TransCanada urges Alberta linkup to U.S. power grid for Private Profit

CALGARYTransCanada Corp. wants Alberta’s electricity grid connected to the western United States, allowing producers to export electricity from the power plants they want to build in Alberta.

Alberta needs substantial new generating capacity as companies pursue projects such as new oil sands projects that consume large amounts of electricity.

Calgary-based TransCanada has positioned itself to provide some of that capacity through new natural gas and clean coal power plants, while it is also behind efforts to build the province’s first nuclear plant.

Alberta’s lack of transmission links, however, means companies can’t send any excess production from new power plants to other markets. Building new plants without links to the United States would lead to an oversupplied provincial market, plummeting prices and little incentive for companies to invest in new generating capacity, TransCanada chief executive officer Hal Kvisle said yesterday.

read the Globe and Mail article here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071219.RTRANSCANADA19/TPStory/TPBusiness/Prairies/