New Brunswick Power Corporation (french: Société d’énergie du Nouveau-Brunswick),
operating as
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
NB Power (french: Énergie NB), is the primary
electric utility
An electric utility is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major pr ...
in the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
. NB Power is a
vertically-integrated Crown Corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
wholly owned by the Government of New Brunswick and is responsible for the
generation
A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–30 years, during which children are born and gr ...
,
transmission
Transmission may refer to:
Medicine, science and technology
* Power transmission
** Electric power transmission
** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power
*** Automatic transmission
*** Manual transmission
*** ...
, and
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
* Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
of electricity.
NB Power serves all the residential and industrial power consumers in New Brunswick, with the exception of those in
Saint John,
Edmundston
Edmundston is a city in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada.
On 1 January 2023, Edmundston will expanded, annexing the village of Rivière-Verte and parts of the local service districts of the parish of Saint-Jacques and the parish of Sai ...
and
Perth-Andover
Perth-Andover (2016 population: 1,590) is a village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada.
Geography
The village is divided by the Saint John River (New Brunswick), Saint John River with Perth on the east ba ...
who are served by
Saint John Energy Saint John Energy, formerly known as Power Commission of the City of Saint John and Civic Hydro, is the electrical utility reseller of power purchased from NB Power in Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocea ...
, Energy Edmundston, and the Perth-Andover Electric Light Commission, respectively.
History
The development of the electricity industry in New Brunswick started the 1880s with the establishment of small private power plants in
Saint John,
Fredericton
Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...
and
Moncton
Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...
. Over the next 30 years, other cities successively electrified, so much so that in 1918, more than 20 companies were active in the electricity business, which left the province with wildly differing levels of services and prices. In Saint John for instance, the rates fluctuated between 7.5 to 15 cents per
kilowatt-hour
A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...
, depending on the location and the monthly consumption.
Interwar period
Recognizing the important role that electricity was about to play in economic development, Premier
Walter E. Foster proposed the creation of a provincially owned electric company. The
Legislative Assembly passed a bill to that effect. The ''New Brunswick Electric Power Commission'' (NBEPC) was created on April 24, 1920 under the ministry of
Peter Veniot
Peter John Veniot, (October 4, 1863 – July 6, 1936) was a businessman and newspaper owner and a politician in New Brunswick, Canada. He was the first Acadian premier of New Brunswick.
Early life and career
He was born in Richibucto, New Brun ...
(Public Works). Immediately, the commission, headed by its first president, C. W. Robinson, launched the construction of a C$2 million
hydroelectric dam
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
at
Musquash, west of Saint John. To supply the cities of Saint John, Moncton and Sussex, a long
high voltage
High voltage electricity refers to electrical potential large enough to cause injury or damage. In certain industries, ''high voltage'' refers to voltage above a certain threshold. Equipment and conductors that carry high voltage warrant spec ...
power line
An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...
was also built.
The new earth dam was completed on time, in 1922. But it could not withstand the 1923 spring flood and collapsed,
an accident which shattered a bit of confidence in the new commission. The building of a
larger facility in Grand Falls, on the Upper
Saint John River, was undertaken in 1926 by a subsidiary of
International Paper Company
The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 56,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.
History
The company was incorporated January 31, ...
and completed in 1930.
Electricity demand increased during that decade and more generation facilities were required to supply the province. The commission decided to take advantage of coal resources in the
Minto
Minto may refer to:
Places Antarctica
*Mount Minto (Antarctica)
Australia
*Minto, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Minto railway station
* Minto County, Western Australia
* Parish of Minto, New South Wales
Canada
* Minto City, British Col ...
area and built a plant near the mines. The
Grand Lake Generating Station was commissioned in 1931 and then expanded five years later.
Post-war era
![Grand Falls Raging Waterfall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Grand_Falls_Raging_Waterfall.jpg)
Demand for electricity exploded during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and led to
rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
in the late 1940s.
Meanwhile, the commission embarked on the construction of two major dams on the Saint John River, the
Tobique and
Beechwood generating stations, which were respectively commissioned in 1953 and 1955. ''See below regarding First Nations relations.''
