Opportunities, benefits, and issues relating to the deregulation of the electric power industry in Alberta, Canada

Deregulation of the electric power industry in the province of Alberta, Canada, has been actively pursued by the Alberta provincial government and has reached the final stages of legislative implementation with the establishment of an active Power Pool and new interconnection guidelines for small generators. This paper examines the potential opportunities, benefits and issues resulting from this new regulatory environment. The paper deals with economic, social and environmental benefits of distributed power generation, including cogeneration, and some of the potential synergy between the various established industries in the province and the power generation industry. The paper includes discussion of the results of recent studies by the Alberta Research Council which further support the environmental benefits which distributed power generation can bring to the province.