As part of the plan, this will be the first time in Alberta that interested parties will get the opportunity to participate in a fair and open competition to identify the party who will develop, design, build, finance, own, operate and maintain the Fort McMurray West 500kV Transmission Project.
The project will consist of about 500km of transmission line and associated facilities between the Edmonton and Fort McMurray regions.
In the first stage of the Competitive Process, the Request for Expressions of Interest, will help generate interest in the project.
In the next Request for Qualifications stage, which has been designed to shortlist up to five proponents to advance to the Request for Proposals stage.
At the Request for Proposals, the final stage, the qualified proponent who can undertake the project at the lowest cost will be identified.
The Government of Alberta mandated AESO to develop a Competitive Process and to have that process approved by the provincial electricity regulator, the Alberta Utilities Commission.
The AESO received the approval from the regulator on 14 February 2013.
