Charlottetown, August 2026 — The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) held public hearings from August 25 to August 28 on Maritime Electric’s proposal to install two 50-megawatt diesel combustion turbines on the Charlottetown waterfront.
In the lead-up to the hearing, IRAC received nearly 50 comments from concerned Island residents, which helped shape questions posed to the applicant and experts.
Energy Democracy Now! presented to the commission as a Friend of the Commission interveners on August 27. As interveners, we are among the few voices for island residents and ratepayers in this proceeding.
We used the allocated hour to argue that the need for additional energy capacity in PEI does not justify a hasty purchase of combustion turbines. Energy storage technology, demand management, and increased use of renewable technologies all deserve to be fully tested before committing hundreds of millions of dollars in a fifty-year investment. IRAC’s expert witness, Mr. Robert Fagan from Synapse Energy Economics, and MLA Peter Bevan Baker argued many of the same concerns.
We heard two days of testimony from engineers with real concerns about PEI’s energy capacity shortfalls and the various considerations involved in responsible energy planning and emergency preparation. We learned a lot during the proceedings, but we were also left with new questions.
We are left without answers about analyses that haven’t been completed; whether Maritime Electric has any fossil fuel phase-out plan at all; why they want to purchase these units from an American company without an open bidding process; and why Maritime Electric waited until the end of 2024 to begin an application in an energy landscape that had already been evolving for years.
We are also concerned that Maritime Electric’s counsel attempted to exclude submissions by the Commission’s expert, Mr. Fagan, from the record, and spent considerable time interrogating Mr. Fagan’s expertise. The Commission must ask: Is this the behaviour of a party truly dedicated to implementing the best and least-cost option?
After listening to experts from all parties, two things are clear. One, there is a real need for additional on-island generating capacity. Two, the public has not been presented with sufficient evidence that fifty years of burning fossil fuel is, by any metric, the best option to achieve that capacity.
IRAC will deliver a decision on this file later this year.
Read our full presentation here.
Charlottetown, January 13 — Energy Democracy Now! Co-operative Limited, as an Intervener in docket UE20742 Supplemental Capital Budget Request for MECL’s On-Island Capacity for Security of Supply Project, is pleased to submit its written report to the Island and Regulatory Appeals Commission, and looks forward to presenting a verbal report if and when public hearings are held. The public interest is critical to PEI’s energy future.
The following three documents collectively provide a comprehensive, independent assessment of Maritime Electric’s proposed 100MW gas plant and viable clean alternatives.
The Critical Analysis document reviews Maritime Electric’s filings to IRAC, highlighting concerns with the load and capacity forecasts, NPV assumptions, stranded asset risk under the Clean Electricity Regulations, and the limited consideration of demand‑side management, virtual power plants, and large‑scale storage deployed in comparable jurisdictions.
The Levelized Cost of Capacity (LCOC) analysis compares the gas plant to a 100MW grid‑forming BESS, demonstrating materially lower capacity costs, capital requirements, and emissions for the BESS option under realistic operating scenarios.
The Supply Chain Analysis evaluates the practical delivery timelines and risks for both the gas plant and a 100MW BESS, concluding that both can theoretically be delivered in the 2028–29 window, with the gas plant dependent on a time‑sensitive turbine slot reservation and the BESS offering a modular, lower‑emission path if interconnection is managed proactively.
