SNC-Lavalin sets sights on Labrador hydroelectricity

In an unusual marriage, Ontario, Quebec’s major utility and Canada’s largest consulting engineering company have joined forces in a proposal to develop hyroelectric power in Labrador.
The Government of Ontario, Hydro-Quebec and SNC-Lavalin submitted a joint proposal for developing hydroelectricity generation on the Lower Churchill River on March 30.
The proposal is in response to a request for expressions of interest by the Newfoundland and Labrador government issued in January 2005.
The Lower Churchill River is one of the last major undeveloped hydroelectric sites in North America and has the potential to generate 2,824 megawatts of power. The Ontario-Quebec bid seeks to develop two sites — the 2,000 MW site at Gull Island, and the 824-MW site at Muskrat Falls.
In their announcement, Albert Williams, senior vice president and general manager of Atlantic Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group, suggested the company has a solid base in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland-Labrador. He continued, “We want to help build a technically solid project that will produce sustainable economic benefits.”
Last year Newfoundland had been exploring a variety of other options for the potential power source, including entertaining the possibility of selling power directly to Ontario or the U.S. via an underwater cable rather than by a corridor through Quebec.
However, in their joint proposal for the Lower Churchill River, Hydro-Quebec and the Government of Ontario also confirmed that their intention to build a new 1250-MW intertie between the two provinces, which — if certain other conditions are met — could see power flowing between them by 2009.