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Mining Power Issues

Watay Power out to electrify Northwestern FN communities – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – September 1, 2016)

 

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A First Nations-owned transmission company is the Ontario government’s developer of choice to hook up remote communities in northwestern Ontario to the provincial power grid.

Wataynikaneyap Power LP (Watay) was selected in late July to be the transmitter to build a 1,800-kilometre network to bring power to more than 10,000 people in 17 remote communities who’ve been reliant for decades on expensive and unreliable local diesel generation.

For the last eight years, Watay and its chair Margaret Kenequanash have been leading the charge to make the $1.35-billion project a reality. They’ve steadily grown their ownership base to 22 First Nation communities and skillfully recruited transmission specialists Fortis Ontario and RES Canada to join their consortium.

“I think it’s exciting that we’re able to bring clean energy to our communities and that we can move forward with the development that’s required to build the line,” said Kenequanash.

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Indigenous-led solution to First Nations’ power woes in the works – by Jesse Winter (Toronto Star – August 8, 2016)

https://www.thestar.com/

Relief is on the horizon with recent announcement that the Ontario government has designated Wataynikaneyap Power the transmission company to build an ambitious 1,800-kilometre power line linking 17 remote First Nations communities to the provincial power grid.

Last December, the electricity grid in Margaret Kenequanash’s home community of North Caribou Lake was so fragile she says even hanging Christmas lights risked sparking a dangerous power outage. “We couldn’t even celebrate Christmas,” she said.

“It becomes an emergency situation when there’s a power outage in the community. Milk, food starts to go bad in fridges. We have elderly people that require day-to-day support and care. We need to make sure they’re looked after,” Kenequanash said.

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Ministry of Energy News Release: Ontario Selects Wataynikaneyap Power to Connect Remote First Nation Communities to Electricity Grid

Province Moving Forward to Help Fight Climate Change, Grow Economy

July 29, 2016 – Ontario has selected Wataynikaneyap Power LP (Watay) to connect 16 remote First Nation communities that currently rely on diesel power to the province’s electricity grid.

Once complete, the project will provide more than 10,000 people living in remote First Nation communities in northwestern Ontario with a reliable, clean supply of electricity. Watay Power plans to begin construction work starting in 2018, once all approvals are secured, with the goal of completing construction and connecting communities by 2024.

Watay Power is an unprecedented partnership between a consortium of 20 First Nation communities and a transmission partner, Fortis Ontario and RES Canada (RES/FortisOntario).

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Plan to pressure the province for action on Ring of Fire – by Gord Young (North Bay Nugget – June 15, 2016)

http://www.nugget.ca/

Rising electricity prices topped the agenda of a meeting of the mayors of Northern Ontario’s largest cities in North Bay Wednesday.

The Northern Ontario Large Urban Mayors group – consisting of North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay – has agreed to request a meeting with Ontario’s new energy minister during an upcoming municipal conference in August. The group hopes to lobby Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault, who was recently appointed the the portfolio, for changes that will provide some hydro relief for homeowners and businesses.

“It is the topic around the table from all of the mayors,” said Mayor Al McDonald, noting there is growing concern that rising electricity prices are driving industry out of the province and making it increasingly expensive for residents to live in their own homes. “We believe it’s becoming a crisis in the province.”

McDonald said the high cost of power is a dilemma for municipalities trying to attract industry.

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China firms to fund Congo hydro power plant to lift mining output (Reuters Africa – June 14, 2016)

http://af.reuters.com/

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 14 (Reuters) – China’s Sinohydro and China Railway Group will finance a $660 million hydroelectric plant in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo which is being built to reduce the copper-mining region’s power deficit.

Congo is Africa’s largest miner of copper and the 240 megawatt dam in the town of Busanga will power Sicomines, a nearby copper and cobalt mining joint venture between the Chinese companies and Congolese state miner Gecamines.

Sicomines is the mining side of a $6 billion minerals-for-infrastructure deal signed in 2007, under which Sinohydro and China Railway Group pledged to build $3 billion worth of infrastructure in return for a 68 percent stake in the mine.

