Albertans could face some dark days if a proposed 500-kilovolt power line through Central Alberta isn’t built quickly.

This was the warning that Jim Oosterbaan, a senior vice-president with Epcor Alberta, brought to Red Deer on Wednesday.

Speaking at a Red Deer Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Oosterbaan said the danger of a “catastrophic” power failure is on the rise.

“We are concerned that if you have a set of unusual conditions — really cold weather, a couple power plants go off unexpectedly — then the risks of having something bad happen increase.”

He cited the events of July 24, 2006, when hot weather and heavy air conditioner use forced the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) to repeatedly appeal to Albertans to reduce their power consumption. Then a transmission line went off line and lightning struck a transmission line carrying electricity from B.C.

Brownouts resulted in Red Deer, Edmonton and Calgary.

During the summer of 2007, continued Oosterbaan, four power consumption records were set and five emergency alerts issued to consumers.

Despite Alberta’s power usage more than doubling from 1987 to 2007, few improvements have been made to the province’s transmission grid — except for the addition of a new power line between Fort McMurray and Edmonton, he said. Much of the equipment is more than 40 years old and susceptible to breakdown.

Meanwhile, said Oosterbaan, the AESO is forecasting that Alberta will need an additional 5,000 megawatts of power by 2017 and 11,000 megawatts by 2027.

To put these figures into perspective, Oosterbaan said the $1.6-billion Keephills 3 coal-fired generator that his company is developing with TransAlta near Edmonton will generate 450 megawatts when completed.

Companies like Epcor are reluctant to make the necessary investment to boost power generation until they’re certain the transmission capacity is in place to get their electricity to market.

In addition to improving the reliability of Alberta’s electrical system, increased transmission capacity would help reduce power losses from the lines, said Oosterbaan. It would also make it easier to bring electricity to market from other sources, such as wind farms, and from British Columbia.

Finally, he said, future growth — such as that associated with oilsands development — would be supported.

Oosterbaan said objections to the proposed power line between Edmonton and Calgary have in large part come from landowners who don’t want the route near their property.

“We don’t care where the line is built, whether it’s on the east side of Hwy 2, the west side of Hwy 2. What we care about is getting it done in a timely manner.”

AEOS may not file a needs identification document with respect to the power line until 2009, said Oosterbaan. An Alberta Utilities Commission hearing might take six to eight more months, followed by a 60- to 90-day delay before a decision is issued.

Assuming the project is approved, construction could take as long as two or three years, he estimated.

“We get more and more uncomfortable the longer this takes. The risk of something unexpected happening and it having an impact on the system will continue to grow because our reserve margin, this reserve capacity we’ve got, continues to dwindle.”

Contact Harley Richards at hrichards@reddeeradvocate.com