April is Safe Digging Month – a month dedicated to the awareness of buried facility damage prevention. TransCanada wants to ensure the safety of anyone digging near our facilities, and no one moves more dirt than North American farmers.

To date, TransCanada has built relationships with more than 60,000 landowners, and many are farmers. Unauthorized digging by contractors, farmers, landscapers and homeowners is a leading cause of pipeline incidents. It is estimated that every three minutes, someone will dig and hit an underground gas, electric, communications, water or sewer line, putting themselves and their communities at risk.

To avoid putting our communities and the environment at risk, always call before you dig. One-Call Centres provide the free service of locating and marking all underground facilities on an excavation site before any digging takes place. The locates indicate where it is safe to dig. One-Call telephone numbers in Canada vary from province to territory, but “811” is the standard telephone number throughout the United States.

Call before you dig – it’s the law

Normal farming practices such as sowing seeds, spreading fertilizer and harvesting can take place without contacting a One-Call Centre. However, in many areas it is the law to call before you dig when any excavation is involved. Practices that require you to call before you dig include:

• Deep tillage or deep plowing
• Trenching
• Levelling
• Fence post installation
• Drainage ditch clean out
• Drain tile installation
• Terracing
• Dozer work
• Building construction
• Controlled burning

How to recognize a pipeline on your property

Most pipelines are buried underground in an area of cleared land often referred to as the “right-of-way” or “ROW.” Markers are used to indicate a pipeline’s approximate location as well as the name of the company, the product, and the emergency number. These markers are typically placed where the pipeline intersects streets, railroads, rivers, fence rows and in heavily congested areas. Do not rely on pipeline markers to show you the pipeline’s exact location, path, or depth. Instead, always call before you dig.

What you can do to help prevent pipeline damages

• Become familiar with the pipelines and pipeline facilities in your area. Watch for marker signs, fence signs and gated facilities.
• TransCanada’s contact information is available on all of our marker signs. For other pipelines in your area, record the operator’s name and contact information from the marker signs and keep the information in a permanent location.
• Be aware of any unusual or suspicious activities or unauthorized excavations taking place within or near the pipeline right-of-way or pipeline facilities. Report these activities to the pipeline operator or local law enforcement.

What to do if you strike a pipeline

A ‘strike’ is any unauthorized contact with a pipeline. It can include mechanical equipment, such as a backhoe or track hoe, or hand tools, such as a shovel. Whether or not the pipe appears to be damaged, if you strike a pipeline, it is important that you follow these steps:

1. Stop all excavation. Shut off all machinery and move away from the area on foot – warn others to do the same.
2. Do not attempt to repair the pipe or operate any valves.
3. Call ‘911’ as soon as you are in a safe location. Describe the situation and inform the operator of any injuries, leaking product or fire.
4. Call TransCanada’s emergency number: 1.800.447.8066 in the U.S. and 1.888.982.7222 in Canada and explain the incident. This number is available on all TransCanada pipeline marker signs.
5. Do not continue your project until authorized by a TransCanada representative.
6. The integrity of the pipeline and the safety of the surrounding population dramatically decrease when a facility is damaged. Contact TransCanada as soon as possible so we can make any necessary repairs.

Dig with C.A.R.E.

• Call before you dig.
• Allow required time for marking – This most often requires at least two business days notice.
• Respect the marks – Lines are marked by flags, paint or other markers (typically yellow for pipelines).
• Excavate carefully – Hand dig to determine exact locations of pipelines. A TransCanada representative must be present and all digging must take place during the time allotted by the TransCanada representative.

By employing safe digging practices, we can protect our farms, families, communities and the environment. As the Common Ground Alliance states, “Buried facility damage prevention is a shared responsibility.”

Read our Safe Digging Month underway blog post.

Developing North America’s Energy Future: TransCanada’s 2012 annual report now online.

In a first for TransCanada, the 2012 Annual Report includes a video message to shareholders from President & CEO Russ Girling. In the video (above), Girling reflects on the challenges employees faced in 2012 and the perseverance and professionalism shown by the company in its commitment to provide North Americans with the energy they require in a safe and responsible manner.

