Full power from Muskrat Falls at least a year away, says report

With a new report saying full power fromNewfoundland and Labrador's Muskrat Falls hydro project is at leasta year away, the head of the province's Crown energy corporationsays there's a backup plan in place.

The report posted earlier this week said "new defects" werefound in the software that operates the transmission line connectingthe Muskrat Falls power station in Labrador to the island ofNewfoundland.

"We continue to believe it reasonable to project that completionmay well come as far as and perhaps significantly longer than 12months from now," the Liberty Consulting Group report said.

Liberty was hired in 2018 by the province's Public UtilitiesBoard to keep an eye on Muskrat Falls as construction ended andpower generation from its massive dams began. That stage of theproject's development has been plagued by software issues pertainingto the transmission line, known as the Labrador-Island Link.

The ongoing issues mean Muskrat Falls isn't yet producing powerat full capacity, and as a consequence, no money is coming in fromratepayers to cover its bills. The last deadline missed for thestart of full commercial operations was Nov. 26.

Jennifer Williams, chief executive officer of Newfoundland andLabrador Hydro, would not say directly Wednesday if she agreedwith the timeline in the Liberty Consulting Group report.

"Utility people should be cautionary and cautious and prudentand not optimistic," Williams said, adding that members of the Crowncorporation are "doing our best to be responsive."

As a backup plan, she said, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro iskeeping its generating station just outsideHolyrood operational until 2024, soratepayers have a reliable source of power.

The oil-burning Holyrood facility burns about 18,000 barrels aday in peak winter months, according to previous government reports.

Muskrat Falls was approved with a $7.4-billion price tag by aProgressive Conservative government in 2012. It was championed as away to power the province with hydroelectric energy and replace theHolyrood plant, which belches out an average of about 1.1 milliontonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

The Muskrat Falls project is years overdue and nearly double the sanctioned cost $13.1 billion as of September 2020.

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