An investor bulletin from 2015 Enbridge Day (Part 2)
As the world’s energy demand diversifies, Enbridge is ready to power up.
Power generation and transmission is already the fastest-growing business at Enbridge, with our renewable projects generating 1,800 net megawatts (MW) of zero-emission energy.
And with global energy demand expected to rise 30 per cent by 2040, fueled to a large extent by more consumption of natural gas and renewables, Enbridge is ready to crank up the dial on power production, Vern Yu recently told the 17th annual Enbridge Day Investment Community Conference.
“We believe the fundamentals for electricity supply and demand are extremely strong,” Mr. Yu, Enbridge’s chief development officer and senior vice president of corporate planning , told investors and analysts.
“Our goal is to double our generating capacity, by an additional 2,000 megawatts, between now and 2019,” he added. “If we are able to achieve our goals of incremental generation, we can be a top-five renewables generator in a North American context.”
Enbridge’s 2015 Enbridge Day investment conference, held Oct. 7 in Toronto and Oct. 8 in New York, gave current and potential Enbridge investors insight into our business fundamentals, our financial outlook, our long-term vision, and our large and diversified set of future growth opportunities – including the power generation and transmission picture.
In addition to a strategic company overview by president and CEO Al Monaco, who discussed our $38-billion, five-year capital growth program, 2015 Enbridge Day also included updates by various Enbridge leaders on key aspects of our business – including a Power, International and Energy Services presentation by Mr. Yu.
Enbridge’s North American power generation and transmission portfolio includes 14 wind projects, four solar farms, a geothermal project, and the Montana-Alberta Tie-Line, and represents a $4.6-billion investment.
We’re actively pursuing more than 2,000 MW of generation with projects as diverse as the greenfield 186-MW Whitetail gas-fired peaking plant in northwest Alberta and the Rampion Offshore Wind Project, announced Nov. 5, which represents our first renewable energy foray into Europe. We also continue to work on the greenfield East-West transmission line in northern Ontario with the NextBridge partnership.
In addition to wind and solar, our long-term investment options will include hydro, gas-fired power generation, and an expanded focus on power transmission – and we’re planning on leveraging our major projects prowess to create earlier stage business development, rather than being a late-stage investor.
Mr. Yu said Enbridge’s plans are based on favorable conditions, including:
- Renewable generation targets established in North America and Europe;
- Falling capital costs for solar and wind power production; and
- The power sector’s excellent business fundamentals, with risk and returns that are comparable to our core pipeline business.
Enbridge’s growth plans within this portfolio also include:
- Developing our Energy Services business by leveraging experience and infrastructure to capture locational or commodity-grade differential arbitrage;
- Selective participation in international energy infrastructure investments, such as the Oleoducto al Pacifico (OAP) in Colombia.
