A former Manitoba energy minister and a coalition of environmental groups are urging Manitoba Hydro to expand wind generation as public hearings begin into the Crown corporation’s 10-year plan for meeting Manitoba’s growing electricity needs. On Monday, Manitoba Hydro defended its Integrated Resource Plan before the Public Utilities Board, the province’s utility regulator. The proposal would increase the utility’s generating capacity by 1,760 megawatts — nearly 30 per cent — through a combination of energy-efficiency measures and new infrastructure. The plan includes three natural gas-fired combustion turbines at the Brandon Generating Station capable of providing 750 megawatts of capacity at an estimated cost of about $3 billion. The turbines are slated to enter service in 2030. The plan also aims to secure the equivalent of 860 megawatts through customer-side energy savings and demand response programs designed to reduce electricity demand during peak periods. Proposed measures include incentives for home insulation upgrades, thermal energy storage and ground-source heat pumps. It also calls for procuring up to 600 megawatts of electricity from Indigenous majority-owned wind projects in Manitoba by 2035. Manitoba Hydro currently purchases more than 250 megawatts of electricity from three wind farms near St. Leon and St. Joseph under long-term contracts, according to the plan. Critics say wind targets fall short But Climate Action Team Manitoba — a coalition of five environmental organizations — said the proposed wind expansion falls short of the province’s potential, calling it a “missed opportunity.” The coalition’s position is backed by Tim Sale, who served as the minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro from 2002 to 2004 under former premier Gary Doer. Sale said the province once aimed to install 1,000 megawatts of wind capacity — a target that was never achieved. Sale argued Manitoba Hydro has long been reluctant to embrace wind generation. “Hydro — I don’t think there’s a rational explanation for it — but they simply don’t like wind power,” he said. “In the last 15 or 20 years, I simply think it’s institutional resistance.” He also argued Manitoba Hydro’s past economic assessments overstated the cost of wind power — particularly the value of the electricity it would produce and the costs of integrating it into the grid — making wind appear less competitive than similar projects elsewhere. Climate Action Team Manitoba also explained that the proposed wind expansion is smaller than it appears. While the plan calls for up to 600 megawatts of new wind capacity, existing power purchase agreements are set to expire over the next decade as turbines at Manitoba’s current wind farms reach the end of their operating lives — meaning much of that new capacity would simply replace what’s being retired. Net new wind capacity, the coalition says, would be closer to 340 megawatts, a figure Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura confirmed. Hydro disputes claims Chura rejected the suggestion that the Crown corporation is opposed to wind generation. “To say that we’re against wind energy is simply false. It’s just not true,” he said. He said Hydro has been purchasing wind-generated electricity in Manitoba for years, but added it currently has no plans to build its own wind farms. “Ultimately, Manitoba Hydro customers get the benefit of that [wind] energy we’re procuring, while those companies are responsible for the costs of construction and regulatory obligations,” he said. Sale said expanding wind generation would also provide an economic boost to rural communities. “The people that know wind farms, the people around St. Leon… it’s money in the bank. It’s cheaper taxes because there’s a lot of revenue from wind farms in a municipality like that,” Sale said. “And right now, with Trump hating wind farms in the States, there’s a huge, huge opportunity because we can get good prices and we can get the people to build them.” The coalition contends Manitoba Hydro is choosing gas turbines at wind power’s expense. Chura disputed that characterization. READ MORE: ‘Brandon gas turbine plan faces opposition ahead of public hearings’ “It’s not either-or. Wind energy is great, but it’s intermittent. You can’t rely on it all the time, so it needs to be backed up by what we call dispatchable energy,” Chura said. “That’s something that we can kick in quickly to pick up the slack when the wind stops blowing and wind energy isn’t available.” Chura said the combustion turbines would also help meet peak electricity demand, respond to drought conditions and maintain reliability during emergencies when Manitoba Hydro’s generating capacity is under strain. The plan acknowledges the combustion turbines will produce greenhouse gas emissions when fuelled by natural gas, but says their environmental impact will be limited because they are expected to operate only 0.5 to five per cent of the time. It also says the additional turbines “will have virtually no impact” on Manitoba’s overall emissions, with 99.8 per cent of Manitoba Hydro’s electricity generation expected to continue coming from non-fossil fuel sources through 2035. The report projects Manitoba Hydro could face a shortfall of up to 600 megawatts of firm generating capacity by the end of 2030, driven by increasing electrification and changing patterns of electricity demand. Hydro currently operates 16 hydroelectric generating stations, which produce about 97 per cent of Manitoba’s electricity in an average year, according to the plan.
