Street investment bank. Founded in 1910 by three brothers along with a clerk named Ben Levy, it remained a partnership until the early 1980s, when it was acquired by the commodity trading firm Phibro Corporation and then became Salomon Inc. Eventually...
in order to evaluate the resale value of the Point Lepreau and Coleson Cove power plants. The studies, codenamed Cartwheel and Lighthouse, have assessed the value of these assets to roughly C$4.1 billion. A similar valuation was used in the failed 2010 proposal to vend Lepreau to Hydro-Quebec, and was extremely controversial.
2003 reorganization
The Lord government shuffled the company's structure in early 2003 by introducing amendmentsAmend (motion)
-Explanation and Use:-Main Motions:Any main motion and any motion to amend may be amended. However, a motion to amend a motion to amend may not be amended, due to the overly complex parliamentary situation that would frequently result.-Secondary Motions:...
to the Electricity Act. The Act reorganized NB Power into a holding
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
with four divisions. The Act also maintains the company's distribution, transmission, and nuclear power monopolies, but opened the door to competition in the generation business.
The reorganization also created the New Brunswick Electric Finance Corporation, which is responsible for issuing, managing and paying NB Power's debt through payments dividends, fees and taxes paid by the various subsidiaries.
Following the deregulation model, the company was subdivided in 2004 with the future aim of selling off the various components (privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
). The distribution and customer service division of NB Power functions as a regulated monopoly and serves all the residential and industrial power consumers in the province, with the exception of those in Saint John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
; Edmundston and Perth-Andover
Perth-Andover, New Brunswick
Perth-Andover is a Canadian village in Victoria County, New Brunswick.The village is divided by the Saint John River with Perth on the east bank and Andover on the west bank; each was a separate community until municipal amalgamation in 1966...
who are served by Saint John Energy
Saint John Energy
Saint John Energy, formerly known as Power Commission of the City of Saint John and Civic Hydro, is the electrical utility reseller of power purchased from NB Power in Saint John, New Brunswick....
, City of Edmundston Electric and the Perth-Andover Electric Light Commission respectively.
Personnel
In October 2008, NB Power Holding Corporation was named one of "Canada's Top 100 EmployersCanada's Top 100 Employers
Canada's Top 100 Employers is an annual competition that recognizes the best places in Canada to work. First held in 1999, the project aims to single out the employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional working conditions and progressive human resources policies. Winners are...
" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
newsmagazine. In 2009, NB Power became the first electric utility to be recognized by the National Quality Institute by being awarded a Healthy Workplace Award.
Current members of the board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of NB Power are: Chair Ed Barrett who owns various communications companies, current President Gaetan Thomas, Norman Betts
Norman Betts
Norman M. Betts is a Chartered Accountant, university professor, and former provincial politician....
, Graham Brown
Graham Brown
Graham Brown is an award-winning American actor best known for his work in the theatre.- Biography :Born Robert Brown in New York, New York, he is best known for his work on the stage...
, Francis McGuire, Patrice Merrin Best, Bernard Cyr, Eloi Duguay, Leon Furlong, Lise Caissie, Normand Caissie, and Jane Fritz.
David D. Hay resigned as President after the 2010 controversy, claiming he had never been consulted on the deals, valuations or strategies involved.
Power generation
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
.
According to energy analyst and long-time critic Tom Adams, NB Power "has been the most oil-dependent grid-connected utility in North America". New Brunswick historically was politically dominated by the Irving family whose company Irving Oil
Irving Oil
Irving Oil is a gasoline, oil, and natural gas producing and exporting company. It is also one of the few energy companies in Canada to publicly support the Kyoto Accord. Irving Oil operates one large oil refinery...
remains the dominant fossil fuel supplier in the province. Conflicts of interest have often been noted between supply-side interests in petroleum or nuclear industries and the NB Power board. The utility is notably lax in energy demand management
Energy demand management
Energy demand management, also known as demand side management , is the modification of consumer demand for energy through various methods such as financial incentives and education...
and other means to reduce energy demand, and under current President Gaetan Thomas has been quoted in the press proposing additional nuclear reactors and other supply solutions to grid management problems. He has actively defended NB Power's reliance on nuclear power.
The main generation facilities are spread across the province. However, the Saint John area accounts for half of the total capacity, with the Coleson Cove
Coleson Cove Generating Station
The Coleson Cove Generating Station is a 1050 MW Canadian electrical generating station located at 4077 King William Road in the community of Seaview on the extreme western boundary of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick....
(978 MW) and Courtenay Bay (113 MW) thermal plants and Point Lepreau. Notably, Saint John is the hub of the Irving business interests.
