It's not my intentention to turn this blog into merely another outlet for the work of the Official Opposition, but for those who are interested, here's the latest video from the Alberta Liberal Caucus.
Back to writing about Star Trek and comic books soon enough, I promise.
EDITED TO ADD:
For some reason, certain YouTube videos look off-centre when embedded in my blog. If this annoys you,watch it here.
Nobody else has replied to this, and I've asked around a bit on this topic:
1) Alberta's power grid is currently rather old and in poor shape, especially the corridor between Calgary and Edmonton, as well as from Edmonton to parts north. The current system is overloaded in those regions.
2) The cost to replace the most worn-out wiring is closer to $8 billion rather than $14 billion. Even so, that's a massive amount of money. Somebody's going to get rich off of this project, as the Liberals say. How can this price tag ever be paid off? Is a P-3 a better answer? I would think absolutely not.
3) The proposed system will also switch from AC to DC current. Transmission on AC wiring makes for easier direct connections, but there is a considerable loss of electricty if you transmit AC current over long distances. DC current travels distances more efficiently, but you need costly transformer substations at the terminals to make the power usable by the public.
How does the Heritage Fund stand in all of this? According to the Conservative website this last quarter the HF holds $14 billion - a familiar number.
While reseraching this topic, I discovered that Norway is adopting a similar fund. The Norwegians have struck oil, but they know their reserve is limited. They are applying oil revenue royalties towards their own fund. As well, I believe they are using a carbon tax and possibly a percentage of energy infrastructure development budget to augment their fund. They know that sooner or later, their economy will endure a shift and are they are preparing for that.
Which end of the oil development axis does Alberta trend towards: Norway or Dubai?
Power lines don't wear out. They are constantly being maintained. Some more capacity is needed but we do not need a whole new grid. This is massive overbuild that adds capacity ten times over what we are currently using. AESO says that we will double our need for capacity in 20 years....20 years. This is a massive overbuild to support generation for export. Albertans are paying 100% for these lines but will not own them. The corps that build them will take ownership plus 9% for their troubles. This is a massive corporate subsidy to support energy deregulation. we are being taken to the cleaners.
Nobody else has replied to this, and I've asked around a bit on this topic:
ReplyDelete1) Alberta's power grid is currently rather old and in poor shape, especially the corridor between Calgary and Edmonton, as well as from Edmonton to parts north. The current system is overloaded in those regions.
2) The cost to replace the most worn-out wiring is closer to $8 billion rather than $14 billion. Even so, that's a massive amount of money. Somebody's going to get rich off of this project, as the Liberals say. How can this price tag ever be paid off? Is a P-3 a better answer? I would think absolutely not.
3) The proposed system will also switch from AC to DC current. Transmission on AC wiring makes for easier direct connections, but there is a considerable loss of electricty if you transmit AC current over long distances. DC current travels distances more efficiently, but you need costly transformer substations at the terminals to make the power usable by the public.
How does the Heritage Fund stand in all of this? According to the Conservative website this last quarter the HF holds $14 billion - a familiar number.
While reseraching this topic, I discovered that Norway is adopting a similar fund. The Norwegians have struck oil, but they know their reserve is limited. They are applying oil revenue royalties towards their own fund. As well, I believe they are using a carbon tax and possibly a percentage of energy infrastructure development budget to augment their fund. They know that sooner or later, their economy will endure a shift and are they are preparing for that.
Which end of the oil development axis does Alberta trend towards: Norway or Dubai?
Power lines don't wear out. They are constantly being maintained. Some more capacity is needed but we do not need a whole new grid. This is massive overbuild that adds capacity ten times over what we are currently using. AESO says that we will double our need for capacity in 20 years....20 years. This is a massive overbuild to support generation for export. Albertans are paying 100% for these lines but will not own them. The corps that build them will take ownership plus 9% for their troubles. This is a massive corporate subsidy to support energy deregulation. we are being taken to the cleaners.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the both of you for the comments. I'll only add that the cost estimates for this project vary wildly.
ReplyDeleteAs for how Alberta has used its non-renewable resource wealth...I'm sorry to say we're looking a lot more like Dubai than Norway.