The Bipole III Coalition filed a submission today with the Public Utilities Board calling for a “slow down” of Manitoba Hydro’s $34-billion expansion plan. PUB is conducting a review of the need for and alternatives to the Hydro plan. The Coalition makes the case that Hydro’s load forecast which underpins its expansion plan is a vastly overstated predictor of Manitobas future demand for electricity. Using Hydro’s own records, the Coalitions submission demonstrates that Hydros load forecast does not properly reflect the flattening of load growth in Manitoba over the past eight years. It is also out of line with forecasts of modest load growth in the U.S. including the northern regions into which Hydro exports electrical energy. The result of Hydro’s unrealistic load forecast, the Coalition maintains, is an unproven need for new power resources and indirectly the creation of an artificial crisis. The Coalition proposes a more defensible load forecast that better reflects current trends in Manitoba and the northern regions of the U.S. With the more defensible forecast, the Coalition demonstrates that the in- service date for the next generation plant could be delayed until at least seven years after the 2023 date called for in Hydro’s plan. The Coalition challenges Hydro to use the extra time permitted by a more realistic load forecast to assess how trends already evident can impact future development. The Coalition’s submission is accessible at: bipoleiiicoalition.mb.ca. Additional information can be obtained by calling Dr. Garland Laliberte, Bipole III Coalition Vice-President, at (727) 954-4504.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 03:45:58 +0000
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