Chase Energy Canada Limited

Sundance #6 went offline early this morning. IPPSA’s annual conference is set for March 11-13.  This year’s event, ‘Around the Horn, lessons learned from other markets’, brings in a host of experts on the key issues facing Alberta such as transmission cost, regional market integration and climate change.  And last year’s popular debate format continues for Tuesday.   For more information, see www.ippsa.com… Maxim Power Corp completed the sale of its 26 MW Alberta Power Project facilities to AltaGas Pipeline Partnership, an operating subsidiary of AltaGas Ltd. , for $12.95 million. The asset purchase agreement was previously announced on Jan. 25. MAXIM will utilize the proceeds from this sale to advance its development projects in Alberta – the 190 MW Deerland peaking station, the 500 MW Milner Expansion project, and the Mine 14 metallurgical coal mine project. Commissioned in 2001, The Alberta Power Project consists of four separate facilities in southern Alberta: Taber, Burdett , Coaldale and Fort MacLeod… Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. says its power generation unit has won a 25-year deal to sell electricity to Saskatchewan Power Corp., the prairie province’s Crown-owned generator. The Toronto-area company said  the power will be produced at its 177 MW wind power project in Chaplin, Sask., about 200km west of Regina. The plant is slated to be built by the end of 2016 and will cost the company $355 million.

Sheerness#1 came back online at 23:00 yesterday.

Ontario’s power grid operator, the Independent Electricity System Operator, announced that over 2,600 MW of capacity is expected to be added to the Ontario grid over the next 18 months. The new capacity will support Ontario’s plans to shut down coal-fired generation owned by Ontario Power Generation. The new electric generation capacity includes nuclear power from two, 750-MW units currently being refurbished. Bruce Power expects the Bruce 2 reactor to commence operations in the first quarter of 2012 and Unit 1 in the third quarter. Bruce Power currently operates the Bruce A and Bruce B nuclear power stations, which include six active units and the two being refurbished. An additional 400 MW of gas-fired generation – plus over 700 MW of renewable capacity – is also scheduled to begin delivering power to the grid over the next 18 months. To support the new generation resources and the loss of the coal-fired units, the IESO stated a new 500-kV electric transmission line between Bruce and Milton will soon also commence operations.

Zorg Biogas AG has developed a new dry recycling process. A so-called “wet recycling” process, used in biogas plants before, could only be applied to production waste of agricultural and food industries. More so, production waste with 50% humidity and less or heavily polluted materials could not be recycled by biogas plants without installment of additional costly equipment. New “dry recycling” process does not involve water, transportation of raw materials through pipes, mixers, presses and separators. With the use of wheeled loader, raw materials are transferred to a hermetically sealed container. Heated ferments circulate in a filled container.

Sheerness#1 went offline at 01:01 this morning.

Keephills#3 went offline at 23:31 Sunday.

The city of Vancouver is one of Canada’s electric vehicle hotspots, yet they’ve only 20 public EV charging stations. It’s something they’re aiming to remedy. Vancouver recently announced an $800,000 pilot project to add another 67 charging stations across the city. The 67 new stations, to be erected by the end of 2013, will be placed in the parking lots of community centers, parks, and offices. The charge for electricity will vary depending on location, but is expected to average $1 an hour.

Vancouver based Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, has been chosen by SunEnergy1 to supply nine Schneider Electric GT500 MVX grid tie solar inverters for a commercial rooftop project at Shoe Show’s corporate headquarters in Concord, North Carolina. The 5.2 MWp project, which was commissioned in January 2012, is one of the largest commercial rooftop projects in the United States.

Gamesa will supply five of its G97 2 MW wind turbines for the 10 MW wind farm planned in Highgate, Ontario, by Saturn Power, marking the first Canadian project for the Spanish company. The G97 wind turbine is specially designed for low-wind sites and features a new aerodynamic blade tip.