The New Brunswick Electric Power Commission bought the
Grand Falls Generating Station
The Grand Falls Generating Station is a hydroelectric dam built on the Saint John River in Grand Falls in the Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, le ...
in 1959
and began work on the province's largest hydroelectric facility, the
Mactaquac dam
The Mactaquac Dam is an embankment dam used to generate hydroelectricity in Mactaquac, New Brunswick. It dams the waters of the Saint John River and is operated by NB Power with a capacity to generate 670 megawatts of electricity from 6 turbines ...
, whose first three units were put on stream in 1968.
However, the new hydroelectric developments proved insufficient to bridge the imbalance between supply and demand, which grew by 12% per annum between 1960 and 1975. To cope with this demand growth, the commission began construction of the oil-fired
Courtenay Bay Generating Station, near the
Saint John shipyard in 1959; it was also adjacent to the
Irving Oil Refinery
The Irving Oil Refinery is a Canadian oil refinery located in Saint John, New Brunswick. It is currently the largest oil refinery in Canada, capable of producing more than of refined products per day. Over 80 per cent of the production is exported ...
, which entered service in the late 1950s and which the Courtney Bay Generating Station made use of a pipeline running from the
Canaport
Canaport is a Canadian marine crude oil receiving terminal located on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at Mispec Point, approximately southeast of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick.
Commissioned in 1970, Canaport was the first deep-water ...
offshore loading facility at
Red Head to the refinery. The first 50 MW turbine was put in service at Courtney Bay Generating Station the next year, in December 1960, while two more units were added in 1965 and 1966, 50 MW and 100 MW, respectively.
To better serve
northern New Brunswick, another oil-fired plant, the
Dalhousie Generating Station __NOTOC__
The Dalhousie Generating Station was a 315 MW coal and oil-fired electrical generating station that operated from 1969-2012 in the community of Dalhousie in Restigouche County, New Brunswick.
Construction of the plant, a thermal genera ...
, was constructed in
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
with an initial capacity of 100 MW. It was commissioned in 1969.
In the early 1970s, the NBEPC signed a series of supply contracts with
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
distributors, justifying the construction of its largest power plant in 1972. With three 335 MW units, the oil-fired
Coleson Cove Generating Station
The Coleson Cove Generating Station is a 978 MW fuel oil-fired power station located at 4077 King William Road in the community of Seaview on the extreme western boundary of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick.
Overview
A thermal generating ...
was completed in January 1977. However, the
1973 oil shock made the operation of thermal plants more expensive, since oil prices rose from US$3 to US$37 per
barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...
between 1973 and 1982. The company, which was renamed ''NB Power'' / ''Énergie NB'' during that time, needed to explore other generating options.
Point Lepreau
The construction of a nuclear plant in New Brunswick had been discussed since the late 1950s. For over 15 years, engineers from the NBEPC visited the
Chalk River Laboratories
Chalk River Laboratories (french: Laboratoires de Chalk River; also known as CRL, Chalk River Labs and formerly Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, CRNL) is a Canadian nuclear research facility in Deep River, about north-west of Ottawa.
CRL is a ...
to keep abreast of the latest trends in the field.
Formal talks between the provincial and federal governments began in 1972 and discussions between representatives of Premier
Richard Hatfield
Richard Bennett Hatfield (April 9, 1931 – April 26, 1991) was a New Brunswick politician and the longest serving premier of New Brunswick from 1970 to 1987.Richard Starr, ''Richard Hatfield, The Seventeen Year Saga,'' 1987,
Early life
T ...
and
Atomic Energy of Canada
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed thi ...
accelerated the following year. In the aftermath of the
oil crisis, the province wanted to secure a source of electricity whose prices would be less volatile than oil. However, project financing was still an issue.
The federal government then announced a loan program to help provinces such as New Brunswick in January 1974. Ottawa's pledge to cover half of the cost of a first nuclear plant removed the last obstacle to construction of the
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located 2 km northeast of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick, Canada. The facility was constructed between 1975 and 1983 by NB Power, the provincially owned public utility.
T ...
. On February 5, 1974, Hatfield announced his decision to build the plant, west of Saint John, and even raised the possibility of constructing a second one in the future. On May 2, 1975, the Canadian Atomic Energy Commission authorized the construction of two 640-MW units within a site that can accommodate a maximum of four reactors.