Titled “Developing North America’s Energy Future,” the 2012 Annual Report features a new look and online presence. It’s a great source of official facts, figures and information about TransCanada and a must-see for anyone interested in how we are achieving our vision of becoming North America’s leading energy infrastructure company.

TransCanada begins work on high-efficiency Napanee Generating Station.

Ontario’s plan to eliminate all coal-fired electricity by the end of this year is generating opportunities for Greater Napanee, where TransCanada is planning to build a new 900-megawatt power facility on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Dozens of residents attended the first public open house on the Napanee Generating Station on February 11, in order to learn more about the proposed facility, ask questions and provide input to TransCanada staff as the initial stages of planning and environmental assessment get underway.

“Listening to local residents is critical to our planning process because we want to make sure the studies we are conducting will address the issues that are important to the community,” says John Mikkelsen, TransCanada’s director of Eastern Canada power generation. “We put a lot of effort into gathering input from our stakeholders because we believe it results in better decision making and a more successful project for everyone.”

TransCanada has contracts with the Ontario Power Authority to build, own and operate the power plant to help meet future electricity demand in the province as Ontario moves to cut greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution. The facility will be located next to Ontario Power Generation’s existing Lennox Generating Station and will produce enough power to supply more than 900,000 homes. Napanee Generating Station will be a combined-cycle plant that employs leading technology to ensure emissions, noise and other potential impacts are minimized. It is expected to operate on weekdays to meet Ontario’s higher daily demand during the work week. The facility will play an important role following the retirement of Ontario’s 6,000-megawatt coal-fired fleet and during planned retirements and refurbishment of nuclear facilities later this decade. It will also provide a reliable backstop to intermittent renewable energy systems such as wind and solar.

Construction of the $1.2-billion facility is expected to begin in late-2014, after TransCanada receives the necessary municipal and provincial permits. Construction will take about two years and provide an estimated 600 jobs for skilled tradespeople and economic spin-off for local suppliers and businesses. During the 30-year life of the facility, it is expected to provide approximately 25 careers for local operations staff, $1-million in annual municipal tax revenues and TransCanada’s ongoing support and involvement in the community.

“The site that has been selected for the Napanee Generating Station is ideal because it is on property that is already zoned for power generation, has excellent connection to Ontario’s transmission system, natural gas and water supplies, and good access by road and rail,” Mikkelsen said. “We have voluntarily chosen to complete a more comprehensive environmental assessment process than is required by the Ministry of Environment and will provide our draft Environmental Review Report for public review and comments later this year.”

The Napanee Generating Station will be an important addition to TransCanada’s energy portfolio, which includes natural gas-fired power plants, wind farms, solar and hydro generation and significant ownership of the Bruce Power nuclear facility. TransCanada owns or has interests in approximately 11,800 MW of power generation, enough to supply more than 11 million homes.

For more information and to provide input on the Napanee Generating Station, visit the project’s website at NapaneeGS.com.

Excess heat from Crowsnest compressor station is used to produce emissions-free electricity.

What’s good for the public, good for business, and the environment too? TransCanada’s latest effort to use excess heat that would otherwise go to waste fits the bill — for all.

Last month, a new Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) facility, owned by Mistral Power Inc. (Mistral), began commercial operations at TransCanada’s Crowsnest compressor station near Sparwood, B.C. The facility makes use of excess heat from the compressor station to produce up to 6.5 megawatts (MW) of clean, emission-free electricity — enough to power more than 4,000 B.C. households annually.

“Our partnership in this plant is an example of our commitment to minimizing the environmental impacts of our operations while meeting energy demand,” says Mike Brennan, Senior Engineer, System Design & Commercial Operations. “It is a win-win-win for homeowners, TransCanada’s business and the environment.”

At the Crowsnest compressor station, four gas turbines drive compressors, which act like pumps to regulate the pressure and flow of gas through TransCanada’s Foothills System. The WHR system extracts excess heat from three of these turbines and uses it to generate electricity. The heat is used to vaporize a working fluid, which expands and causes a turbine to turn. This turbine is attached to a generator that produces emission-free electricity, equal to the power needs of the homes of nearby Fernie and Sparwood.

