Manitoba will cancel some exports of hydroelectricity to the US. In an effort to boost more proper harvest projects, says Premier Wab Kinew.
Manitoba will allow two of his hydroelectric agreements that expired the energy through the southern border, Kinew told journalists on Monday. The province is “repatriating” that power to invest in Canadian projects such as commercial tensions with the United States, he said.
“We saw that there is 500 [megawatts] of export contracts that expire at the end of the month, so we have decided as Canadians and as Manitobanos [that] We are going to use that power to build our own economy here at home, “he said.
One of those export agreements was with an electric company based in Minnesota, said Kinew, adding that he had already spoken with the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, about the measure and that the governor was comprehensive.
However, Manitoba will still sell electricity to the United States, he said.
“We are still going to be good reliable partners for our US export market,” Kinew said. “But the reality is that we are also going to move on to a new level of commitment in terms of leading energy conversation in Canada.”
‘Appetite’ for a great Canadian trade, energy project
Although Manitoba Hydro rates are frozen for this year, he has requested a series of three annual increases in electricity rates of 3.5 percent, from 2026.
Drought and low water levels in the last two years have caused Manitoba Hydro’s income to immerse, said the Crown Corporation in its recent tariff request to the Public Services Board.
Kinew did not answer a question about the financial implications of the move on Manitoba Hydro, which already has debts worth $ 24.6 billion, $ 940 million higher than the prognosis previously.
Kinew said he wants Manitoba Hydro Anulate 50 megawatts of power to devote himself to a transmission line to Nunavut in the north.
“Can we put a transmission line there? Can we place it with broadband? Can we connect that Churchill along the way and open opportunities here in Manitoba? I think we can,” he said.
Nunavut representatives will be in Manitoba on Wednesday to sign an agreement, and Kinew says that he hopes that the federal government will be on board after federal elections at the end of this month.
The remaining 450 megawatts could be used to feed a possible commercial corridor that goes east or west Canada, Kinew said.
“I think there is an appetite to approve a great energy and trade project that crosses provincial and territorial borders,” he said.
“We know that these commercial corridors will need power.”