Labour unrest, design problems and skyrocketing construction costs significantly increased the plant's price tag. The total price of the first operational
CANDU-6 in the world was estimated at 466 million dollars in 1974. Inflation between 1978 –1982 was 46%, this increased the costs for all infrastructure projects in Canada. Projects like
Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Clarington, Ontario. It is a large nuclear facility comprising four CANDU nuclear reactors with a total output of 3,512&nbs ...
and Point Lepreau had priced their estimates before the inflation. When it became operational 8 years later, on February 1, 1983, the cost had soared to C$1.4 billion.
Proposed sale to Hydro-Québec
On October 29, 2009, the premiers of New Brunswick and Quebec signed a
memorandum of understanding to sell most of NB Power's assets to
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.
It was established by the ...
.
This agreement was reached after nine months of negotiations undertaken at the request of New Brunswick and would have transferred most generation, transmission and distribution assets of the New Brunswick utility to a subsidiary of the Quebec-based Crown corporation, including the
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located 2 km northeast of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick, Canada. The facility was constructed between 1975 and 1983 by NB Power, the provincially owned public utility.
T ...
and 7 hydroelectric plants, but would have excluded fossil-fuel fired plants in
Dalhousie,
Belledune
Belledune (2011 population: 1,548) is a Canadian village that straddles both Restigouche County and Gloucester County, New Brunswick.
The community of Belledune was created through the amalgamation of Jacquet River, Armstrong Brook, and Bell ...
, and
Coleson Cove.
The memorandum of understanding fostered a spirited public debate in New Brunswick and
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
. Despite positive feedback from the province's business leaders, many reactions to the MOU were hostile.
Opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...
parties,
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Danny Williams, the union representing most NB Power employees, and wind energy supporters quickly condemned the agreement as detrimental to the interests of New Brunswick.
Opponents in the general public used social media to show their displeasure and contest the various arguments for the deal. On
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, 14,000 people joined a group in opposition to the sale within five days of the announcement. A demonstration organized by the group and trade unions drew approximately 600 people outside the Legislative Assembly building on November 17, 2009. A
Leger Marketing
Leger or Léger may refer to:
People
* Léger (surname), a list of people with the surname Léger or Leger
* Leodegar or Leger (615-679), Chalcedonian saint, martyr and Bishop of Autun
* Leger Djime (born 1987), Chadian footballer
* Leger Douza ...
opinion poll
An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...
conducted on behalf of
Quebecor Media
Quebecor Media Inc. is a Canadian media conglomerate that owns a wide array of media outlets, as well as an internet service provider.
History
In 1983 Quebecor purchased the Winnipeg Sun newspaper, which had been independently run. The newspap ...
newspapers in New Brunswick and Quebec in November 2009 showed that 60% of New Brunswickers polled opposed the proposed sale, while 22% supported it.
After months of controversy, New Brunswick and Quebec representatives signed a second agreement in January 2010, reducing the scope of the sale. Under the revised agreement, the sale would have transferred NB Power's hydroelectric and nuclear power plants to
Hydro-Quebec for C$3.4 billion. The government of New Brunswick would have retained the transmission and distribution divisions of NB Power, and the
Crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
would have entered into a long-term
power purchase agreement
A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...
(PPA) with Hydro-Québec. The PPA would have allowed NB Power to deliver the rate freeze for residential and general customers. However, the industrial rates rollback would have been smaller than under the original MOU.
On March 24, 2010, Premier Graham announced the failure of the second agreement due to Hydro-Québec's concern over unanticipated risks and costs associated with matters including dam security and water levels. This interpretation was contested by analysts, who blamed the collapse of the deal on the political situation in New Brunswick.
Corporate structure
![NBPowerTransmissionTowerMaintenance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/NBPowerTransmissionTowerMaintenance.JPG)
The future of NB Power has been a concern of successive New Brunswick governments for the past 15 years. The Liberal government of
Raymond Frenette published a consultation document in February 1998 to find solutions to ensure the sustainability of NB Power in the twenty-first century.
Valuation
Shortly after taking office in 1999, the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government of
Bernard Lord
Bernard Lord (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer, business executive and former politician. He served as the 30th premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006. Lord was appointed as board chair of Ontario Power Generation in 2014.
