Welcome to this week's edition of IPPSA Intelligence! |
Alberta Electric System Operator |
AUC Approves ISO Rules Amendments to Sections 503.6 and 503.18, Effective July 10 Market & Regulation The AUC approved amendments to ISO Rules Sections 503.6 and 503.18 in Decision 30832-D01-2026, effective July 10, 2026, following an AESO application filed May 19. Separately, the AESO is convening a closed stakeholder session on August 20 to develop a recommended Transmission Reinforcement Payment Base Rate for AUC filing — expressions of interest are due August 7. The REM Rules engagement calendar is dense through month-end, with feedback deadlines and sessions covering Market Power Mitigation for Energy Storage and Hydro Resources, Fast Frequency Response Plus, the definition of Inflexible Block, and AESO funding eligibility. |
JP Mousseau Named AUC CEO as Bob Heggie Departs After Three Decades Market & Regulation Bob Heggie will step down as AUC chief executive on September 1, 2026, after more than 30 years with the commission and its predecessors; he stays on as a strategic advisor until June 30, 2027. JP Mousseau, who brings regulatory, legal, and leadership experience, takes the CEO role on the same date. The transition lands during a particularly active period for the AUC, with REM rulemaking, major transmission decisions, and data-center connection proceedings all in motion. |
Wheatland County Approves First Two Readings for 575-Acre Goldfinch Data Center Campus Companies & Projects Diode Ventures, a Black & Veatch subsidiary, cleared a key planning hurdle on July 7 when Wheatland County council passed first and second readings of bylaws to redesignate roughly 575 acres east of Calgary from agricultural to industrial use for the Goldfinch Technology Park. Power capacity and total investment have not been disclosed, but AESO is already coordinating grid capacity, and the developer will bear all infrastructure upgrade costs. A third reading, development permits, and environmental assessments still lie ahead, with each construction phase estimated at roughly 24 months to operations. |
Aecon Wins $1.7B Greenlight Electricity Centre Contract in Alberta Generation & Infrastructure Aecon Group (TSX: ARE), through its TRA consortium, has been awarded the contract to build the Greenlight Electricity Centre, a large gas-fired power plant in Alberta targeting the province's data-center-driven dispatchable power demand. The contract adds approximately $1.7 billion to Aecon's construction backlog. Aecon also acquired a nuclear fabrication facility in Jackson, South Carolina in the same period, though that deal has no direct Alberta implications. The Greenlight award is a tangible signal that investor appetite for new gas generation in Alberta remains alive despite the broader energy transition debate. |
Western Transmission Catalysts Launches to Advance BC-AB-SK-MB Interties Generation & Infrastructure A federally funded coalition called Western Transmission Catalysts launched in Calgary with a three-year mandate to convert the BC-Alberta, Alberta-Saskatchewan, and Saskatchewan-Manitoba interties from emergency-backup links into commercially active transmission corridors. The group — economists, engineers, Indigenous leaders, and industry experts — plans to commission independent economic studies, arrange financing, and coordinate early engagement with First Nations, starting with the BC-AB corridor. |
Eby Tours John Horgan Dam, Signals Possible Site E and Bute Inlet Hydro Expansion Generation & Infrastructure Premier David Eby visited the John Horgan Dam (formerly Site C) on July 15, accompanied by BC Hydro President Charlotte Mitha. The $16-billion project became fully operational last August and features six large turbine pipes in a crest stretching over one kilometre. Eby indicated the province is weighing further Peace River development, including Site E at up to 750 MW, plus larger proposals near Bute Inlet, with public consultation expected. For Alberta, expanded BC hydro capacity matters both as a potential import source and as a competitive factor in any future intertie trading regime. |
Macdonald-Laurier Report Flags Structural Barriers to Federal Electricity Trading Push Market & Regulation A Macdonald-Laurier Institute report by economist Edgardo Sepulveda argues that Ottawa's interprovincial electricity trading agenda would require dismantling vertically integrated utilities like Hydro-Québec, BC Hydro, and Manitoba Hydro — reforms those provinces are likely to resist. Sepulveda contends federal analyses assume structural unbundling has already occurred, which he says is neither accurate nor necessary. Ontario and Alberta, having restructured their power sectors decades ago with competitive wholesale markets and open trading terms, are implicitly the model — and Alberta's market design gives it a structural advantage in any future national electricity trading framework. |
Ontario's Bill 40 Creates Priority Pathway for Data Centre Grid Connections Market & Regulation Ontario enacted Bill 40 amendments to the Electricity Act 1998 on December 11, 2025, creating a priority connection stream for data centre projects deemed to serve provincial economic interests, with defining regulations still forthcoming. IESO's July 2025 technical paper classifies data centres as large step loads above 20 MW, broken into Enterprise, Colocation, and Hyperscale categories. Alberta has no comparable statutory priority mechanism, which is a relevant comparison point as the province faces its own wave of data centre load growth — the absence of a formal prioritization framework could affect connection queue management and timeline predictability for both generators and large loads. |
MISO Issues Emergency Energy Alert as Heat and Outages Push Spot Prices Past $900/MWh Electricity MISO declared an emergency energy alert on July 15 covering 15 states across the Midwest and South after plant outages combined with above-normal temperatures and unexpectedly high demand strained the grid. Spot wholesale prices hit over $900/MWh at MISO's Michigan hub and approximately $600/MWh at the Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota hubs before the alert was set to expire at 8 p.m. EDT. |
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