Manitoba is set to increase its energy supply for the province and other regions in Canada after two hydroelectric contracts with a Minnesota utility expire at the end of April.
The province has decided to “repatriate” two contracts with Northern States Power amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States, Premier Wab Kinew announced on April 14. The agreements were signed with Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy in 2010 for a combined 500 megawatts of power.
“We saw that there’s 500 [megawatts] of export contracts that are expiring at the end of the month,” Kinew said during a press conference in Winnipeg. “We’ve decided as Canadians and as Manitobans, we are going to use that power to build up our own economy here at home. So in Manitoba, that means more housing, more factories. But it also gives us the opportunity to talk about trade corridors and building up our Canadian economy.”…