Nalcor Energy and Emera Inc. will work under a 6.2 billion Canadian dollar ($6.11 billion) partnership to commence development of the much-anticipated 3,074-megawatt Lower Churchill Hydroelectric Project in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada.
The Lower Churchilll River System includes the Muskrat Falls and Gull Island. For the first phase of the project, Nalcor will spend 2.9 billion Canadian dollars to construct a hydropower generating facility equipped with four Kaplan turbines at Muskrat Falls.
Once completed, the hydropower plant will generate 824 MW of zero-emission electricity from the falls. Meanwhile, the second phase of the project will develop Gull Island, where a potential generating capacity of 2.25 gigawatts can be harnessed.
Nalcor allotted 1.5 billion Canadian dollars while Emera earmarked 600 million Canadian dollars to develop a transmission link connecting Labrador to Newfoundland.
Nalcor owns 71 percent of the joint venture, and Emera owns 29 percent. The partnership will establish a regulated transmission utility in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“This configuration is the most economic and reliable option to meet Newfoundland and Labrador’s needs over the coming years and opens the doors for the province to begin reaping the export benefits of our wealth of clean, renewable resources,” said Ed Martin, president and chief executive of Nalcor Energy.
Additionally, the government of Nova Scotia will sign agreements with Nalcor to establish an underwater transmission line between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in return for 20 percent of the energy from Muskrat Falls for 35 years.
«Today’s agreement will create thousands of new jobs; it will stabilize energy prices for Nova Scotia families and businesses well into the future; and lifts the idea of Atlantic cooperation off the page and turns it into fundamental action, building a more prosperous nation,» said Danny Williams, premiere of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Emera will shoulder all of the expenses for the Maritime Link to Nova Scotia, which will cost 1.2 billion Canadian dollars to install
“Today marks the beginning of a new era of Atlantic Canadian cooperation and together we are telling the marketplace both in Canada and the United States that badly needed competition in the hydroelectric marketplace is on the way,» Mr. Williams announced.
