Energy Resources For Future Electric Power Generation In Alberta, 1972-2001
Authors: Harrop R.L. , Mink F.J. 
Published: March 2010

Alberta's requirements for electrical energy a.re expected to increase almost ten-fold over the next 90 years. The Province has substantial reserves of gas, coal, conventional and synthetic oil as well as a number of potential hydro sites which could be utilized to meet future requirements for electrical energy. This paper examines a number of alternate allocations of resources to electrical generation in the over-all Alberta public interest. The analysis concentrates primarily on the utilization of coal or gas as a fuel source for thermal generation and examines the resultin impact on the Province's coal, natural gas and pipe-line industries as 'well as the costs to consumer of electricity.

Introduction

DURING THE PERIOD from September 19 to September 28, 1972, the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) held public hearings on Alberta's present and future requirements of energy and energy resources. A major issue was the extent to which future requirements of electric energy would or should be met from coal or from gas. This question is of considerable importance in the effective conservation and use of Alberta's energy resources and the public interest generally, and the Board's consideration of this matter resulted in the publishing of a report on the "Choices Among Energy Resources for the Generation of Electric Energy in Alberta".(1) The report contains a recommendation to the Lieutenant Governor in Council that the Government make certain broad policy decisions relating specifically to the choices among energy resources for future electric energy generation in Alberta. This paper is a summary of the fun report, with a few minor changes to reflect the most recent ERCB forecast of Alberta electric energy requirements.

During the early part of the century electric energy was generated in Alberta by small hydro plants or small coal-fired thermal plants, each located near the load it served and with no electrical connection to other generating plants. Between the ends of the first and second world wars, a hydro energy storage and generation system was developed by Calgary Power Ltd. on the Bowe River. Transmission lines were built to interconnect the Bow Hydro system and the coalfired thermal plants at Edmonton, Calgary, Drumheller and in the Crowsnest Pass. The Lethbridge and Medicine Hat areas were served by gas-fired thermal plants and many towns had small local plants with internal combustion engine generating units.

Since 1945, industrial expansion in Alberta, particularly the oil and gas industry, farm electrification, high-intensity lighting in urban centers and the proliferation of electric appliances, has caused a rapid increase in the demand for electric energy and has made the electrical interconnection of most load areas of the Province both desirable and economically feasible. It has now become advantageous to generate the base load energy with a few large thermal units running at nearly full load and maximum efficiency.

The trend is to an interconnected generating system in which base load energy is generated from the most advantageous fuels and intermediate generation from units with the most advantageous operating characteristics and capital costs.