The nuclear plant, whose rehabilitation has been hotly debated during the first part of the 2000s, was authorized by Bernard Lord
Bernard Lord
Bernard Lord, ONB, QC, is a Canadian politician and lobbyist. Lord served as the 30th Premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006.-Early life:...
's government in July 2005 and a $C 1.4 billion contract was signed with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory...
(AECL). Refurbishment work began in April 2008 and was expected to last 18 months. However, due to a series of delays caused in part by problems with the robotic equipment used to remove pressure tubes, the reopening was first postponed by three months in January 2009, and further delayed by four more months in July. In October 2009, New Brunswick Energy Minister Jack Keir stated that the plant is now scheduled to return in operation in February 2011. The costs have been estimated at over one million dollars per day in substitute of supply. Lawsuits were threatened by Premier Shawn Graham in 2010 and meetings were held in Ottawa regarding this liability and the proposed sale of AECL to private non-Canadian interests.
Despite these concerns, Gaetan Thomas, a board member of the Canadian Nuclear Association
Canadian Nuclear Association
The Canadian Nuclear Association was founded in 1960. Its mission is to represent the nuclear industry in Canada....
, continued to promote additional nuclear reactor builds, indicating that as many as four more could be added to Point Lepreau. Plans to build a new nuclear reactor at the southwestern New Brunswick facility received a boost in July 2010, when the province and French manufacturer Areva
Areva
AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...
signed a letter of intent. However, these plans were shelved within hours of the election of a Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a centre-right political party in New Brunswick, Canada. It has its origins in the pre-Canadian confederation Conservative Party that opposed the granting of responsible government to the colony...
government led by David Alward
David Alward
David Nathan Alward is a Canadian politician, the 32nd and current Premier of New Brunswick.Alward has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick since 1999 and has been the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick since 2008...
in September 2010.
Northern New Brunswick is served mainly by the Dalhousie plant (300 MW) and the coal-fired plant at Belledune
Belledune, New Brunswick
Belledune is a Canadian village in Gloucester County, New Brunswick.The little community of Belledune represents an amalgamation of Jacquet River, Armstrong Brook, and Belledune in 1994...
(458 MW). These two facilities are the company's two main sources of greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
emissions. In 2007, the Belledune plant released 2.94 million tonnes of while the Dalhousie generating station was responsible for 1.69 million tonnes.
The main hydroelectric facilities are located on the Saint John River. The province's largest, the Mactaquac generating station
Mactaquac Dam
The Mactaquac Dam is an embankment dam used to generate hydroelectricity in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It dams the waters of the Saint John River and is operated by NB Power with a capacity to generate 653 megawatts of electricity from 6 turbines; this represents 20 percent of New...
(672 MW), stands some 20 miles (32 km) upstream
Source (river or stream)
The source or headwaters of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates.-Definition:There is no universally agreed upon definition for determining a stream's source...
of the capital city, Fredericton. It was built between 1965 and 1968 at a cost of C$ 128 million. The plant has been a concern for some time due to a phenomenon called alkali-aggregate reaction
Alkali-aggregate reaction
Alkali–aggregate reaction is a term mainly referring to a reaction which occurs over time in concrete between the highly alkaline cement paste and non-crystalline silicon dioxide, which is found in many common aggregates...
, causing the dam to expand and crack. The problem has been known since the 1970s and could reduce the dam's life by half, according to a 2000 report by a panel of international engineering experts commissioned by the Crown corporation.
