“We’ve been investigating with the manufacturer to determine what is the right long-term solution for this unit,” Williams said in an interview. “The unit itself has been in service. It ... hasn’t been underperforming by any stretch .... It hasn’t been vibrating in the zone that we keep it in.”
Williams was responding to findings in a consultant’s quarterly report that suggested the Crown corporation should consider the potential challenges presented by the “longer-term accelerated degradation” of all four units.
The CEO said the reports from Liberty Consulting are intended to provide a “cautionary” approach to potential risks.
Williams said the issues outlined in the report amount to the usual “teething” problems experienced by relatively new hydroelectric projects, noting that the Muskrat Falls project was commissioned in April.
“You plan for and expect that there’s going to be bumps and bruises,” she said. “So there’s been a long-standing commitment to make sure that we have other assets planned to be in service while we experience early in-service issues.”
Planning for the repair job has yet to be completed, which means a cost estimate would be premature at this stage, she said.
“We’re in the final stages of finalizing what this option looks like.”
As of June 29, the cost of the Muskrat Falls project had reached $13.5 billion. When the province sanctioned the project in 2012, the full cost was estimated at $7.4 billion.
“It was a big project and any big project doesn’t get executed exactly as it is on paper,” Williams said. “I’m not minimizing the concerns that customers have, but we do have to be thoughtful about how any large project is going to unfold.”
