Quote:
Originally Posted by Makarov
As far as I can tell, these so-called "power purchase arrangements" are completely novel, developed by Alberta in an attempt to introduce competition into the electrical generation industry in the early years of the 21st century.
After doing some reading on the topic (there is an interesting entry on a laws.ca), I maintain my view that the scope of the "change of law" protection granted to the owners is incredibly broad.
Anyway, it does look like this mess is something of an unintended consequence of Alberta's new emissions regime. Looks like a mistake on the part of the government in the sense that it may lead to the elimination of coal power in Alberta much sooner than anticipated (or intended). Will be interesting to watch all of this unfold.
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I guess I just can't help myself but to chime in. This is exactly the way I understand it though. These PPAs have been around for years, and they were sort of working as they were supposed to. But with increased cogeneration and wind (in particular) the PPAs aren't profitable anymore. They weren't profitable before the Carbon tax. Essentially the companies are using this as a "change in law" which makes it cool for them to walk away. It will be interesting to see how the courts decide on that.
The other thing to recognize here is that regardless of who "wins" the same guys foot the bill at the end of the day. If the lawsuit is successful then we pay through increased utility bills. If the lawsuit isn't successful then we pay because municipal entities like Enmax pay.