| Plant | Type | Capacity (MW) | Since | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coleson Cove Coleson Cove Generating Station The Coleson Cove Generating Station is a 1050 MW Canadian electrical generating station located at 4077 King William Road in the community of Seaview on the extreme western boundary of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick.... |
Heavy fuel oil Fuel oil Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash... and petcoke |
978 | 1976 | |
| Mactaquac Mactaquac Dam The Mactaquac Dam is an embankment dam used to generate hydroelectricity in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It dams the waters of the Saint John River and is operated by NB Power with a capacity to generate 653 megawatts of electricity from 6 turbines; this represents 20 percent of New... |
Hydro Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy... |
672 | 1968 | |
| Point Lepreau Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located 2 km northeast of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick. The facility was constructed between 1975-1983 by NB Power, the provincially-owned public utility.... |
Nuclear Nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity... |
635 | 1983 | Currently offline for the Point Lepreau Generating Station Refurbishment Project. Operation should resume in 2011. |
| Belledune Belledune Generating Station The Belledune Generating Station is a 450 MW Canadian electrical generating station located in the community of Belledune in Gloucester County, New Brunswick.... |
Coal Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure... |
458 | 1993 | |
| Millbank | Combustion turbine | 399 | 1991 | |
| Dalhousie Dalhousie Generating Station The Dalhousie Generating Station is a 315 MW Canadian electrical generating station located in the community of Darlington in Restigouche County, New Brunswick.... |
Heavy fuel oil Fuel oil Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash... |
300 | 1969 | Decommissioning announced for 2010 |
| Beechwood Beechwood Dam The Beechwood Dam is a hydroelectric dam built on the Saint John River in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and operated by NB Power corporation. Its power house has a capacity of 113 megawatts.... |
Hydro Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy... |
113 | 1957 | |
| Courtenay Bay | Heavy fuel oil Fuel oil Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash... |
109 | 1961 | Decommissioned in the fall of 2008 |
| Sainte-Rose | Combustion turbine | 100 | 1991 | |
| Grand Falls Grand Falls Generating Station The Grand Falls Generating Station is a hydroelectric dam built on the Saint John River in Grand Falls in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and is operated by NB Power corporation. It was built in 1931 and its power house has a capacity of 66 megawatts with its 4 turbines.... |
Hydro Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy... |
66 | 1928 | |
| Grand Lake | Coal Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure... |
57 | 1952 | Decommissioning originally planned for June 2010. Decommissioning to now take place 3 months ahead of schedule due to extensive fire damage that occurred in late February. |
| Grand Manan | Combustion turbine | 28 | 1989 | |
| Tobique Tobique Narrows Dam The Tobique Narrows Dam is a hydroelectric dam built on the Tobique River in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and operated by NB Power corporation... |
Hydro Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy... |
20 | 1953 | |
| Nepisiguit Falls Nepisiguit Falls The Nepisiguit Falls generating station is a hydroelectric dam built in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and is operated by NB Power corporation. It was bought by NB Power in 2007 from Smurfit-Stone. Its power house has a capacity of 11 megawatts with its 3 turbines.-External links:*... |
Hydro Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy... |
11 | 1921 | Bought by NB Power in 2007 |
| Sisson Sisson Dam The Sisson Dam is a hydroelectric dam built in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and is operated by NB Power corporation. Its power house has a capacity of 9 megawatts with its single turbine.-External links:*... |
Hydro Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy... |
9 | 1965 | |
| Milltown | Hydro Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy... |
4 | 1911 |
Transmission network
NB Power's transmission grid is 6801 kilometres (4,226 mi) long and includes high voltage lines at 345, 230 and 138 kV. The company operates interconnections with Hydro-QuébecHydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. Based in Montreal, the company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec....
, Nova Scotia Power
Nova Scotia Power
Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a power generating and delivery company in Nova Scotia. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board .-History:...
, Maritime Electric
Maritime Electric
Maritime Electric is the supplier of electricity in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Maritime Electric is a public utility regulated by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission under the Electric Power Act and the Renewable Energy Act...
in Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
and the ISO New England
ISO New England
ISO New England Inc. is an independent, non-profit Regional Transmission Organization , serving Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont....
network in the United States. The network is operated by the transmission division of NB Power, on behalf of the New Brunswick System Operator, a nonprofit organization that oversees the application of North American reliability standards and facilitates the development of a competitive electricity market in the province.
The main power grid forms an "O"-shaped loop and is linked by 345 kV lines. The main substations
Electrical substation
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions...
are located in Edmundston, Saint-André
Saint-André, New Brunswick
Saint-André is a Canadian village in Madawaska County, New Brunswick.Situated in a potato farming area, Saint-André was founded in 1904.-Demographics:Population trendMother tongue language -External links:*...
, Eel River, Bathurst
Bathurst, New Brunswick
Bathurst is a Canadian city in Gloucester County, New Brunswick.Bathurst is situated on Bathurst Harbour, an estuary at the mouth of the Nepisiguit River at the southernmost part of Chaleur Bay....
, Newcastle
Miramichi, New Brunswick
Miramichi is the largest city in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated at the mouth of the Miramichi River where it enters Miramichi Bay...
, Salisbury
Salisbury, New Brunswick
Salisbury, New Brunswick is a Canadian village located in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.The village's population meets the requirements for "town" status under the Municipalities Act of the Province of New Brunswick; however, its municipal status has not been changed.-History:Salisbury first...
, Norton
Norton, New Brunswick
Norton is a Canadian village in Kings County, New Brunswick.It is situated on the Kennebecasis River 55 kilometres northeast of Saint John...
and Keswick. The last two substations are connected to the Saint John area by a series of main lines.
