TC Energy urges co-operation on growing natural gas network to meet ‘generational’ demand
Leaked document shows UCP prioritizing data centres over energy bills, Alberta NDP says
The pipeline company that moves three quarters of Western Canada’s natural gas says it’s prepared to keep investing in its vast Alberta network to meet “generational demand” for the fuel.
TC Energy Corp. released its statement days after the leak of an Alberta cabinet report that raised concern over the Calgary company’s ability to serve the province’s nascent artificial intelligence data centre industry, oilsands projects and other sources of demand growth.
The report says TC’s future expansion plans for its Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. pipeline are “misaligned” with the province’s projected demand growth and that the company’s dominant position has led to a “market failure” that has left key growth regions unable to access gas.
The NGTL network, in operation since 1957, forms a vast web stretching across Alberta and connecting into northeastern British Columbia, shipping an average of 15 billion cubic feet per day of gas.
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TC says natural gas demand is growing faster than infrastructure can be built, but it has invested “more than anyone” to grow is system.
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It says it’s spent $15 billion in the last decade on expansion projects and is continuing to grow the system with another $1 billion in planned projects.
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“TC Energy is prepared to keep investing in NGTL and expand the system to meet the scale of opportunity in front of Alberta and Canada. This will require all of us — industry, customers, regulators, governments, stakeholders and rightsholders — to come to the table and improve the conditions to get infrastructure built,” the company said.
“The key is working together to bring forward credible solutions, capital and capacity quickly enough to support Alberta’s growth and enable Canada to unlock the opportunity to meet the moment.”
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The Canadian Press has viewed the Alberta cabinet report, which The Narwhal first reported on last week.
The report included a recommendation that the province create two Crown corporations to spur new natural gas transmission lines. Premier Danielle Smith told her “Your Province Your Premier” radio call-in show Saturday that it’s “unlikely” the province will make such a move as there should be enough private-sector interest.
Court challenges from TC Energy and potentially ATCO Gas and Pipelines Ltd. were flagged as “legal considerations” in the report.
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