The partnership was conceived after a call for clean power projects from BC Hydro, the provincial electricity provider. Built by Mistral on TransCanada’s land, the WHR facility now provides BC Hydro with clean, emission-free electricity that goes into the B.C. grid for public use.

Power across North America

With the new WHR facility at Crowsnest, TransCanada has 17 WHR facilities operating at compressor stations across North America. Together, these can generate more than 60 MW of clean electricity.
Excess heat is also used in large Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) at some of TransCanada’s power plants, including Ravenswood in New York, Ocean State Power in Rhode Island, and Redwater and CanCarb Power, both located in Alberta.

TransCanada owns or has interests in more than 11,800 MW of power generation, enough to power approximately 11 million homes and more than one-third of this power comes from alternative and renewable energy sources.

For more information, visit TransCanada’s Energy webpage.

TransCanada is part of history in the making in Napanee, Ontario as title sponsor of the town’s first-ever Big Bright Light Show this holiday season. The event kicked off on Nov. 22 with more than 1,000 community members gathering downtown to see the powering up of 170,000 energy-efficient LED holiday lights strung from the rooftops of local businesses. The seasonal display will be up until the end of January 2013.

“We are proud to be part of the community, creating new holiday traditions and I would like to thank Greater Napanee for this wonderful opportunity to support the Big Bright Lights Show in its inaugural year,” says Terry Bennett, TransCanada’s Vice-President, Power Development.

Many people don’t know TransCanada very well in the region, but we’re there every day, generating the electricity and providing the energy that is essential to heat homes, fuel businesses and keep the lights on in Ontario and across Canada. We’re also about to have a larger presence in the Napanee area, after reaching an agreement with the Ontario Power Authority to develop the new 900 megawatt (MW) Napanee Generating Station. The natural gas-fired facility will have the capacity to generate power for more than 900,000 homes and is part of the provincial government’s initiative to phase out coal fired power plants.

For TransCanada employees in the region, being a responsible leader in energy generation also means being a responsible leader in our business practices and in the community. This is one reason the partnership with the Big Bright Light Show is so important.

“Our values demonstrate who we are – everyday. By participating in uniting everyone with the warmth and lights of the holiday season with this great new initiative, we show our commitment to community values of collaboration, innovation, integrity and responsibility with our Napanee community partners,” Bennett adds. “This commitment is not only for this year but for many years to come.”

Powering Ontario

TransCanada’s employees aim to build healthy, safe and vibrant communities where they live and work, and our team is looking forward to expanding our contribution of clean, safe and reliable power to Ontario. We are Ontario’s largest private-sector power generator.

We currently operate the 683 MW Halton Hills Generating Station in Ontario, have a 50 per cent ownership in the 550 MW Portlands Energy Centre on the Toronto waterfront and are acquiring nine Ontario solar plants that would produce 86 MW of renewable energy.

We also own a large portion of the Bruce Power nuclear facility, 49 per cent of Bruce A and 32 per cent of Bruce B, which are capable of producing 6,200 MW of emissions-free electricity.

TransCanada donates $250,000 of industrial equipment and support towards Hurricane Sandy flood relief efforts in New York City.

When Hurricane Sandy blasted New York City with heavy rain, high winds and storm surges and cut a blustery swath through much of the U.S. East Coast, damage was widespread.

Many businesses and people suffered extensive damage to their property and most New Yorkers had to face lengthy power outages and losses of essential services, such as transit.

TransCanada was there from the first wave to the last, ensuring much-needed power was still getting through to New Yorkers, when they needed it most. The company’s Ravenswood Power Facility, in Long Island City, NY, prepared for the storm, survived the high water and kept the lights on.

See our TransCanada blog post: Ravenswood shines through storm.

Now, TransCanada is delivering much-needed aid to the City of New York. On Thursday, Nov. 8, TransCanada announced that the company is donating up to $250,000 in equipment and cash to help New York speed up recovery efforts following Hurricane Sandy.

