Newfoundlanders left sitting in the cold
Residents and businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador were told to conserve energy Sunday as the province entered its third day of rolling power outages.
Aging infrastructure, a terminal station fire and a blizzard that ripped through the province Friday night combined to overburden an already stretched electricity grid, Premier Kathy Dunderdale said.
“We need to become more mindful of energy conservation and we really need to focus on that over the next few days and the next number of weeks,” Dunderdale told a news conference in St. John’s.
She said the power shortage underscores the need for Muskrat Falls, a $7.7-billion development under construction in Labrador that has sparked criticism from some who fear energy rate spikes and cost overruns.
NDP Leader Lorraine Michael, who has heaped criticism on Dun- derdale’s support for Muskrat Falls, said there should have been better planning to meet the increased energy demands.
“We have a critical situation when our energy corporations are not able to meet the needs of the people at any given time,” she said in an interview.
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro said a fire broke out at its Sunnyside terminal station around 9 a.m. Saturday after a transformer malfunctioned.
The malfunction, the cause of which is not yet known, came after rotating blackouts were implemented Thursday as utilities tried to cope with increased demand because of bitterly cold temperatures.
At the peak of the power outages Saturday morning, about 190,000 customers were in the dark, New- foundland Power said. As of midday Sunday, that number dropped to 35,000, but could fluctuate because of the rolling blackouts.
The St. John’s Board of Trade urged businesses Sunday to do anything they can to conserve energy.
All schools, including Memorial University and College of the North Atlantic campuses across the island, would be closed until Wednesday, the province’s Education Department said.
Ed Martin, CEO of the Crownowned Nalcor Energy, said aging infrastructure, namely the thermal generating station in Holyrood outside St. John’s, were a factor in the outages and would continue to be a challenge over the coming years as the demand for energy continues to increase.
“I can never promise 100-per-cent reliability — these are aging assets,” said Martin, adding that the utility has doubled its capital budget to $100 million over the last few years to help deal with the challenges until 2017, when Muskrat Falls is expected to start generating power.
In the rest of Canada, meanwhile, below-normal temperatures and dangerous wind chills continue their grip. In Winnipeg, it was minus-30 C on Sunday with a wind chill that made it feel like minus-44. Roy Laham, owner of Iceland Skate Rentals at The Forks, said he had about 20 customers on Sunday, compared with 200 to 300 on a typical weekend day. “Just the diehards are coming out,” Laham said.
Residents across the Prairies were being warned that extreme wind chill values could bring on frostbite on exposed skin in five to 10 minutes.
Environment Canada predicted temperatures would climb significantly in Alberta on Monday, while relief in Saskatchewan and Manitoba would happen gradually through the week. In Ontario, there was a brief respite from arctic temperatures over the weekend, but the mercury was expected to plummet again by Monday evening.