Early ...
commissioned
TD Securities
TD Securities is a Canadian investment bank and financial services provider that offers advisory and capital market services to corporate, government, and institutional clients worldwide. The firm provides services in corporate and investment ban ...
to conduct an assessment of the company's viability. The study, whose findings were published in 2009, suggested four scenarios: the status quo; a sale to a strategic buyer; privatization through a
share offering; or splitting the utility into separate elements. The report valued the company at between $C3.6 and $C4.5 billion. This number however was very strongly contested by those familiar with the value of telecommunications rights of way and
smart grid
A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operation and energy measures including:
*Advanced metering infrastructure (of which smart meters are a generic name for any utility side device even if it is more capable e.g. a f ...
-based services, energy-related and otherwise, who considered the distribution network to have very much more value. These arguments were to be repeated often in the 2009-2010 NB Power controversy.
Between 2001 and 2004, the Lord government spent C$3.2 million to retain the services of
CIBC World Markets
CIBC World Markets Inc. is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in the domestic and international equity and debt capital markets. The firm provides a variety ...
and
Salomon Smith Barney
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street durin ...
in order to evaluate the resale value of the Point Lepreau and Coleson Cove power plants. The studies, codenamed ''Cartwheel'' and ''Lighthouse'', have assessed the value of these assets to roughly C$4.1 billion. A similar valuation was used in the failed 2010 proposal to vend Lepreau to Hydro-Quebec, and was extremely controversial.
2003 reorganization
The Lord government shuffled the company's structure in early 2003 by introducing
amendments An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. The ...
to the ''Electricity Act''. The Act reorganized NB Power into a
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
with four divisions: NB Power Distribution and Customer Service, NB Power Generation, NB Power Nuclear, and NB Power Transmission. The Act maintained the company's distribution, transmission, and nuclear power monopolies, but opened the door to competition in the generation business.
The reorganization also created the ''New Brunswick Electric Finance Corporation'', which was responsible for issuing, managing and paying NB Power's debt through payments dividends, fees and taxes paid by the various subsidiaries, and the
New Brunswick System Operator, an independent market operator that administered relationships between power generators and users.
2013 Reorganization
The NB Power Group of Companies, the Electric Finance Corporation, and the
New Brunswick System Operator merged on October 1, 2013, re-establishing NB Power as a single,
vertically integrated
In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...
Crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
.
Personnel
In October 2008, NB Power Holding Corporation was named one of "
Canada's Top 100 Employers
Canada's Top 100 Employers is an annual editorial competition that recognizes the best places in Canada to work. First held in 1999, the project aims to single out the employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional working conditions ...
" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in ''
Maclean's
''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
'' newsmagazine. In 2009, NB Power became the first electric utility to be recognized by the ''National Quality Institute'' by being awarded a ''Healthy Workplace Award''.
David D. Hay resigned as President in 2010, claiming he had never been consulted on the
proposed sale of NB Power The proposed sale of NB Power was an attempted takeover of New Brunswick's government-owned public utility assets by Hydro-Québec, Canada's largest utility. Announced on October 29, 2009 by premiers Shawn Graham of New Brunswick and Jean Charest ...
, the valuations or the strategies involved. He was replaced by Gaëtan Thomas, the former Vice President of NB Power's Nuclear Division, who remained the President and CEO of NB Power till May, 2020. Keith Cronkhite was appointed NB Power President and Chief Executive Officer
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
on April 1, 2020.
Operations
Power generation
NB Power operates 13 generating stations with a total installed capacity of 3,513 MW as of 2013.
The generation fleet uses a variety of energy sources:
heavy fuel oil
Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO is contaminate ...
(972 MW), water (889 MW),
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
(660 MW),
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
(525 MW), and
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
(467 MW).
As of 2020, NB Power's grid includes 355 MW of wind energy.
The generation facilities are spread across the province. However, the
Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...
area accounts for nearly half of the total NB Power-owned generation capacity, with the
Coleson Cove (972 MW), the
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located 2 km northeast of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick, Canada. The facility was constructed between 1975 and 1983 by NB Power, the provincially owned public utility.
T ...
(660 MW), and Bayside Generating Station (277 MW).
Saint John is home to energy-intensive industries such as the
Irving Oil Refinery
The Irving Oil Refinery is a Canadian oil refinery located in Saint John, New Brunswick. It is currently the largest oil refinery in Canada, capable of producing more than of refined products per day. Over 80 per cent of the production is exported ...