“New York City is an important part of TransCanada’s power business and while our employees and personnel came through this storm safely, many of our friends and neighbors experienced great loss,” said President & CEO Russ Girling.

“We have already moved supplies and industrial equipment from Louisiana and the U.S. northeast to draw down water in public housing located on Coney Island and to provide power on Staten Island.”

The equipment includes large and medium-capacity pumps, generators, hoses and discharge equipment. TransCanada generators were delivered to New York City Emergency Management officials on Staten Island and will be used by homeowners, who continue to be without any source of power.

Days after the storm hit, TransCanada pumps were delivered to the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) for Coney Island housing sites at Coney Island Houses, Surfside and O’Dwyer Gardens.

On Friday, Nov. 9, New York City Emergency Management officials and the NYCHA made a special request for blower heaters for the NYCHA’s Redfern housing complex in Far Rockaway.

The power is out in the buildings, preventing sump pumps from running, and electricians are unable to safely start up the generators that power up the buildings. U.S. Marines have finished pumping out water from the generator rooms, but electricians are not able to start up the generators until the facilities are bone dry, so Ravenswood staff have dropped off four 170,000-BTU heaters, a 4000-watt generator to power the heaters and 12 100-foot extension cords to connect the heaters.

“Over the past week, thousands of people from around the city and across the country have stepped forward to help New Yorkers whose lives have been turned upside down by Hurricane Sandy,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“TransCanada stepped forward very early to help our recovery efforts — just as a good neighbor would do. We are grateful for the support we’ve received from generous individuals and corporate citizens, who are pitching in to help our city recover from this devastating storm.”

At the same time, TransCanada will be donating $100,000 to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City for the City’s emergency response needs and long-term restoration efforts. This non-profit organization is dedicated to innovative public-private partnerships and programs for the City of New York.

TransCanada will continue to monitor the effects of Sandy and any other potential storms that may impact the East Coast to determine what additional help for New Yorkers is needed.

More information: Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City.

TransCanada keeps the lights on following Superstorm Sandy.

TransCanada’s power assets and the efforts of dedicated employees throughout the company are playing a critical role in recovery efforts following massive flooding, power outages and devastation caused by

President and CEO Russ Girling.

“Our employees and facilities have come through the worst of this storm in a truly impressive fashion,” said TransCanada President and CEO Russ Girling. “All of our employees are accounted for and are working safely, even as their own communities are struggling. I truly appreciate everyone’s efforts.”

TransCanada had several assets in the path of the storm, which made landfall along the northeastern U.S. coastline. Those included the Ravenswood Generating Station in Queens, New York; Ocean State Power (OSP) in Burrillville, Rhode Island; the Kibby Wind Farm in Maine; and our hydro plants.

All weathered the storm without major damage, and without interruption in the generation of power from our U.S. Power and Ravenswood facilities.

Ravenswood steps up to supply much-needed power to New Yorkers.

During the height of the storm and in the aftermath, Ravenswood supplied as much as 50 per cent of power to New York City as other generation and transmission ties were forced from service.

Within days of the storm, Ravenswood was providing approximately 40 per cent of the city’s supply.

“We ended up being the single largest supplier in New York City through the storm with all of the main generating units dispatched to maximum output, carrying 50 per cent of the New York City load,” said Erwin Schaub, Ravenswood Station Operations Manager. “In the days leading up to the storm, we were closer to 11 per cent.”

Ravenswood Station Director Tommy Quartuccio said Sandy was like nothing he’d ever seen before, but the plant was prepared to deal with the worst case.

By coincidence, Ravenswood had conducted an emergency operations drill on Oct. 25. That drill laid the foundation for a round-the-clock effort, beginning the next day, to prepare — including the activation of the Emergency Operations Centers in Calgary, at Ravenswood and throughout the region.

We all worked with the Coast Guard and regulatory authorities.

“Throughout the storm, there were periodic phone calls to check in and to coordinate with Calgary,” Tommy said. “We also worked with the Coast Guard and regulatory authorities.”

The plant reserved hotel rooms nearby so that employees could easily get to and from Ravenswood.

