Electricity – Facilities
Application
IPC Canada Ltd. (“IPC”) applied to construct and operate a 33.06-megawatt (“MW”) natural gas-fired cogeneration power plant and a 2.5-MW dual fuel diesel/natural gas-fired emergency backup power plant (the “Project”). The Project was a part of the Blackrod Commercial steam-assisted gravity drainage facility construction for which IPC applied to the AER for Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (“EPEA”) amendments of its original approval issued by the AER in 2016.
Decision
The AUC found that approval of the Project is in the public interest having regard to the social, economic, and other effects of the power plants, including its effect on the environment.
Pertinent Issues
The AUC determined that the information requirements specified in Rule 007: Applications for Power Plants, Substations, Transmission Lines, Industrial System Designations, Hydro Developments and Gas Utility Pipelines (“Rule 007”) were met, and that the participant involvement program complied with the requirements of Rule 007.
The AUC found that the noise impact assessment, which predicted that cumulative sound levels would comply with the daytime and nighttime permissible sound levels, demonstrated that the Project met the requirements of Rule 012: Noise Control.
The AUC accepted the air quality assessment report, which concluded that air emissions would comply with Alberta Ambient Air Quality Objectives.
The AUC was satisfied that the potential environmental effects of the project were not significant and could be mitigated, as detailed in the environmental review.
As an environmental protection plan (“EPP”) was not submitted with the application, the AUC imposed a condition of approval requiring IPC to file a stand-alone, project-specific EPP no later than two months after the EPEA amendment approvals were received and no later than one month before construction was scheduled to begin.
