Energy forum meets N.E., Maritimes eye partnership

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BOSTON – Volatile political insecurities, coupled with an increased consumer demand for power, is making New England’s energy markets ripe for Canadian imports.

And the United States’ northern neighbors are more than willing to sell what they’ve got, from natural gas to wind power to hydro-generated electricity.

On Friday, provincial premiers and corporate chief executive officers came to the 12th annual U.S.-Canada Energy Trade and Technology Conference in Boston, which is sponsored by the New England-Canada Business Council, to pitch their wares.

New England needs the energy, according to conference participants. Electricity demand has increased 50 percent in about five years and new sources of power are running scarce as new construction of power generators has stalled.

From the Iraq war and terrorism to economic growth in Asian countries, energy markets are being strained by high crude oil and natural gas prices. The instability is coming at a time when North American demand is “at a point we’ve never experienced before,” according to one industry executive.

“The volatility is creating a lot of activity and a lot of anxiety in how to meet North America’s supply demand,” said Brian Frank, president and chief executive officer of BP Canada Energy Co.

Canadians are proud of the resources they have to sell, and their sales tactics are prompted by a sense of confidence that North American trade agreements passed in 1988 and 1993 have made the country the single most important trading partner for the United States.

In Maine alone, Canadian companies have invested more than $1.2 billion U.S. in recent years, accounting for 5,000 jobs. In Massachusetts, the multibillion-dollar investments account for 16,000 jobs.

Among those making sales pitches was Danny Williams, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. With support from the provinces, energy companies are exploring new natural gas basins, developing wind-power farms and pulling hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil out of the ground daily, he said.

Already, Newfoundland and Labrador have 2 billion barrels of oil in reserves and 9.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Williams said. New projects will add 6 billion more barrels of oil and 65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. A massive hydroelectric plant also is in the works.

“We are ready, eager and able to work with you in pursuit of opportunity, success, and most importantly, profit,” Williams told the more than 150 energy company representatives attending the conference. “Please accept my invitation and know how close you are to success.”

In Quebec, the world’s fourth-largest producer of hydroelectric power, five new generators are under construction, 10 plants are being rebuilt and four others are in the planning stages, according to Premier Jean Charest. The province is also pursuing at least two wind-power farms.

However, in the next few years Quebec faces the challenge of furnishing its own power needs before sharing with others.

“The next few years is a situation of tight supply,” Charest said.

Although Canadian power sources are under construction or under exploration, the problem becomes one of getting the natural gas, electricity and wind power to New England, conference speakers said. New transmission lines and pipeline expansions are required.

Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. and its Canadian partner, New Brunswick Power, are in the regulatory-approval process to construct a 345-kv tie-line from Point LePreau to Orrington.

Bangor Hydro formally filed its “certificate of need and necessity” application with the Maine Public Utilities Commission on Friday.

“It’s a huge project,” said PUC spokesman Phil Lindley.

The project has a statutory six-month regulatory review clock on it, he said.

While the project will bring power to New England in the summer months, when its needed there the most, and to northern Maine and the Maritimes in the winter, their peak usage times, the relationship may not be enough to ease growing electricity demands.

David Hay, president and chief executive officer of New Brunswick Power, said a power bottleneck will be created in Orrington from Bangor Hydro’s two Canada-United States tie lines.

Discussions are under way to pursue the construction of another high-voltage transmission line from Orrington to the former Maine Yankee site, where a tie-line connects Maine’s power grid to the rest of New England, Hay said.

“It’s the next logical step,” he said.

But while electricity infrastructure projects are in the planning stages, the expansion of natural gas and liquefied natural gas pipelines and terminals also need consideration, conference speakers said. One of the primary benefits of those energy sources is that it is cleaner for the environment, said Steve Beasley, president of the Eastern Pipeline Group of El Paso Corp.

“LNG [liquefied natural gas] is plentiful and flexible,” he said.

It’s also in great demand worldwide, just like crude oil and natural gas.

Eugene Grecheck, vice president of nuclear support systems for Dominion Energy Inc. in Virginia, said it would be arrogant of the United States to believe that it is the only country facing increased energy demands and strained infrastructure pressures in its energy markets.

“We tend to think that we’re the only ones who need energy,” he said.

But we’re not, said Brian Frank, president and chief executive officer of BP Canada Energy Co.

“LNG tankers already en route to North America are being redirected to Asia and Europe,” said Frank, noting the volatility of trading on the spot markets.

China, said Grecheck, decided recently to limit its rate of economic growth to 13 percent a year, down from 19 percent to 20 percent, and that prosperity needs power.

“They would be willing to pay much higher prices than what we are willing to accept,” he said.