Alberta pushes for expanded electricity interties with B.C. and U.S.

The Government of Alberta (Minister Nathan Neudorf) is publicly pushing to expand and restore electricity interties with British Columbia and Montana, including adding at least one new intertie and strengthening existing ones.

• Main announcement: Minister Nathan Neudorf said Alberta aims to add two more interties or strengthen existing ones (currently three) to raise import/export capability; restoring the Alberta-B.C.-Montana intertie to full capacity and building an additional intertie could raise Alberta’s interconnectivity toward ~10% (from current ~3%) and is explicitly framed as a provincial policy push to enable more low-cost electricity trade. Key figures: Alberta installed capacity 23,300 MW, current effective import ~650 MW, AESO contingency procurement ~500 MW, and the intertie physical import limit ~950 MW (operating at 40–60% of that physical ability).

• Background and project details: Pembina cites studies and cost estimates: a new intertie could cost more than $2 billion and approach $3 billion depending on route/design; AESO estimates $150 million to restore the existing line; $1.5–2.7 billion to procure 750–1,500 MW of batteries for frequency response; combined investment $4.6–5.8 billion with projected annual system cost savings of $200 million at 1,500 MW interconnection. Also cited: GDP impact estimates (restoration → $870M increase for Alberta, $183M for B.C.; additional intertie → $1.2B and $574M respectively) and construction job estimates 4,850–5,250 over five years.