N.B. nuclear plant's ongoing troubles an early threat to Holt government finances
N.B. Power's Point Lepreau generating station has been offline since April with no definite return date
More than 200 days after going offline for what was supposed to be a 98-day maintenance shutdown the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station remains idle with no definite word on when it will be able to generate electricity again.
In an email last week the utility declined to commit to a previously estimated mid-November restart date and will say only that it has a "goal" of completing repairs on the station's troubled generator sometime in November.
However, reconnecting to New Brunswick's electrical grid following repairs will take an uncertain amount of additional time, according to N.B. Power spokesperson Dominique Couture.
"The next steps will be to proceed with start-up activities including Station equipment checks and testing protocol," Couture said in an email to CBC News about what happens when repairs are complete.
"The timeline for full return to service will be determined by how these activities progress."
That is a potential problem for the incoming government of Susan Holt, whose Liberal Party won the New Brunswick election a week ago.
Cost climbing daily
Bills for the latest troubles afflicting the nuclear plant passed $100 million in late September and are climbing at a rate of $1 million a day or more with some uncertainty over who will pay.
An upcoming decision of the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board will rule on a number of matters concerning N.B. Power and the rates it charges, including whether Lepreau breakdown costs should continue to be paid by N.B. Power customers or be shifted to the utility and its owner — the provincial government.
N.B.
Power president Lori Clark and chief financial officer Darren Murphy
leave an Energy and Utilities Board hearing in June. The board is
expected to rule soon on the utility's request for an average 19.4 per
cent rate increase over two years. (Pat Richard/CBC)
Hearings conducted by the EUB into those matters ended nine weeks ago, but no decision has been released to date.
"There are many, many issues and the board will do its very best to endeavour to have a decision as quickly as we can, but that obviously will take some time," the EUB's Christopher Stewart noted at the conclusion of final arguments in the rate hearing on Aug. 26.
More complex than expected
The latest problems at Lepreau began after it was taken offline April 6 for what was supposed to be a 98-day maintenance shutdown.
After sitting idle for three months during that period, the plant's 700-megawatt generator, which had not been among the components worked on during the outage, showed a problem during routine testing done on all plant equipment prior to being restarted.
Engineers disassembled the generator to analyze and fix the problem and in mid-July, N.B. Power's director of regulatory and external affairs, Jason Nouwens, said a solution would be time-consuming but straightforward and predicted the generating station would be producing power well before the fall.
NB
Power's high cost oil-fired generating station at Coleson Cove in Saint
John has been running all fall to replace electricity normally supplied
by Point Lepreau. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
"At this point we are estimating early September for a return-to-service date," said Nouwens, who was testifying in front of the EUB during N.B. Power's rate hearing.
But the problem with the generator proved more complex than expected and in August, with little detailed explanation, the utility moved the expected date of Lepreau's return from early September to mid-November.
It now says it is not sure when the plant will be operational.
Colder weather will increase energy replacement costs
In the summer, the utility told the EUB that delaying Lepreau's return to service by seven weeks, from mid-July to Sept. 1, would add an estimated $71 million in unbudgeted costs to the original 98-day maintenance outage.
That included an expected $20 million in unbudgeted repairs to the generator and $51 million in costs to pay for replacement energy while Lepreau remained offline. Adding another 11 weeks or more to that downtime, some of that during colder fall weather when replacement energy costs begin to rise, will more than double those amounts.
It is a serious financial setback for N.B. Power.
Ratepayer frustrations
Major customers of N.B. Power have been expressing increasing levels of alarm about the nuclear plant's poor performance and frustration that they are having to pay for its shortcomings.
Problems at Lepreau were a major element behind N.B. Power's application to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board to raise power rates 19.4 per cent over two years, including an average of 9.25 per cent this year and another 9.25 per cent next April.
In August, the forestry company J.D. Irving Ltd. and New Brunswick's three municipal utilities all asked the EUB to lower those increases as much as possible, in part by barring N.B. Power from charging its customers for the costs of ongoing poor performance and breakdowns at Lepreau.
They suggested that unlike storm damage, or rising fuel prices that are outside N.B. Power's control, failings at the nuclear plant can mostly be traced to poor maintenance, poor management and poor decision-making.
They argued N.B. Power and the provincial government should be forced to absorb the financial costs of Lepreau's troubles on their own and asked the EUB to make that happen in its ruling.
A
spokesperson for premier-designate Susan Holt, pictured speaking last
week when the new Liberal caucus got together, said her government would
not be commenting on troubles at Point Lepreau until it is sworn in
later this week. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
"My client's position is that the costs that have been occasioned in particular by the horrible performance of Point Lepreau cannot continue to be visited upon ratepayers," J.D. Irving lawyer Glenn Zacher said in explaining the company's position.
"And if the end result is a worsening financial structure … then that's a proper discussion between N.B. Power and its shareholder, the province."
Ryan Burgoyne, a lawyer representing Saint John Energy, Edmundston Energy, and the Perth-Andover Electric Light Commission, endorsed that position in his own closing argument.
A spokesperson for Holt's incoming government said it is still waiting on full briefings from the civil service and N.B. Power on a variety of matters and would have no comment on troubles at Lepreau or their potential financial consequences "until the team is officially sworn in [Nov. 2]."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Surprise Surprise Surprise
David Amos
Methinks we should all finally agree that Minister Mikey quit in a nick of time N'esy Pas?
Denis Reagan
Reply to David Amos
Est-ce-que nah?
David Amos
Reply to Denis Reagan
So you say EH?
Reply to David Amos
Never arrested?
David Amos
Reply to Denis Reagan
They tried
Ann McAllister
One more thing - NB Power is buying power, much of it from fossil fuels, on the open market at prices that will only get higher as the temperatures. Add this to burning coal at Belledune and heavy oil at Coleson Cove and we are paying through the nose for power while driving carbon emissions through the roof and worsening the climate energency.
Dennis Woodman
Reply to Ann McAllister
Oil prices are down below $70.
Dennis Woodman
Reply to Ann McAllister
There is no climate “emergency “.
David Amos
Do you recall talking to me???
David Amos
Reply to Dennis Woodman
I concur
"Bills for the latest troubles afflicting the nuclear plant passed $100 million in late September and are climbing at a rate of $1 million a day or more..." That would have paid for a second Burchill-sized wind farm of 42 megawatts plus transmission line. it would also have been a much more productive use of money than shoveling it into the Point Lepreau money pit.
David Amos
Reply to Ann McAllister
I remember you
Steve Morningstar
Reply to Ann McAllister
it's costing us that much because of how cheap the energy is, the biggest cost when nuclear is down is paying for replacement energy. We have the fourth lowest energy costs in the country because of Nuclear. Only MB, PQ and BC are lower than us, and that's because they damned up every river they have. It's a pretty big accomplishment when you think about a population the size of Mississauga with the infrastructure we need all over the province to provide power to everyone.
Tom McLean
Reply to Steve Morningstar
Actually, it is well documented that nuclear is the most expensive source of electricity. The only reason NB Power rates are low is because they are not allowed to charge what it costs them to produce it. That's why they have a $5 billion debt.
Bob Leeson
Reply to Steve Morningstar
Your little nuclear plant only produces 660 MW of power when it works optimally, which it almost never does. Granted its not a huge province with a big population, with peak demand usually around ~2,000 MW (and growing) lately.
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