Ontario’s energy revolution is supposed to save both its economy and the environment, but the government’s roadmap to recovery is facing an ironic foe: diminished demand. TD economist Don Drummond’s recent report on Ontario’s financial state forecasts sluggish growth for the foreseeable future, with just a two per cent growth in real GDP from 2015 to 2018. The province’s mediocre economic prospects, coupled with slowing population growth, are a combination that may put Ontario’s electricity plan out the window.

Premier Alison Redford popped up in the legislature Thursday to reverse nearly everything the government has said or done about power lines and power prices. The government caved on cabinet’s ability to decree new lines, bent on the price of electricity, launched a pricing inquiry, and pledged to protect the afflicted consumer. Redford said she understands electricity bills have been a hardship for many Albertans. With that in mind, the yet-to-be-created panel will review the regulated rate option – the price consumers pay if they haven’t locked into a contract – and see if there’s a way to “reduce volatility and costs.” The premier will ask the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) to freeze ancillary fees, including distribution, transmission, rider and administration charges, while the panel does its work. The energy department said the freeze will not apply to local access fees. The AUC will also be asked to continue to incent industry to find electricity distribution efficiencies, and pass on lower prices to consumers. Service Alberta will also amend regulations as to allow more Albertans to get on fixed-rate contracts – the government is also going to look for ways to reduce ancillary charges on electricity bills. The review is expected to be complete this summer, until then charges on power bills like distribution, transmission, rider and administration fees will all stay static.

Canadians will see both health and economic benefits if the federal government follows through rapidly on draft regulations to crack down on pollution from coal-fired electricity plants, says newly released briefing notes from Environment Canada. The department also has identified the oil and gas sector as a “priority” in the next step of its climate-change plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the briefing notes which suggest draft regulations in that booming sector could be introduced this year. The documents, prepared in September right after the government had introduced draft regulations to crack down on pollution from coal plants, noted the urgency of delivering meaningful regulations for coal-fired electricity.

Electrovaya Inc. announced that it has delivered a 1.5MWh capacity Lithium Ion SuperPolymer® Battery Energy Storage System (“BESS”) to Arizona Public Service Company, that state’s largest electric utility. The BESS will be providing energy storage for a pilot program to study ways to optimize the integration of renewable energy sources to the grid. This system is possibly the world’s largest Lithium Ion battery in a single container. Energy Storage with lithium batteries is highly energy-efficient and stores energy from intermittent generating sources such as wind and solar and makes it available to electricity users at Peak Power or on demand.

Alberta landowners upset with how the province takes over their land will soon be able make their concerns known through a property rights advocate. Environment Minister Diana McQueen said Tuesday the government will introduce legislation this week to create the advocate job. McQueen said the bill reflects the feedback a panel of government MLAs heard last month when they toured 10 communities to hear landowners’ concerns. She said the government will also review the property rights elements of the Expropriation Act as well as the Surface Rights Act.

Canada’s Songbird , Anne Murray,has written Premier Darrell Dexter asking him to halt the proposed $85-million project, which would be about three kilometres from her summer home. Pugwash Wind Farm Inc. wants to install 11 or 12 turbines, which would generate up to 33 megawatts of electricity, on a site about two kilometres east of Pugwash. Construction could begin in 2013. The singing legend, who spends three or four months a year in the area, said she fears the wind project would hurt tourism and the area’s popularity as a retirement area. A top-notch celebrity golfer, Murray also expresses concern in the letter about the development’s possible impact on the Northumberland Links course. The developer says wind turbines will now be at least 1.2 kilometres from shore and two kilometres from the golf course. Most cottages will be more than 1,000 metres from the nearest tower and all of the structures are more than 600 metres from homes, the minimum setback required by municipal bylaw.

ATCO Ltd. reported record earnings for 2011 led by worldwide increased activity for ATCO Structures & Logistics, higher earnings in ATCO Power and additional infrastructure investment in the utilities to support Alberta growth. ATCO Power recorded higher power pool prices and related spark spreads for electricity generated at its Alberta plants.

Sundance#4 went offline at 03:59 Sunday and came back online at 10:29 Monday.

