{"id":11117,"date":"2025-11-21T01:20:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/11\/21\/3b-turbine-project-gets-warm-welcome-from-brandon-mayor-cold-shoulder-from-environmentalists\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T01:20:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:20:36","slug":"3b-turbine-project-gets-warm-welcome-from-brandon-mayor-cold-shoulder-from-environmentalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/11\/21\/3b-turbine-project-gets-warm-welcome-from-brandon-mayor-cold-shoulder-from-environmentalists\/","title":{"rendered":"$3B turbine project gets warm welcome from Brandon mayor, cold shoulder from environmentalists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"$3b-turbine-project-gets-warm-welcome-from-brandon-mayor,-cold-shoulder-from-environmentalists\"<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

$3B turbine project gets warm welcome from Brandon mayor, cold shoulder from environmentalists<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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ManitobaA multi-billion-dollar combustion turbine project planned for the city of Brandon will give the province \u201cpower sovereignty,\u201d said Mayor Jeff Fawcett.Manitoba Hydro says new facility needed by end of decade to meet expected demandMichele McDougall \u00b7 CBC News \u00b7 Posted: Nov 20, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Since retiring the coal-fired generators at the Brandon Generating Station in 2018, Manitoba Hydro has used two natural-gas-fuelled combustion turbines to meet peak loads. The province is hoping to add three more combustion turbines by the end of 2029. (Riley Laychuk\/CBC)A multi-billion-dollar combustion turbine project planned for the city of Brandon will give the province \u201cpower sovereignty,\u201d said the Wheat City\u2019s mayor, echoing comments made by Premier Wab Kinew during Tuesday\u2019s throne speech.\u201cIt\u2019s great news,\u201d Mayor Jeff Fawcett said.\u201cPower sovereignty is important. Meaning that with the power we would have, we would be able to make sure that at peak times in cold, cold winters, we should be sustainable.\u201dThe Manitoba government is proposing to build a $3-billion combustion turbine facility at the existing Manitoba Hydro generating station in Brandon\u2019s east end.Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the proposed construction of new turbines at the existing Manitoba Hydro generating station in Brandon\u2019s east end is great news. (Chelsea Kemp\/CBC)The provincial Crown corporation said three 250-megawatt fuel combustion turbines will meet the increasing demand for power. It proposed a completed project no later than the end of 2029 to stave off expected power shortages.There are no timelines as far as shovels in the ground at the Brandon facility, said Peter Chura, a spokesperson for Hydro. It\u2019s too early to provide specifics about what construction will look like, he added.What Chura does know is the reason why the expansion is necessary.\u201cWe have identified that peak demand for electricity by 2029-30 will exceed Manitoba Hydro\u2019s capacity, and the turbines would be intended to meet that need,\u201d Chura said.\u201cThat\u2019s an important point \u2014 the turbines would only run as needed to meet peak capacity needs, as a backup to future wind energy sources, and in case of emergencies,\u201d Chura said in a prepared email statement to CBC.Next steps for Manitoba Hydro will include working with government and regulators for all the necessary approvals.But a Brandon-based sustainability group says they don\u2019t think the planned turbines will meet the climate targets the provincial government set in October.Quentin Robinson with Sustainable Brandon said the proposed addition of a new fuel-burning station goes against the NDP\u2019s pledge to create a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.\u201cOur concern is about the cost per kilowatt hour as well as the cost for our climate, which is immeasurable,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cWe have other options.\u201dHis concern is that the province needs to be moving away from fossil fuels to achieve net zero by looking at cheaper, scalable options. Alternatives could include a battery system that stores power in the off-peak hours and releases it during peak demand.\u201cNone of us want to, some night in January, wake up and find that our electric furnace isn\u2019t running right. But there are other alternatives that could be considered,\u201d Robinson said.Kinew told CBC Wednesday that the province currently imports power from the United States, but that\u2019s something he can\u2019t count on under U.S. President Donald Trump.That means the province has to be independent when it comes to money, power and energy, he said. At the same time it will help the environment by moving from natural gas, which can be converted to renewable gases like methane and later hydrogen in the future.\u201cThis energy plant will help us do this,\u201d Kinew said.\u201cSo the idea is let\u2019s build up our economy now and then we\u2019re going to use technology to make sure that we hit the goals on the environment and we\u2019ll hit that net-zero target by 2035.\u201dMadelyn Robinson, Sustainable Brandon chair, said she questions if the plant will meet those targets.\u201cI\u2019m just extremely concerned. And I just really believe that what I would like from my government is bold action toward curbing carbon emissions,\u201d Madelyn said.\u201cThis is not \u2026 what I\u2019m hoping for.\u201dCorrectionsAn earlier version of this story incorrectly said the Brandon Generating Station hasn\u2019t generated electricity since 2018. In fact, it was only the facility\u2019s coal-fired generators that were retired in 2018.Nov 20, 2025 8:30 PM ESTABOUT THE AUTHOR Michele McDougall is a news reporter at CBC Manitoba based in Brandon. She previously worked at the Brandon Sun covering health stories in Western Manitoba. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

$3B turbine project gets warm welcome from Brandon mayor, cold shoulder from environmentalists ManitobaA multi-billion-dollar combustion turbine project planned for the city of Brandon will give the province \u201cpower sovereignty,\u201d said Mayor Jeff Fawcett.Manitoba Hydro says new facility needed by end of decade to meet expected demandMichele McDougall \u00b7 CBC News \u00b7 Posted: Nov 20, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,127,1],"tags":[116,126],"class_list":["post-11117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indigenous","category-manitoba","category-uncategorized","tag-indigenous","tag-manitoba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}