Industry
Energy
US seeks ways to recycle lithium batteries in cars, phones
CHICAGO – The U.S. government will lead an ambitious effort to develop technologies to recycle lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles, cellphones and other sources to ensure a reliable and affordable supply of metals crucial to battery production in anticipation of…
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CanWEA Highlights Operations and Maintenance
Over 250 industry professionals attended the CanWEA Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Summit recently at the Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale in Mississauga, Ontario. The two-day event offered attendees 25 exhibitors located within the largest exhibit spare ever for the event. Exhibitors featured their…
A new Canadian city flirts with the dream: heated downtown sidewalks
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A winter-weary city councillor in St. John’s, N.L., is hoping to resurrect an idea that has been tried, tested and mostly abandoned in other Canadian cities: heated sidewalks. Sandy Hickman has asked city engineers to look…
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HPS Titan N
Hammond Power Solutions Inc. (HPS), now offers three phase encapsulated transformers for industrial and harsh environments named the HPS Titan N. HPS Titan N is completely encapsulated in epoxy and silica, providing protection from airborne contaminants and prevents the ingress…
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Mission Critical – Emergency Power Upgrades
TELUS completes an integrated project to build a new standby generation plant at a mission critical network facility. As one of Canada’s leading telecommunications companies, TELUS has a multitude of network buildings located throughout Canada. Network buildings provide a number…
B.C. fuel up 4 cents, more hikes due as ‘bumpy’ year looms at pumps: expert
VANCOUVER – Extreme volatility in oil markets has resulted in a price jump for gasoline of four cents a litre in Metro Vancouver and an analyst predicts a further hike could arrive within days. Dan McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst…
Nova Scotia’s Donkin coal mine suspends work after latest ‘roof fall’
DONKIN, N.S. – Operations have been suspended at Cape Breton’s Donkin coal mine after a “roof fall,” the latest in a string of incidents since last July, according to the provincial Labour Department. None of the mine’s 128 workers were…
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Festo’s New EFSD
Festo’s new EFSD electric stopper provides stop-and-release functionality in the movement of product from station to station in assembly and transfer systems. Benefits include: lower installation cost, faster commissioning and operational energy savings. EFSD cylinders are suitable for a wide…
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DC Power Supplies from AutomationDirect
AutomationDirect has added PSH series high efficiency power supplies and PSX series rugged IP67 rated power supplies to the RHINO DC power supplies line-up. RHINO high efficiency PSH series 12, 24 and 48 VDC power supplies offer efficiencies up to…
Suncor warns forced provincial oil cutbacks pose safety, operational risks
CALGARY – Forced Alberta government crude oil production cuts next year will result in “unintended consequences” that could include increased safety hazards for its employees, Suncor Energy Inc. warned Friday. Despite the curtailments that begin Jan. 1, Canada’s largest integrated…
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Operational Excellence Takes Centre Stage
The Operational Excellence in Energy and Utilities conference and workshops took place recently at the Old Mill Inn in Toronto, Ontario. Over 150 industry professionals attended the event, including representatives from Enbridge, HydroOne, Suncor, SaskPower, Hydro-Québec, Toronto Hydro, Ontario Power…
Alberta buying its own rail cars to move oil without feds, Notley says
OTTAWA – Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says her province is buying enough new rail cars to ship another 120,000 barrels of oil a day, without the federal government’s help. The premier was in Ottawa Wednesday to deliver a speech steps…
Nova Scotia power utility comes under fire after widespread outage
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s electric utility came under fire Thursday after widespread power outages prompted opposition leaders and online critics to call on the government to hold the privately owned company to account. The entire Atlantic region was swept by…
Alberta in ‘crisis’ over low oil price: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
CALGARY – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Alberta is in a crisis as the province’s oil is being sold at a discount of about $45 a barrel. Speaking in Calgary as pro-oil protesters shut down part of the city’s downtown,…
New tax incentives for investment could increase Canada’s emissions
OTTAWA – Big greenhouse-gas emitters will be able to take advantage of new federal tax incentives Finance Minister Bill Morneau promised Wednesday even if that means more emissions, the government says. Measures in Morneau’s fall fiscal update will allow manufacturing…
EDC spends 12 times more for fossil fuels than clean tech, report says
OTTAWA – New research shows Export Development Canada provided 12 times as much financial backing to oil and gas companies as it did to clean-technology companies over the last five years. The findings by lobby group Oil Change International show…
Alberta energy firms split on call for government imposed production cuts
CALGARY – The question of whether Alberta should force industry-wide production cuts to relieve an oversupply of oil and support prices has opened a rift between companies who are suffering from current price discounts and those who aren’t. On Thursday,…
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Power System Studies
Understanding the importance of a short circuit protection and coordination study and an arc flash hazard assessment. A typical power distribution system for a large facility or campus is comprised of multiple distribution voltages and corresponding equipment. An incoming electrical…
Carbon taxes on coal fired power plants to affect only some of their emissions
OTTAWA – Coal-fired power plants in Canada will pay to keep polluting once the federal government imposes a carbon price but, like other heavy emitters in Canada, they won’t pay for every tonne of greenhouse gas they produce. Environment Minister…
New president at Manitoba Hydro to navigate turmoil at Crown corporation
WINNIPEG – The Manitoba government has appointed a new president and chief executive officer at its Crown-owned energy utility. Jay Grewal becomes the first woman to head Manitoba Hydro, and takes over the top spot as the utility faces mounting…
