HR Milner Battle River#5 Online; Quebec Electricity Surplus

HR Milner came online at 08:30 Friday – offline at 14:31 Saturday amd back online at 02:13 Sunday offline at 14:31 Sunday and back online at 02:13 Monday; Battle River#4 came back online at 13:33 Saturday…The federal government is contributing $12 million for the establishment of a small wind farm at Prince Edward Island’s most northern point to study the production, operation and storage of wind power.  The government will provide up to $12 million over five years to support the Wind Energy Research and Development Park and Storage System. The Wind Energy Institute of Canada will build and operate the nine-to 10-megawatt wind turbine cluster and electricity storage system…The massive, state-of-the-art Bécancour cogeneration electricity plant is capable of powering 550,000 homes. At the moment, however, the only action its gas turbines are getting comes from the dehumidifiers that prevent them from rusting out. Apart from providing steam for an industrial park neighbour, the plant, 150 kilometres northeast of Montreal, sits largely idle, victim of policies and planning in a province overrun with electricity. Such is the extraordinary electricity surplus in Quebec that several hundred million dollars are being spent and lost each year dealing with the problem, and consumers are footing the bill. Hydro-Québec, the provincial electricity monopoly, is forced to pay nearly $200 million each year to keep it closed, including $150 million to honour its contract with TransCanada Energy, the Alberta company that owns the plant. Despite this, the government is pushing ahead with even more massive hydro dams, as well as wind farms and mini-hydro projects, some privately owned.