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A 7,000-kilometre northern corridor in search of shared vision – by Claude Montmarquette and Andrei Sulzenko (Globe and Mail – May 27, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s history is full of examples of large-scale transportation infrastructure projects that have motivated growth and helped define a shared vision for the country. The Canadian Pacific Railway, the Trans-Canada Highway and the St. Lawrence Seaway are prime examples.

But the Canada of 2016 does not have such grand plans for infrastructure that may be vital to supporting economic and social development in this country. Aside from some private-sector proposals (mainly pipelines), there are precious few examples of transportation infrastructure developments outside our major urban centres.

The best way to address this lack of vision may well be through a bold approach being examined by researchers at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary and CIRANO, a Quebec-based economic research organization. We have just released a study on the potential for a major transportation right-of-way through Canada’s North and near North, connecting resource-rich areas with tidewater access on all three coasts.

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Proposed 7,000-kilometre resource corridor would improve life in Canada’s North, researchers say – by Eric Atkins (Globe and Mail – May 27, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

An ambitious proposal to build a 7,000-kilometre trade and infrastructure corridor in Canada’s North has taken a key step forward.

The Northern Corridor would link Canada’s people, goods and natural resources with overseas and southern markets, and boost sovereignty and development in vast swaths of the country that are economically isolated, concludes the first feasibility study of the concept. The idea was launched a year ago by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and Montreal’s Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations.

Pipelines, railways, roads, electricity and transmission lines would share the right of way that extends from the Pacific to Atlantic oceans, the Beaufort Sea to the north, as well as Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence Seaway, connecting to existing rails, roads, pipes and ports in the southern part of Canada.

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Kathleen Wynne Ridiculed By Wildrose Party During Visit To Alberta Legislature – by Dean Bennett (Huffington Post – May 27, 2016)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

“Currently Ontario has the largest subnational sovereign debt
on the planet,” Fildebrandt told the house. “They’re now even
receiving equalization payments. It’s an example of what happens
when a government fails to get its spending under control.”

The Canadian Press – EDMONTON — Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne came to Alberta to talk environment but instead found herself publicly ridiculed on the floor of the legislature as the leader of a failed, debt-ridden enterprise.

As Wynne looked on from the Speaker’s gallery during question period Thursday, the opposition Wildrose party demanded to know why Wynne, a Liberal, was invited while right-centrist and next-door-neighbour Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall was not.

“Invite Premier Wall here! Invite Premier Wall,” Wildrose finance critic Derek Fildebrandt shouted at Premier Rachel Notley as she tried to answer a question.

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High energy costs zapping new mine opportunities – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – May 14, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Timmins Mayor Steve Black told top government officials Friday that if hydro rates are not discounted for new industrial projects, Northern Ontario would be losing more business to the province of Quebec. Black said it is a real concern involving a real company ready to invest in Timmins and Black said he “would hate to lose this project.”

The mayor was speaking to a group of Ontario cabinet ministers who took part in the traditional “bear-pit session” at the annual conference of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) which was held at the McIntyre Community Building in Timmins this week. The bear-pit session is that part of the conference where government leaders are questioned directly on contentious issues raised by the municipal leaders, mayors and councillors.

Those taking part in the session included housing minister Ted McMeekin, natural resources and forestry minister Bill Mauro, government services minister David Orazietti and parliamentary assistant to the minister of the environment Glenn Thibeault.

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Power project focuses on First Nations – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle -Journal – May 11, 2016)

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/

Residents of 21 remote First Nations communities are being given an opportunity to comment on a plan to extend power transmission lines to their communities. Wataynikaneyap Power is hosting community consultations on Phase 2 of a project to connect communities north of Pickle Lake and Red Lake to the Ontario power grid.

“Wataynikaneyap is holding these engagement meetings in the First Nation communities to provide information on the project, the preliminary corridor routing studies, and initial environmental assessment considerations,” company board member Frank McKay said in an email to The Chronicle-Journal.

