Nova Scotia-based Emera would likely be looking for an ownership stake in the Lower Churchill if Halifax journalist Jim Meeks is right.
For Nova Scotia Power, it’s all about Nova Scotia.
For Emera, it’s not about geography but about opportunity.
You could see the differences between the two companies this week, when they each signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Newfoundland Power to (possibly) take power from the proposed Lower Churchill hydro project.
NSP wants another source of renewable energy for this province.
Emera wouldn’t mind that either. But it would also want a piece of the action if a subsea power line from Labrador lands in New Brunswick.
It could "wheel" that electricity through its enhanced transmission system in Maine, which it would like to extend to Boston.
So here's a question for the Premier: if it would be bad to sell Labrador power to Quebec so it wheels the power to other customers at a higher price than they paid for it, why would it be better to have the same situation occur if the Labrador power was sold to a Nova Scotia private company?
So much for go-it-alone.
-srbp-