Power

Anatomy of a transmission build-out

Alberta balances the energy needs of its growing population with impacts on lands and people. We look at AltaLink’s Southern Alberta Transmission Reinforcement project to see how it’s done.

“It’s the biggest issue facing us for the foreseeable future.”

That’s the initial response on the telephone from Rob Steel, mayor of the southern Alberta town of Claresholm, when asked about the effects of AltaLink’s Southern Alberta Transmission Reinforcement (SATR) project on his town. “It could have a devastating impact.”

It’s not unexpected feedback, nor is it unusual—no one wants power lines running through his backyard. Large energy projects will always and unavoidably impact people, nature, and the environment. It points to the critical need for a fair public engagement process to balance needs against impacts.

Picturesque Claresholm and the surrounding rolling countryside are well-known for the constant and powerful winds howling off the foothills. Glider pilots use the mountain waves of the nearby Cowley area for setting national soaring records. But gliders don’t affect the look of this landscape the way electrical transmission lines and towers do. Those famous winds pack a lot of power that can be converted to clean electricity, which needs to be transmitted.

It’s that need that drives the SATR project. “SATR is one of two [Alberta] projects which support promotion of renewable resources,” says Shan Bhattacharya, vice-president of Transmission for the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), the independent not-for-profit entity charged with all planning and operations of electrical power in the province. “SATR will be able to interconnect as much as 7,400 megawatts of wind resources, mostly from the south.” The AESO estimates that there are 11,000 megawatts of wind-generated power seeking connection to the electricity grid. “Without a robust transmission system, we cannot harness that resource,” he says. “Alberta’s provincial energy strategy clearly spells out the need to promote and accommodate more renewable energy.”

The AESO conducted technical, economic, and land-impact studies on alternatives to determine a preferred option to address transmission challenges in southern Alberta. “Our role then is to facilitate the interconnection with the transmission grid,” says Bhattacharya. The AESO also gathered feedback from a broad range of stakeholders, including local landowners, as part of its investigation. “We don’t get involved in specific routing decisions, but we do want to make sure a feasible routing exists between the two points,” he explains.

AESO then filed a formal application called a Needs Identification Document with the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) in late 2008. The AUC completed public hearings in Lethbridge in June 2009 and it was approved last September.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

After the AUC green light, AltaLink, which owns the majority of the transmission system in central and southern Alberta, stepped up its involvement. “The first step is we talk to municipalities and government agencies,” says Steve Hodgkinson, AltaLink’s vice-president of Corporate Development & Business Partnerships. “We go through an internal exercise to evaluate potential routes, and based on a lot of technical research and an environmental study, we identify some preliminary routes.”

The company’s SATR project is actually a series of several developments to be carried out in three phases. Hodgkinson says the first phase includes three new lines: “One from Brooks to Medicine Hat, one from Medicine Hat to the area around Foremost, then another one from the Okotoks-High River area to Fort Macleod.”

With the preliminary routes identified, AltaLink then went to the public in various ways. “We mail information packages, run radio and newspaper ads, [conduct] open houses, and send out individual letters to everyone on the proposed routes,” he says, “so that everyone who is potentially affected has an opportunity to provide input and have their questions answered.”

In late November 2009, AltaLink held several open houses, including ones in High River, Nanton, and Claresholm. “We meet people who come out or who phone us or write letters to try and get as much input about those routes as we can,” says Hodgkinson. “The input is used to help us identify which two or three would be the best alternatives.”

Once that’s done, AltaLink goes through the consultation process again—the second time around searching land titles and finding the names of every landowner who’s potentially within 800 metres of the routes. That’s followed by knocking on doors “to make sure all of our stakeholders are aware of the proposed project and have the opportunity for input,” he says.

Long sessions of deliberation follow, until the company decides where to make routing changes, or where people have suggested better alternatives.

Claresholm mayor Steel is one of those people. He says the town has made its choice known. Though in no way against the need for SATR and respectful of the public engagement process, Steel is adamant that the best of three options is chosen.

“Of the three alternatives we’ve been shown, one is west of the town and the other two pass to the east,” he says.

PLANNING THE ROUTE

The western route would be smack dab in the stunning views of the Eastern Slopes and foothills, and it would directly contravene the town’s municipal development plan. “That council-approved plan endorses residential growth to the west and industrial growth to the east,” says Steel.

Moreover, he mentions the Alberta government completed a study three years ago on the relocation of Highway 2, which goes straight through town, in accordance with the Canamex highway corridor. (Canamex, a corridor linking Canada to Mexico through the United States, is proposed for use by upgraded highways, railroads, pipelines, and fibre-optic telecommunications infrastructure.)

“So it makes sense to us to create major utilities corridors in one place with major transport corridors,” he says. “We hope the route chosen would be consistent with the province’s land-use planning. If the [eastern option] is not chosen, our next step would be to intervene as part of the AUC process,” he says.

The process to which Steel refers comes after AltaLink has compiled its landowner consultation program on the potential route options and has applied to the AUC with its recommendation. “It goes to the AUC, then a public hearing,” says Hodgkinson. “The AUC decides.”

Hodgkinson admits it’s a big challenge.

“The reality of it is nobody really wants a transmission line near their property, so we have to try and find the place that will achieve a balance on impacts,” he says. “We find there are certain people who don’t want the line because of the impact on agriculture, on irrigation, or people just don’t like the look of them and think that might have an impact on property values—everybody has a different concern. You try to balance all of those; you’re building infrastructure that we all need.”

Hodgkinson says compensation is paid to affected landowners. “What we do is take an easement,” he explains. “Although we have the right to build a transmission line on a strip of land, we don’t take ownership of the land; that stays with the farmer. But he would get paid for that easement generally at market value and could still farm it.” AltaLink also pays for damage to the land, and an annual payment for each tower in a field.

Finally, for the recalcitrant there is a Surface Rights Board, which holds hearings and determines appropriate compensation. “We try to minimize these,” says Hodgkinson. “They are delays, they are conflict, they are confrontation, and nobody really wins in the end.”

Overall, Hodgkinson feels Alberta’s consultation process is more landowner-friendly than most other jurisdictions. “I think our system works very effectively,” he says. Some people, like the citizens of Claresholm, may want to reserve judgment on that until the final routing decision is handed down.

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KEY POINTS TO PONDER
1. The need to balance Alberta’s growing energy needs with minimizing impacts on land and people.
2. In the end, it’s a progressive and fair process.
3. The Southern Alberta Transmission Reinforcement project will serve to distribute clean wind-generated electricity, which will help reduce Alberta’s carbon footprint

PLAYERS ON THE STAGE
1. Alberta Electrical Systems Operator
2. Alberta Utilities Commission
3. AltaLink
4. Alberta landowners and municipalities

GOING BROADER, DEEPER
1. Southern Alberta Transmission Reinforcement project; description
www.albertaelectricityfuture.com/alberta/?page_id=19
2. Alberta Electrical Systems Operator; how province’s needs are determined
www.aeso.ca/
3. Alberta Utilities Commission; its role and responsibilities
www.auc.ab.ca/about-the-auc/who-we-are/Pages/default.aspx

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