LOW RESERVOIRS POSE GREATEST OUTAGE RISK SINCE DARKNL

Guest Post Written By PlanetNL

PlanetNL5: Low Reservoirs Will Strain Thermal Generation This Winter

Uncle Gnarley suggested readers be given a respite from the gloomy Muskrat analysis series and instead asked PlanetNL to provide a critique on a different energy concern: the impact of low reservoir levels on this winter’s energy supply needs, as just revealed in a recent NL Hydro report.

The first concern is the cost of unplanned high fuel consumption at Holyrood and the standby combustion turbines over the winter and possibly well into 2018, a cost that NL Hydro is certain to want to recover through rate adjustments.  A considerable pre-Muskrat rate hike will result. 

VARDY UPSET PUB YIELDS TO NALCOR OVER DARKNL REVIEW

Guest Post Written by David Vardy

PUB INVESTIGATION INTO SUPPLY ISSUES AND POWER OUTAGES

Dark NL sparked an investigation by the PUB into the reliability of our power system, an investigation which is going into its fourth year. It has received little media coverage, despite its great importance.

On January 20, 2017 the Public Utilities Board (PUB) issued an Order, P.U. 2(2017), striking down expert evidence filed by the Grand River Keeper Labrador (GRK), a registered intervenor. The Order is part of the PUB’s investigation into supply issues and power outages which they announced on January 17, 2014. The investigation covers matters relating to the reliability and availability of power both before and after interconnection with Muskrat Falls and was prompted by a number of power outages which took place in 2013 and early 2014. The Board’s Order has the effect of removing expert evidence relating to two major risks to the power system from further consideration during the investigation into the supply of power. The purpose of this post is to recommend solutions to this problem.

DARKNL: SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

Dissatisfaction at the media’s handling of the PUB's Interim Report consumed much of the space afforded  DARKNL: WEAK MEDIA NO MATCH FOR DAMNING PUB REPORT  on May 19^th.  The media's coverage of the Report was brief to the point of being inconsequential.  I thought the public had a right to expect additional detail and analysis of the PUB’s work into the causes of  the January 2014 'Blackouts'. 

Why? The chief reason is the sheer scale of the outages and their impact on so many lives and businesses. 

Another is that the level of condemnation by the PUB of Hydro management was unprecedented.   

While the media admittedly are an easy target, no one should think that it is solely their role to ask questions and to inform. 

The Opposition Parties and their leaders, and others, play a vital role in the process, too.  When media are not prodding them they ought to be prodding the media.  Typically they don’t, but now and again, as in the Humber Valley Paving affair, the Liberals show occasional energy.

DARKNL: WEAK MEDIA NO MATCH FOR DAMNING PUB REPORT

DarkNL, an event now recognized as the low point of utility mismanagement by Nalcor, finally gave comeuppance to Ed Martin, the Corporation’s master of spin. 

The PUB Report did not mince words.  Indeed, in tone and text it constituted an indictment of the Province’s energy provider.  Using over 60 pages, the independent Agency detailed a litany of failures in basic Hydro planning and equipment maintenance.  

As if anyone needs reminding, DarkNL saw virtually the entire Island without heat and light; almost all suffered rotating black-outs over an extended period. The concept of warming centers entered local lexicon.

Nalcor’s Ed Martin quickly plucked a forthright Hydro V-P Rob Henderson away from reporters.

Martin had scripted a different narrative; one more self-serving.  His tale of woe spoke to historically high power demand, excessively cold weather and old machinery. 

The feeding frenzy by all the media, for listener audience, gave little attention to facts; with the Report's release the media now owed the public the truth.

While the PUB Report offered that opportunity, reporters didn’t seem to know Nalcor had gotten another one over them.  The Report contradicted Ed Martin's assertions in their entirety. Somehow, it just didn't seem to matter.