Muskrat Falls electricity to Nova Scotia stopped indefinitely
CBC
Deliveries of Muskrat Falls hydroelectricity to Nova Scotia have stopped and it is not clear when they will resume.
It is the result of the latest software failure in the Labrador Island Link transmission system.
The 1,100-kilometre Labrador Island Link carries electricity from the big hydro dam in Labrador to Newfoundland, where it connects with Emera's transmission system and is sent across the Cabot Strait into Nova Scotia via the Maritime Link.
But deliveries of the so-called Nova Scotia Block stopped after a fire sensor tripped one of the lines in February.
The software did not respond correctly and once again supplier GE Canada is searching for the cause of a deficiency with the Labrador link, which has suffered repeated setbacks.
Newfoundland Labrador Hydro told provincial regulators the link will "remain off line while these incidents are investigated."
"It certainly is concerning," said consumer advocate Bill Mahody, who represents Nova Scotia Power's 400,000 residential customers in rate hearings.
"There's a relatively long history here of this portion of the project causing problems. But they're the types of problems that Nova Scotia Power Maritime Link has represented to the [Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board] were on their way to being resolved."
Ratepayers have been paying the Emera subsidiary Nova Scotia Power Maritime Link for the Maritime Link since 2018 and only recently started receiving full amounts of the Nova Scotia Block — supplying about 10 percent of the province's electricity.
Full delivery arrived as the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board considered Emera's application to recover $1.7 billion from Nova Scotia Power customers over the next 35 years.
Approval was given on Feb. 9, just two weeks before the Labrador Island Link was shut down by the latest software deficiencies.
Because of repeated delays regulators built in some protection for ratepayers in their approval decision.
Nova Scotia Power has been ordered to hold back $2 million a month it collects to pay for the Maritime Link. The holdback is only released if 90 per cent of the energy for the Nova Scotia Block is received.
"That $2 million can be used to defray those costs, the cost for the energy that ratepayers would have to be paying for to replace the undelivered Nova Scotia Block," said Mahody.
Multiple major B.C. Ferries sailings have been cancelled for Christmas Day due to an incoming storm.
As Dr. Hai Nguyen entered the operating room last week, he couldn't shake the feeling of performing in front of an audience.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham has a prediction: some day, a Manitoba premier will agree to create a new funding formula for cities that includes some form of growth revenue.
Children and seniors in the community of Qu'Appelle, Sask., excitedly packaged up food hampers this holiday season.
It's Christmas on P.E.I., a time to reflect, gather with family and friends, and hopefully eat lots of delicious food after the gifts are unwrapped.
Premier Danielle Smith will attend the second inauguration of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump in January, her office has confirmed.
Multiple major B.C. Ferries sailings have been cancelled for Christmas Day due to an incoming storm.
Multiple major B.C. Ferries sailings have been cancelled for Christmas Day due to an incoming storm.
A 51-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a man in North York earlier this month, Toronto police say.
Canada's premiers are calling on the federal government to extend the deadline for claiming charitable donations on tax returns through to the end of February.
Premier Danielle Smith will attend the second inauguration of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump in January, her office has confirmed.