,
JD Irving
J.D. Irving Limited (JDI) is a privately owned conglomerate company headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a subsidiary of the parent company, Irving Group of Companies, along with Irving Oil Refinery, Canaport, Irving Ti ...
pulp and paper mills, and the
Canaport
Canaport is a Canadian marine crude oil receiving terminal located on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at Mispec Point, approximately southeast of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick.
Commissioned in 1970, Canaport was the first deep-water ...
liquefied natural gas terminal
A liquefied natural gas terminal is a facility for managing the import and/or export of liquefied natural gas (LNG). It comprises equipment for loading and unloading of LNG cargo to/from LNG carrier, ocean-going tankers, for transfer across the si ...
.
Thermal Generation
NB Power operates two thermal and three combustion turbine facilities with a combined generating capacity of 1,964 MW.
Nuclear Generation
NB Power operates the
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located 2 km northeast of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick, Canada. The facility was constructed between 1975 and 1983 by NB Power, the provincially owned public utility.
T ...
which is the only active nuclear generating station in Canada outside of Ontario. It has a generation capacity of 660 MW.
Hydroelectric Generation
![Mactaquac1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Mactaquac1.jpg)
NB Power operates seven hydroelectric dams in the province with a combined generating capacity of 889 MW.
The main hydroelectric facilities are located on the
Saint John River.
The province's largest, the
Mactaquac generating station (668 MW), stands some
upstream
Upstream may refer to:
* Upstream (bioprocess)
* ''Upstream'' (film), a 1927 film by John Ford
* Upstream (networking)
* ''Upstream'' (newspaper), a newspaper covering the oil and gas industry
* Upstream (petroleum industry)
* Upstream (software ...
of the capital city, Fredericton. It was built between 1965 and 1968 at a cost of C$128 million.
The plant has been a concern for some time due to a phenomenon called
alkali-aggregate reaction, causing the dam to expand and crack. The problem has been known since the 1970s and could reduce the dam's life by half, according to a 2000 report by a panel of international engineering experts commissioned by the
Crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
.
Electric transmission
![Power Lines at Point Lepreau](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Power_Lines_at_Point_Lepreau.jpg)
NB Power's
transmission
Transmission may refer to:
Medicine, science and technology
* Power transmission
** Electric power transmission
** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power
*** Automatic transmission
*** Manual transmission
*** ...
grid includes over of
high voltage
High voltage electricity refers to electrical potential large enough to cause injury or damage. In certain industries, ''high voltage'' refers to voltage above a certain threshold. Equipment and conductors that carry high voltage warrant spec ...
transmission lines ranging from 69 kV AC to 345 kV AC.
The company operates interconnections with
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.
It was established by the ...
,
Nova Scotia Power
Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a vertical integration, vertically integrated electric utility in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB). Nov ...
,
Maritime Electric
Maritime Electric is the supplier of electricity in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Maritime Electric is a public utility, and is regulated by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) under the Electric Power Act and the Renewable Energy ...
in
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
and the
ISO New England
ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE) is an independent, non-profit Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), headquartered in Holyoke, Massachusetts, serving Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
ISO-NE oversees ...
network in the United States. The network is operated by the Transmission & System Operator division of NB Power.
The main power grid forms an "O"-shaped loop with 345 kV lines. This power line runs through substations at
Keswick,
Saint-André,
Eel River,
Belledune
Belledune (2011 population: 1,548) is a Canadian village that straddles both Restigouche County and Gloucester County, New Brunswick.
The community of Belledune was created through the amalgamation of Jacquet River, Armstrong Brook, and Bell ...
,
Bathurst,
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
,
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
*Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
,
Coleson Cove,
Point Lepreau, and back to
Keswick. There is also a direct connection of a parallel 345 kV line between
Coleson Cove and
Keswick.
NB Power supplies electricity to
Maritime Electric
Maritime Electric is the supplier of electricity in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Maritime Electric is a public utility, and is regulated by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) under the Electric Power Act and the Renewable Energy ...
in
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
through a sub-sea interconnection cable on the floor of the
Northumberland Strait
The Northumberland Strait (French: ''détroit de Northumberland'') is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western sho ...