“Importantly, the project team would like to hear community member’s concerns and collect feedback on the project and its planning. The information collected in these engagement meetings will help us to prepare an initial design for the project and to understand what should be included in the environmental assessment.”

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[Northwest Ontario First Nations] Looking for new power – by Jeff Labine and Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – May 3, 2016)

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/

A new energy conference is pairing up First Nations communities with companies that could provide solutions to power problems.

Marten Falls First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum attended the first Matawa First Nations energy conference in Thunder Bay on Monday in order to learn more about different trends in providing power. Many First Nation communities including Marten Falls aren’t connected to any electrical grids and rely on other forms of power like diesel fuel to provide electricity.

The continued use of expensive and unreliable diesel-fired generators to produce electricity on remote aboriginal reserves isn’t jut bad for air-quality, says Matawa First Nations. The Thunder Bay-based agency says a lack of clean reliable power sources severely limits the ability of bands located in Ontario’s far north to plan and develop economic projects.

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Ontario First Nations plan power line to help remote communities get off diesel – by Jody Porter (CBC News thunder Bay – April 27, 2016)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Wataynikaneyap Power project would connect 16 First Nations to Ontario’s electricity grid

The plan to extend Ontario’s electricity lines to the remote northern parts of the province takes another step forward this month as consultation meetings are underway in more than a dozen First Nations.

Twenty First Nations are the majority owners of Wataynikaneyap Power — 16 of them currently rely on costly and hazardous diesel generated electricity. That role puts the First Nations-led company in the unique position of conducting consultations with communities that are also its owners.

“I think it will help with the community because our diesel generator is not very reliable at times,” said Donald Campbell, deputy chief at North Spirit Lake, who is also a board member with Wataynikaneyap.

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Diesel-generated electricity costly for envrionment, economy, Ontario First Nations say  (CBC News thunder Bay – April 27, 2016)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

First Nations planning to extend Ontario’s power grid hundreds of kilometres into the province’s remote north say getting their communities off diesel generators could save millions of dollars.

In May, the Ontario government is expected to designate the transmission line extension as a priority project, and the First Nations-led Wataynikaneyap Power hopes to be selected as the company to build it.

Meanwhile, 25 First Nations in the province remain reliant on diesel generators to provide electricity to their growing communities. Residents say it’s a dirty, unreliable and expensive way to create power.

Here are some of the costs of that diesel power in one First Nation, by the numbers:

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Ontario Minister talks up energy cost incentives for mines – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – April 22, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – The Ontario Government is working hard to make energy rates competitive for the Northern Ontario mining industry but they’re still not able to compete with the low electricity prices offered in Manitoba and Quebec.

Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli was speaking about that to the Timmins Chamber of Commerce on Thursday as he announced that two Northern mining companies are taking part in the Industrial Electricity Incentive (IEI) program.

Chiarelli announced that Alamos Gold Inc. which operates the Young-Davidson Mine at Matachewan and St. Andrews Goldfields Ltd., which operates near Matheson, are both signed up with the IEI Stream-3 program which provides for adjustable hydro rates.

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How the madness of Muskrat Falls might finally be fixed – by Tom Adams (Financial Post – April 22, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Mired in controversy, cost overruns, construction delays, politicized decision-making, existential litigation and secrecy, the Lower Churchill Muskrat Falls hydroelectric megaproject in Labrador has just generated the first good news in its history.

The energy-development arm of Newfoundland and Labrador’s government, Nalcor Energy, has this week seen a changing of the guard. Out are Nalcor’s board and CEO. Together, they had an intimate association with the former provincial Progressive Conservative government, which had initiated and shielded the Muskrat Falls project from prying eyes.

In, as of Thursday, is a new CEO, Stan Marshall, recently retired as the head of the private utility powerhouse Fortis Inc. Under Marshall, Fortis rose from its roots as a medium-sized domestic power distributor based in St. John’s to become an extremely successful international multi-energy utility company.

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