A commentary in the journal Nature by one of the world’s top climate scientists says emissions from Alberta’s oilsands are unlikely to make a big difference to global warming. Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria and a colleague calculated that if all the hydrocarbons in the oilsands were consumed, the carbon dioxide released would raise global temperatures by about zero-point-3-6 degrees. His paper concludes that burning all the globe’s vast coal deposits would create a 15-degree increase in temperature. He says his analysis suggests it is an increased dependence on coal — not the oilsands — that governments have to worry about.

Mustus Energy has selected Lockheed Martin to build a new 41.5MW biomass power plant in Alberta. Lockheed Martin will support Mustus in procuring materials, equipment and other required services, and it will also manage the construction of the power plant. The power plant is expected to commence commercial operations by the fall of 2013 and will provide base-load electricity to the Alberta grid.

A Carmel not-for-profit that monitors the electric grid in 11 states and Canada has revealed to federal regulators that a mechanical failure caused more than $11 million in damages to the high-tech facility. In a Feb. 7 public filing, the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc., or MISO, told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the data center became contaminated in September. MISO said a mechanical failure of an air-handling unit in the facility damaged information technology equipment, in addition to the physical structure of the data center.

Consumer prices in Alberta and the Calgary region in the 12 months to January rose at a higher rate than the Canadian average, reported Statistics Canada. The federal agency said the annual rate of inflation in the province was 2.9 per cent while in Canada it was 2.5 per cent. In the Calgary census metropolitan area, it was 2.8 per cent. Nationally, gasoline prices increased 6.8 per cent in January. The electricity index rose 7.3 per cent, with notable increases recorded in Alberta and Nova Scotia. Prices for fuel oil went up 17.1 per cent while natural gas prices fell 0.7 per cent, said the federal agency.

Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric has entered into two long-term contracts for 300 MW of renewable energy, including 200 MW of solar energy from projects under development by Spain’s Iberdrola SA and 8minutenergy Renewables LLC.. With the purchase, the company has now substantially expanded its portfolio of emissions free power, while increasing California solar installation power.  The first of the new agreements recently signed by the company is a 20-year contract to purchase 100 MW of energy from a 189MW power facility that is currently
under construction in Tehachapi, close to Rasamond, California. The project is expected to be completed in late 2012 and consist of 126 wind turbines that will harness 1.5 MW of power.

Duke Energy Corp.’s fourth quarter earnings fell 33% as mild temperatures reduced the demand for electricity while tumultuous weather  increased the costs of storm repairs. Duke said it earned $288 million, or 22 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, down from $427 million, or 32 cents per share, in the last quarter of 2010. Duke’s earnings, adjusted to remove the effects of special items, rose 14 percent to 24 cents
per share. Revenue was $3.37 billion, down from $3.46 billion.

NorthWestern Energy has received approval to build and operate a 40 MW wind farm between Raynesford and Geyser in Judith Basin County, east of Great Falls. The Montana Public Service Commission voted 3-2 to approve the $86-million dollar Spion Kop wind facility. Compass Wind is set to develop the project and place it into rate-based utilities for NorthWestern’s electric customers. The wind farm is projected to
produce cheaper electricity, costing $5 less per megawatt hour than the current methods.

Nstar agreement to purchase 129 MW of capacity from the planned 468 MW project as part the Boston-based Cape Wind Associates LLC’s $4.8 billion acquisition by Northeast Utilities, in a deal approved by Massachusetts regulators, may lead to financing of the first U.S. offshore wind project. That means the developer has lined up buyers for 77.5% of the wind farm’s total output and will be enough to seek financing, said a Cape Wind spokesman. State regulators must approve the Nstar contract, as they did with National Grid Plc’s 2010 agreement to buy 234 MW of capacity from the project off the coast of Nantucket.

Malaga Inc., the Canadian mining company, will build a hydroelectric plant with 20 MW of capacity at its Pasto Bueno tungsten mine in northern Peru.  Malaga may start building the project in the first quarter of next year, the Montreal-based company said. The project, which may be expanded to 38 MW, will be developed with Hidropesac, a joint venture between Malaga and Swiss companies Emerging Power Developers and Stucky SA, according to its statement.