Mike Priaro, P.Eng.

Six or seven hydroelectric power plants along the 1400 km run of the Mackenzie River from Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea could generate up to 13,000 Megawatts (MW) of low-carbon hydroelectric power at 80% capacity.

This was the main conclusion of a presentation on Nov. 9, 2016 at the 1st Annual Richard Marceau Energy Symposium by Guy Van Uytven, M. Eng., MBA, P.Eng., a Volunteer Associate of the Bowman Centre for Sustainable Energy and a member of the Canadian Society of Senior Engineers.

That amount of hydroelectric power is approximately equal to the fabled James Bay hydroelectric power project according to Van Uytven, and to Alberta’s total electric power generating capacity.

ATCO Power has indicated there is additional hydroelectric power potential in Alberta totaling 4,800 MW from a 1,500 MW installation on the Peace River, a minimally invasive 1,800 MW run-of-river project on the Slave River, and another 1,500 MW from a more traditional facility on the Athabasca River near Fort.  There are also numerous other smaller sites with hydroelectric power potential in Alberta.

Mackenzie Basin hydroelectric power potential totaling at least 17,800 MW has potential for GHG emissions reductions in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, i.e., Northwest Canada, by provision of low-carbon hydroelectric power:

    - for oil sands and shale hydrocarbon extraction, processing, and transportation;

    - for regional industrial, commercial, and residential development;

    - for coastal LNG plants; and,

    - to help eliminate coal-fired electricity in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

A Northwest Canada hydrocarbon energy corridor proposed by Mike Priaro, B.Eng. Sc. (Chem. Eng), P.Eng, also a Volunteer Associate of the Bowman Centre for Sustainable Energy, runs through the heart of Peace Region hydroelectric power developments.

High voltage direct current (HVDC) power from Mackenzie Basin hydroelectric installations could connect to a hydroelectric power hub in the Peace Region of northeast B.C.  and to the electric power grid in Alberta.  This is accomplished by Mackenzie Valley hydroelectric power lines and future pipelines sharing an energy corridor that ties-into a Northwest Canada energy corridor in NW Alberta.

Currently, there is only one low-capacity inter-tie between the B.C. and Alberta electric power grids.  A new high-capacity connection from the Peace Region to Edmonton could also be the first step toward a trans-Canada hydroelectric power link.

Existing high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) power lines to Prince Rupert are inadequate to supply enough power to liquefy natural gas for export at LNG plants proposed for the Prince Rupert area.  Properly engineered, HVDC power lines may cost only 70% as much as standard HVAC power lines according to Van Uytven.  Installation of a metallic return conductor for HVDC power lines eliminates induced currents in nearby parallel pipelines —an issue with HVAC transmission lines.

A Northwest Canada hydrocarbon energy corridor from Fort McMurray through the Peace Region of northern BC to the west coast port of Prince Rupert could contain a two million bbl/d oil pipeline proposed by Eagle Spirit Energy Holding Ltd., TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, and a potential liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)/natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline.  There is also potential to batch refined products down the LPG/NGL pipeline and/or the oil pipeline, or in a fourth pipeline dedicated to batching refined products.

According to Priaro, this would create a highly-efficient energy corridor, a “sustainable energy super-highway,” that would dramatically reduce the cost and environmental footprint of hydrocarbon energy and hydroelectric power development in Northwest Canada.

Hhigh-voltage direct current power lines, and other services such as fibre-optic cables, installed together with oil, natural gas, LPG/NGL, and refined products pipelines in a single hydroelectric power and hydrocarbon energy corridor right-of-way (ROW) will dramatically reduce construction costs, especially through the multiple rugged mountain ranges of B.C. by an estimated more than $10 billion.  It also minimizes the environmental footprint and wildlife habitat fragmentation when compared to clearing multiple ROWs through B.C. and Alberta.

Finally, a Northwest Canada energy corridor provides vastly improved access to new markets in the Pacific Rim for Northwest Canada’s immense resources of hydrocarbon energy contained in the oil sands of Alberta, in the shales of northeast BC and northwest Alberta, and in Yukon, NWT, and the Arctic.

Mike Priaro, P.Eng.                                                                         

Calgary, Alberta

Nov. 10, 2016

Mike Priaro, B.Eng.Sc. (Chem. Eng.), U.W.O. '76, P.Eng., Lifetime Member Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), worked in facilities, production, operations and reservoir engineering, as engineering consultant, area superintendent, and engineering management in Alberta's oil patch for 25 years for companies such as Amoco and PetroCanada.

He increased oil production from the historic Turner Valley oilfield and brought in under-balanced drilling and completion technology to drill out, complete, and test several of the highest producing gas wells ever on mainland Canada at Ladyfern. He co-authored ‘Advanced Fracturing Fluids Improve Well Economics’ in Schlumberger's Oilfield Review and developed the course material for the ‘Advanced Production Engineering’ course at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Mike has presented his work to Canada’s House Committee on Natural Resources in Ottawa and to the Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications in Calgary, and had work published in World Pipelines magazine in September 2016, by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in the March and April, 2014 and February, 2015 editions of Inside Policy magazine, by U.S. energy industry websites such as RBN Energy, in the July 17, 2014 edition of the Oil and Gas Journal, in Petroleum Technology Quarterly, Q3 2014, and in several columns in the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Halifax Chronicle Herald, and others.

Mike has no formal connection to any oil company, environmental organization, think tank, labour organization, lobbying or special interest group, academia, or to provincial or federal politics.

In 2015 Mike provided "A Preliminary Engineering, Economic, and Environmental Evaluation of ASRL's Partial Upgrading Process" to Alberta Sulphur Research Limited and presented it to 80 representatives of ASRL's member companies. ASRL partial upgrading subsequently obtained Alberta government funding and industry support. On Jan. 29, 2016, the Alberta Government made partial upgrading a priority based on its Royalty Review Panel’s recommendations. As of Nov. 2016, the ASRL partial upgrading flow test pilot is running at CANMET/NRCan’s research facility in Devon, AB.

In 2016 Mike was invited to be a Bowman Centre Volunteer Associate at the not-for-profit Bowman Centre for Sustainable Energy. Its mission is 'to catalyze big energy projects which drive Canada’s energy strategy and generate sustainable wealth and jobs'.

Mike’s work can be found on his LinkedIn pages:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-priaro or Behance website:https://www.behance.net/Mike_Priaro

Mike is available for special projects and speaking engagements.