, and imports/exports from/to
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
via Canada's first electrical interconnection between two provinces. NB Power also has interconnections to
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
.
Because of the asynchronous nature of
Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system
Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system (also known as the Quebec interconnection) is an international electric power transmission system centred in Quebec, Canada. The system pioneered the use of very high voltage 735-kilovolt (kV) alt ...
, interconnections between the two neighboring provinces require
HVDC
A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curren ...
converters. The first one, the
Eel River Converter Station, was installed in 1972 and has a 350 MW transfer capacity.
It is the first operative HVDC system equipped with
thyristors
A thyristor () is a solid-state semiconductor device with four layers of alternating P- and N-type materials used for high-power applications. It acts exclusively as a bistable switch (or a latch), conducting when the gate receives a current t ...
The second converter, the Madawaska substation (435 MW), was built on the Quebec side of the border in 1985 and is operated by Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie.
The two systems are linked by two 230-kV lines between Matapédia and Eel River, and by two 315-kV lines between the Madawaska and Edmundston substations. Some of NB Power loads in these areas can be islanded and supplied as part of the Quebec grid, which increases New Brunswick's import capability to 1,080 MW, whereas export capability to Quebec is limited to 785 MW.
Coal mining
Beginning in 1986, NB Power operated a coal mine in
Minto
Minto may refer to:
Places Antarctica
*Mount Minto (Antarctica)
Australia
*Minto, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Minto railway station
* Minto County, Western Australia
* Parish of Minto, New South Wales
Canada
* Minto City, British Col ...
through its NB Coal subsidiary.
The company extracted approximately 150,000 tons of coal per year to fuel the Grand Lake Generating Station, a 57 MW power plant built in 1963. On September 30, 2009, the company announced the planned closure of the mine and the decommissioning of the Grand Lake Generating Station. The company management explained the decision by stressing the high cost of complying with stricter
emission regulations.
The
decommission
Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to:
Infrastructure
* Decommissioned offshore
* Decommissioned highway
* Greenfield status of former industrial sites
* Nuclear decommi ...
ing and
demolition
Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...
of the Grand Lake Generating Station were completed in 2012.
Mental Health Care
In agreement with the business plan of Société d’énergie du Nouveau-Brunswick, increasing mental well-being is among the major strategic initiatives for the period of 2021/2022.
Financial results
Controversy
In 2019, the utility was heavily criticized for having invested $13 million in Joi Scientific, a Florida-based company that promised to deliver
hydrogen-based power from seawater with 200% efficiency.
[Joi Scientific technology NB Power poured millions into doesn't work]
/ref> According to critics, their promised efficiency violated the First Law of Thermodynamics
The first law of thermodynamics is a formulation of the law of conservation of energy, adapted for thermodynamic processes. It distinguishes in principle two forms of energy transfer, heat and thermodynamic work for a system of a constant amoun ...
.[Science behind NB Power's hydrogen venture too good to be true, critic says]
/ref> During a call with investors during the summer of 2019, Joi Scientific announced that their technology was perhaps only ~10% as efficient as previously described, meaning that their process consumes energy rather than producing it.Joi Scientific’s Perpetual Hydrogen Illusion Comes Tumbling Down
/ref> The company also announced that they were running low on funding. Joi Scientific's technology has been described by a former employee as being based on the work of discredited inventor Stanley Meyer.
See also
* List of power stations in New Brunswick
This is a list of electrical generating stations in New Brunswick, Canada.
New Brunswick has a diversified electric supply mix of fuel oil, hydroelectric, nuclear, diesel, coal, natural gas, wind, and biomass power stations. NB Power, the gover ...
* Proposed sale of NB Power The proposed sale of NB Power was an attempted takeover of New Brunswick's government-owned public utility assets by Hydro-Québec, Canada's largest utility. Announced on October 29, 2009 by premiers Shawn Graham of New Brunswick and Jean Charest ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
NB Power Website
Saint John Energy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nb Power
Crown corporations of New Brunswick
Companies based in Fredericton
Electric power companies of Canada
Hydroelectric power companies of Canada
Nuclear power companies of Canada
Energy in New Brunswick
Electric power monopolies
Public utilities established in 1920
1920 establishments in New Brunswick
Canadian companies established in 1920