NB Power supplies electricity to Maritime Electric
Maritime Electric
Maritime Electric is the supplier of electricity in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Maritime Electric is a public utility regulated by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission under the Electric Power Act and the Renewable Energy Act...
in Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
through a sub-sea interconnection cable on the floor of the Northumberland Strait
Northumberland Strait
The Northumberland Strait is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada...
, and imports/exports from/to Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
via Canada's first electrical interconnection between two provinces. NB Power also has interconnections to Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
.
Because of the asynchronous nature of Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system
Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system
Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system is an expansive, international power transmission system located in Quebec, Canada with extensions into the Northeastern United States...
, interconnections between the two neighboring provinces require HVDC converters. The first one, the Eel River Converter Station, was installed in 1972 and has a 350 MW transfer capacity. It is the first operative HVDC system equipped with thyristors The second converter, the Madawaska substation (435 MW), was built on the Quebec side of the border in 1985 and is operated by Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie. The two systems are linked by two 230-kV lines between Matapédia and Eel River, and by two 315-kV lines between the Madawaska and Edmundston substations. Some of NB Power loads in these areas can be islanded and supplied as part of the Quebec grid, which increases New Brunswick's import capability to 1,080 MW, whereas export capability to Quebec is limited to 785 MW.
Coal mining
Since 1986, NB Power operates a coal mine in MintoMinto
-Places:Antarctica*Mount Minto Australia*Minto, New South WalesCanada*Minto , a provincial electoral division in Manitoba*Minto, Manitoba, a community located in the Rural Municipality of Whitewater.*Minto, New Brunswick...
through its NB Coal subsidiary. The company extracts 150,000 tons of coal per year to fuel the Grand Lake Generating Station. On September 30, 2009, the company announced the mine phaseout in conjunction with the decommissioning of its only customer, the 57 MW power plant, built in 1963. The 38 permanent employees at the plant will be redeployed while 57 positions at the mine were eliminated. The company management explained the end of NB Power's presence in the region after nearly 8 decades by stressing the high cost of complying with stricter
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...
regulations.
Deal with Hydro-Québec
On October 29, 2009, the premiers of New Brunswick and Quebec signed a memorandum of understandingMemorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
to sell most assets of NB Power to Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. Based in Montreal, the company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec....
. This agreement reached after a 9-month negotiation process undertaken at the request of New Brunswick, would have transferred most generation, transmission and distribution assets of the New Brunswick utility to a subsidiary of the Quebec-based Crown corporation, including the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located 2 km northeast of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick. The facility was constructed between 1975-1983 by NB Power, the provincially-owned public utility....
and 7 hydroelectric plants, but would exclude fossil-fuel fired plants in Dalhousie, Belledune and Coleson Cove.
The memorandum of understanding fostered a spirited public debate in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
. Despite positive feedback from the province's busineess leaders, reactions to the MOU have been hostile. In addition to opposition parties, Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
's Danny Williams
Danny Williams (politician)
Daniel E. "Danny" Williams, QC, MHA is a Canadian politician, businessman and lawyer who served as the ninth Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador between November 6, 2003, and December 3, 2010. Williams was born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador...
, the union representing most NB Power employees and wind energy supporters quickly condemned the agreement as detrimental to the interests of New Brunswick.
Opponents in the general public used social media to show their displeasure and contest the various arguments for the deal. On Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, 14,000 people joined a group in opposition to the sale within five days of the announcement. A demonstration organized by the group and trade unions drew approximately 600 people outside the Legislative Assembly building on November 17, 2009. A Leger Marketing
Léger Marketing
Leger Marketing is the largest solely Canadian owned polling and market research firm in Canada with 650 employees, including 103 professionals. Leger Marketing provides access to Canadian and American markets...
opinion poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
conducted on behalf of Quebecor Media newspapers in November 2009 in New Brunswick and Quebec showed that 60% of New Brunswickers polled opposed the deal, while 22% supported it.
After months of controversies, New Brunswick and Quebec reprentatives signed a second agreement in January 2010, reducing the scope of the sale. Under the revised agreement, the sale would have transferred the hydroelectric and nuclear power plant to Hydro-Quebec
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. Based in Montreal, the company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec....
for C$3.4 billion. The government of New Brunswick would still own the transmission and distribution divisions and NB Power would enter into a long-term power purchase agreement with Hydro-Québec. The PPA would allow NB Power to deliver the rate freeze for residential and general customers. However, the industrial rates rollback would be smaller than under the original MOU.
On March 24, 2010, Premier Graham announced the deal had fallen through, due to Hydro-Québec's concern over unanticipated risks and costs of some aspects such as dam security and water levels. However, this interpretation was contested by analysts, who blamed the collapse of the deal on the political situation in New Brunswick.
Financial results
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