Three viewpoints on the proposed B.C.-Alberta hydro link project

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Premier Christy Clark made some progress at the first ministers' meeting last week with her ambition to build a new high-voltage transmission line to deliver British Columbia's excess clean energy to Alberta.

Federal support for the proposal would be a major boost, but the potential partners in this venture are still reading off different scripts.

Here's the project status, from three viewpoints:

B.C. government

In the final statement from the first ministers on Thursday, the federal government promised to "foster dialogue and the development of regional plans for clean electricity transmission to reduce emissions." British Columbia's Premier told reporters that paves the way for a three-way investment in the $1-billion project.

"We could save three to six megatonnes in carbon emissions for Canada if we upgraded that intertie between BC Hydro and Alberta to support Alberta getting off coal. That is a very significant change. That would be part of British Columbia's contribution, part of Alberta's contribution and part of the federal government's contribution if we could find a way to make it happen," Ms. Clark said. "That, I am going to bet, is the biggest project in the country if you measure it in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Alberta government

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley had been unenthusiastic about the proposal until last week, when she effectively offered to trade electricity for oil.

The B.C. government has yet to render a clear decision on either of the two pipeline proposals that would bring Alberta crude oil to the West Coast to reach overseas markets. But a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision means that British Columbia will have to decide if it will issue an environmental certificate for Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline project, and for Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain expansion project. Ms. Notley made it clear that a "no" would be a deal-breaker.

"We're not going to be buying power if we don't have a way to sell our product," Ms. Notley told CBC News last week after the first ministers' meeting. "That is pretty much what it comes down to. Because we need money to buy power."

BC Hydro

While the Premier's office in Victoria has sketched out a $1-billion project that would expand the existing intertie capacity between British Columbia and Alberta, the Crown corporation that is responsible for the electricity grid in British Columbia says it is not considering this enterprise.

In a media briefing on Feb. 25, BC Hydro president and CEO Jessica McDonald said no engineering or design work has been done on the proposal. "There really hasn't been any work done, to be blunt, in terms of the cost or logistics of an expanded intertie with Alberta. You know that we already trade with Alberta. There's limitations, though, on capacity in terms of the existing intertie. We have not done any engineering or studies on cost."

In fact, BC Hydro did produce a study in 2010 that looked at alternatives for a high-voltage transmission line between the two provinces. One would be in the south, through the Crowsnest Pass, the other in the north from British Columbia's Peace River region, where Site C is under construction.

But Ms. McDonald has a reason to put some distance between BC Hydro and the proposal. The corporation is just getting started on building the province's most expensive public works project in history, the Site C dam, and the CEO is concerned the expanded intertie plan implies the dam will produce surplus power. Given the slowing demand for electricity in British Columbia, that may be the case – at least in the early years of operation. However, that is not the message Hydro wants to deliver. "Site C is being built for domestic purposes, not for export – just to be very clear about that," Ms. McDonald said.

The one thing all of the first ministers agreed on in their declaration on clean growth and climate change last Thursday is that they need to meet ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions. British Columbia has a lot of work to do, but it will be a difficult transition for oil-dependent Alberta. Ms. Notley is now playing her pipeline card, but Ms. Clark may be holding a six megatonne ace in the hole.