“We put essential staff in the local hotel. We had enough space for 40 people so that all the people who came off shift could stay local. We knew the commute to work would be difficult,” Tommy said. “On Monday, bridges, tunnels, subways — everything was shut down.”

Kibby Wind Farm in Maine.

Employees at TransCanada’s other assets also worked tirelessly to keep power flowing to their customers and communities. The Kibby Wind Farm in Maine was able to generate extra power due to the increased wind activity.

“We were in good shape going into the event. All the planning and preparation paid off,” said Jawad Masud, Director of U.S. Power, Energy Operations.

Emergency resumption plan was ready.

In the Westborough, Mass., office, the company initiated portions of its emergency business resumption plan to ensure stability of commercial support for plant operations.

“Behind the scenes, there were significant commercial and other efforts to secure fuels, maintain communications with system operators and procure necessary back-up equipment in preparation for the storm,” said Bill Taylor, Senior Vice-President, Eastern Power.

At the West Monroe, Louisiana Central Stores, employees packed a truckload of supplies for Ravenswood to help with the recovery. The supplies included a 300-gallon fuel tank.

Lack of power was one of the biggest concerns in New York.

No injuries to TransCanada employees were reported during the storm, though there was some personal property damage.

At least one employee spent a day pumping water out of his home; several others reported trees falling on cars.

“I think the biggest problem most employees are facing is power. I’d guess at least 50 per cent of us are without power,” Erwin said shortly after the storm. “I think we were very lucky.”

Trust is built through relationships based on open, honest and transparent communication. People need to know who we are and what we’re all about. They need to know what makes us tick. Like any relationship, if you can’t open up you will never build that trust.

We need to be able to have an honest discussion about ourselves as a company in order to show that we are responsible, we take what we do extremely seriously, and that we’re looking out for society’s best interests.

We are not perfect every day, but when we acknowledge our faults and demonstrate that we learn from them, that’s when people will feel we are being honest with them. We need this trust if we want to maintain our social licence to continue providing people with the energy they need.

A big part of this communication comes from our employees who are truly members of the communities in which they work. We are not a fly-in company, we are a company that permanently puts our assets in place for decades and decades and our ambassadors are our employees on the ground who understand the expectations and concerns of their communities.

They’re part of the 4H Club, they’re coaching the soccer team — they’re part of the fabric of what goes on. As members of the community, our 4,400-plus employees’ lives are affected as much as anyone else’s by what we do and we expect them to make decisions based on that knowledge. Nearly half of our team lives and works in 33 states in America, a small but growing number live in Mexico and the remaining have a presence in seven Canadian provinces.

Our goal is to be the leading energy infrastructure company in North America. To me, “leading” doesn’t mean being the biggest. It means being the best at what we do and delivering on everything that we say we’re going to do.

If we say we’re going to clean up your field after we’re done, that’s what we’re going to do. If we say we’re going to support the communities we work in, that’s what we’re going to do. If we say we’re going to buy locally, that’s what we do. Whatever it is we commit to, we need to follow through and make sure we do it extremely well – that’s what leading means.

As leaders, we don’t follow rhetoric. We do what we think is right and we build trust by acting consistently and within our values.

In the coming months, through this blog, we will highlight and explain the facts about our company and the infrastructure we build and operate to deliver the energy that millions of families, public organizations and businesses rely on every day.

We understand the need to lower the amount of carbon society produces. I get that personally, and we get that as a company. We’re investing in solar power, hydro power, nuclear power and gas-fired generation. We are going to migrate away from fossil fuels eventually, but doing it at the expense of our economic well-being would not be responsible. The transition needs to be deliberate and thoughtful. Fundamentally, I believe we are doing the right thing. If I didn’t think it was right, I wouldn’t be doing this job.

To achieve our goals, honest communication is absolutely essential. Going forward, this blog will serve as an important tool for demonstrating TransCanada’s leadership in the communities where we operate. It will be a place where we can tell our stories, share our successes, and address the important questions relating to our industry in an open and forthright manner.

Thanks for reading. I encourage you to stay in touch.

Russ Girling