Boksh is a graduate student from Bangladesh currently studying at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University in Corner Brook. His thesis for a masters degree in environmental policy is on the major hydroelectric project being built on the Lower Churchill River in Labrador.
He was one of several dozen people who took in the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade’s breakfast presentation by Gilbert Bennett, Nalcor Energy’s vice-president for the Lower Churchill River project. He was also among those to ask some questions.
Boksh wanted to know how Nalcor has determined that Muskrat Falls will result in Newfoundland and Labrador producing an energy supply that will be 98 per cent renewable. Bennett’s reply was that, when Muskrat Falls is fully operational, the province will also have two wind farms and will only require the occasional use of three combustion turbines and a small number of diesel-powered stations to meet peak energy demand periods.
Boksh asked what the long-term benefits will be for the local communities in Labrador after the hundreds of construction jobs vanish upon the project’s completion. He also wanted to know what the potential was for the 40 per cent excess power Muskrat Falls will generate to be sold outside the province.
Acknowledging only 50 or so people will be needed to operate the plant once it’s built, Bennett said the project will have created a skilled, experienced workforce that could work on megaprojects anywhere.
The infrastructure itself, he noted, could help facilitate growth in the Labrador economy.
As for the excess power, Bennett said Nalcor has not committed any of it to long-term contracts that might interfere with the province’s own demands, including for further industrial developments in Labrador.
Boksh is developing an index to measure the sustainability of the project which could be applied to any similar project in the world. He expects to complete his thesis in late June. He’ll be taking what Bennett had to say into consideration, but more analysis will be needed.
“They weren’t very conclusive answers and I will pursue these questions further,” he said.
Twitter: WS_GaryKean
West coast connections
Here are some of the western Newfoundland companies working with Nalcor on the Lower Churchill hydroelectric and transmission project:
-Johnson’s Construction Limited
-Pardy’s Waste Management and Industrial Services
-Locke’s Electrical Limited
-Noble Resources Inc.
-Nukem Forestry Limited
-Major’s Logging Limited
Source: Nalcor Energy