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CBC
27 minutes ago
- CBC
N.B. Power, U.S. company pick Tantramar site for natural gas plant
Social Sharing N.B. Power has changed the location of a proposed natural gas plant it wants to see built in southeast New Brunswick, opting for a remote location in the Tantramar area instead of a site in Scoudouc. The plant would begin operating in 2028 and would be able to generate 500 megawatts of electricity, most of it to meet growing demand caused by population growth. It would also emit greenhouse gases, though N.B. Power said last year there would be a net reduction in emissions provincially because the new plant would provide backup generation for an increasing share of wind and solar energy on the grid. "Today, for example, there's 400 megawatts of installed wind energy in New Brunswick and only about 40 megawatts is producing electricity," Brad Coady, N.B. Power's vice-president of business development, said in an interview. "What we're looking for is nimble machines that can come on, come on quickly and only stay on as long as is needed to integrate that wind energy. It'll fill in the voids when the wind isn't there and the sun isn't there." The plant would be built by Missouri-based ProEnergy and operated by its subsidiary, Rigs Energy Atlantic, which includes a minority equity investment from the North Shore Mi'kmaq Tribal Council made up of seven First Nations. N.B. Power, U.S. builder pick Tantramar site for gas plant 5 minutes ago John MacIsaac, who is heading the project for private developer ProEnergy Canada, said the plant will allow N.B. Power to reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 250,000 tonnes a year. The 20-hectare site is in Centre Village, along Route 940, within the municipality of Tantramar. It's where the Maritimes and Northeast natural gas pipeline crosses paths with an N.B. Power transmission line. The plant would draw gas from that pipeline to run 10 turbines that would generate power to sell on the grid under a 25-year purchase agreement. The assessment submission says the Tantramar site was chosen after consultations with the Mi'kmaw council, which said there would be fewer environmental impacts than at the Scoudouc site. If the plant is approved, preliminary work would start in early 2026, and it would be operating by the third quarter of 2028. MacIsaac said his figure of a 250,000-tonne net reduction in N.B. Power's greenhouse gas emissions came from ProEnergy's discussions with the utility. A utility spokesperson gave that figure last year and said the reduction would come from avoiding the use of coal at the Belledune generation station and fuel oil at Coleson Cove — both of which emit more carbon dioxide — to back up renewables. But that calculation was based on what the spokesperson said would be 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the gas plant itself in its first year of operation. ProEnergy's assessment document says it would emit more than 910,000 tonnes. Neither MacIsaac nor Coady were able to explain the difference in the two figures. N.B. Power officials said in 2023 that they had come close to not being able to meet the demand for electricity in the province during a February cold snap. Since then, the utility has faced lengthy shutdowns at two power plants and is now planning for the phaseout of coal from its Belledune generating station by 2030. The application says the utility had calculated it would need more generation in the early 2030s but now believes it may require it by the winter of 2028. Asking people to cut back on consumption wouldn't reduce demand enough, it says. Coady said N.B. Power would use 400 megawatts from the plant, about 80 per cent of its capacity, and the additional 100 megawatts could be part of a future agreement to supply other provinces. "There's potential there, there's opportunity there, and I'll say we're working on it." The project will go through a federal environmental impact assessment. Provincially, the environment minister can waive the need for a separate process based on the recommendation of a technical review committee. The plant will also use ultra-low sulphur diesel as a backup fuel. It could eventually use hydrogen — a gas often touted as an even cleaner alternative — but the submission says it is "currently not technically or economically feasible."
CBC
27 minutes ago
- CBC
What's going on with Nova Scotia Power's billing
Nova Scotia Power is sending workers out to manually check power meters at homes to ensure accurate billing, as some customers complain of receiving higher than expected bills. It's the latest development since a ransomware attack breached the company's computer systems on March 19 and brought some of its systems to a halt. More than half of the utility's customers in Nova Scotia — about 280,000 — were informed by letter that their personal information may have been compromised. "The meters on customers' homes have continued to accurately record energy use throughout the cyber incident, but they're unable to send the information back to our billing systems right now," Chris Lanteigne, Nova Scotia Power's director of customer care, told CBC's Information Morning Nova Scotia in an interview that aired Monday. Lanteigne said meters that previously could send power usage data directly to Nova Scotia Power haven't been able to do that since the breach. He said he expects meter readers will be out collecting data "over the next couple of months." He said bills that have been sent out over the last month were based on estimates of "seasonal usage from the previous year." 'We want to help' "When we are reading the meter, that will actually show the information that's on the meter to generate the bill," Lanteigne said. He said customers should call Nova Scotia Power directly if they're concerned about a bill. "We want to help them understand what has transpired on their bill and we're happy to talk it through with them and find a solution," he said. Billing was paused on April 25 — when the breach was discovered — and only resumed in early June. Now, some customers are receiving two bills within a relatively short period of time. "Over the course of the last five weeks or so, we've been catching up on billing," Lanteigne said. "So when customers are receiving a bill, a good way to think about it is the first one is catching up and then the time between that bill and the next bill will be shorter." He said the utility is not currently charging late fees on outstanding balances. Customer with solar panels gets 'significantly higher' bill Robyn Brown, a Nova Scotia Power customer in Dartmouth, has had solar panels on her home since September 2022. She said her bill is usually around $40 every two months — the cost of the meter fee, since the panels generate more electricity than she uses. Her latest bill was around $162, more than four times higher than normal. "It's not a lot of money compared to other people, but it was significantly higher," Brown said. People with solar panels get data about their power generation during a billing period. Brown said she noticed the latest bill didn't include that information. She called the company for answers and said she was told they weren't able to track her solar production. "I was like, 'How did you come up with this number?" … and basically [the customer service representative] didn't know where they generated this estimate from because it didn't make sense with any of my previous data. [She] said it could have been data from as far back as 2022 before I got solar." Brown said she was told she could pay the higher amount, which would eventually be reflected on her account as a credit, or she could wait. She said she paid the amount for the meter fee. Energy board calls for report "My concern is the fact that they don't seem to have an accurate read on how much solar producers are producing and I'm worried. What's my recourse if they come back with the next adjusted bill next month and there's no solar on there? Like what are they going to do then?" Brown said. The Nova Scotia Energy Board, formerly known as the Utility and Review Board, opened a proceeding into Nova Scotia Power's cybersecurity breach. It will require a report from the company — which is doing its own investigation — about the incident. The report to the energy board must include: An incident description. Details on affected systems and data, indicators of compromise (how the company knew a breach happened). A root-cause analysis (how the breach happened, plus vulnerabilities and security gaps). Impact analysis. Response and recovery actions. Details on collection and retention of personal data. Recommendations. "While the board appreciates that it will not be possible to publicly disclose certain information for security reasons and to mitigate impacts relating to personal and confidential information that was stolen, it is important that the board's inquiry be conducted publicly and as transparently as possible," a news release from the board said Monday. Once the report is filed, the board will establish a public process to review it and Nova Scotia Power's planning for and response to the event that happened. The board wants Nova Scotia Power to file the report by the end of the year, though that deadline could change.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
New steakhouse experience in the market
A luxurious dining experience in the heart of the Byward Market just opened. We look at their menu featuring premium Canadian beef.
