A controversial proposal to run a power line from Edmonton to Calgary must go back to the drawing board after the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board scrapped the application Sept. 30.
The plan would have seen a 500 kilovolt transmission line run down the west side of the province.
Its location and size alarmed landowners who protested the need for the line.
Calgary-based AltaLink, which applied to build the project in 2004, must reapply.
AEUB chair William Tilleman said mistakes were made throughout the application process including the hiring of private investigators to monitor landowner activities. Public hearings this past year became disruptive and the board said future meetings would be closed.
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Starting again with a new tribunal panel may rebuild public confidence in the approval process. The decision to start over was unanimous, said Tilleman.
“In respect to the proceedings involving the decisions regarding need and the proposed Edmonton to Calgary 500kV power line, the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board has lost jurisdiction,” said Tilleman in a letter to the power company and landowners.
Company president Scott Thon said the decision could be costly and might result in power outages next year as the province’s ability to generate enough electricity becomes strained.
“We’re very disappointed that these procedural issues have overshadowed the critical electricity needs for the more than 1.5 million Albertans who live south of Edmonton,” said Thon.
AltaLink owns more than half of Alberta’s transmission grid and serves 85 percent of its population. It also owns the Alberta portion of the line to British Columbia used to import and export electricity, connecting Alberta to the power grid in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
