The Western Star has latched on to a story that first ran this weekend in Halifax’s Chronicle Herald about a coalition of environmental advocates calling for Nova Scotia Power to consider buying readily available hydroelectricity from Quebec rather than the potential development of Muskrat Falls.
Leaving the environmental reasons and motivations from the group aside for just a moment, there are two excerpts from the story that ought to jump out at every taxpayer (and ratepayer) in Newfoundland & Labrador. They are as follows:
With Hydro-Quebec sitting on surplus power and hydro prices at historical lows, they say a power agreement with Quebec is a no-brainer.
“Quebec power is immediately available and the Newfoundland and Labrador project is an idea,” Neal Livingston of Black River Hydro Ltd. said in a recent interview.
And:
The average price of power in the New England wholesale market this summer was only 4.9 cents US per kilowatt hour.
Finally:
The northern state’s two largest utilities signed a $1.5-billion agreement with Hydro-Quebec. The 26-year contract, which begins next year and runs until 2038, is for 225 megawatts of electricity, enough to meet about a quarter of the state’s total energy needs.
Under the deal, Vermont ratepayers will pay about six cents per kilowatt hour. However, the price is tied to inflation and electricity market indexes.
Does anyone still think hydro power at 16.5 cents/kWh (the cost before transmission beyond Nova Scotia is even factored in) can be competitive in this market?
