Again, N.B. Power is at a Crossroads and Proposing to Take the Wrong Road. Say NO to the massive 500-megawatt gas plant near beautiful Sackville, NB.

A ProEnergy gas plant for peak electricity production in Houston, Texas

At a time when Planet Earth is coping with climate change and unprecedented wildfires, it is critical to reduce the use of fossil fuels for electricity production. NB Power’s unfolding plan to contract for construction of a 500-megawatt natural gas-powered plant in the Sackville area is absurd.

Furthermore, NB Power is asking to bypass rigorous review by the N.B. Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) for projects costing $50 million or more. NB Power is arguing that the fact that this gas-fired plant will be a “tolling” facility – not owned and run by the utility itself, meaning the project need not go through the normal NBEUB process. As William Shakespeare would say: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

A better scent is evident with Saint John Energy’s, Burchill Wind Farm with its 42- megawatt capacity. The number is small, but the direction toward renewables is a good one, and offers NB Power a more enlightened, planet-friendly pathway to the future.

It’s time for Premier Susan Holt and her ministers to state all environmental and Energy and Utilities laws and regulations will be upheld to ensure a proper review of the mammoth gas-fired Sackville area plant which NB Power is now pursuing. Furthermore, all financial details, including the cost of linking any new power plant into the power grid should be open for public scrutiny.

Detailed financials are still being kept secret, but the project is expected to cost multi-millions of dollars. It would be owned and run a partnership of Rigs Energy Atlantic, its U.S. parent company, ProEnergy, and North Shore Mi’kmaq First Nation in the province’s Northeast. If built, the plant would operate under contract with NB Power, which would not have an equity stake, but would need to ink a 25-year power purchase agreement.

On the face of it, this appears to be a great deal for a very large U.S.-based corporation, at the expense of New Brunswickers.

 The best part of the arrangement would likely be the involvement of the First Nation, although it remains to be seen whether this would be an equity participation or merely a part of the funds spent as electricity is generated.

Advanced publicity says the plant would provide peaking power for more than 300,000 homes in the fast-growing Moncton area. N.B. Power wants this huge plant up and running by Aug. 1, 2028.

The project appears to have the support of both the federal and provincial governments, but no formal announcement has been made to date, showing that it is not a clear winner and may be a political hot potato.

The Holt government has had trouble settling with the federal Carney government on a New Brunswick project of “national importance” for the country. Possibilities which Premier Holt has mentioned to date include an Eastern gas pipeline, the environmentally sensitive Sisson mine project in the Nashwaak River valley and Point Lepreau Two.

Building and paying for a nuclear generating station is no small matter. Point Lepreau one took over eight years to build, and the cost zoomed from $480 million to $1.1 billion, not a huge number in today’s Trump era in the USA, but very large number at the time. A cost that contributed significantly to N.B. Power’s $6 billion debt.
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There would be steep political cost if the Holt government and NB Power go ahead with this new gas fired generating facility. Not least of the political opposition could come from the Sackville area, which has been very strong in mounting opposition to emergency room closures and past social cutbacks.