If I had $11.2 billion
By James Schwinn, For The Calgary Herald
Take a few minutes to think about what you would do if you had $11.2 billion to spend on this city.
It’s worth thinking about because, in a report published earlier this year, the IBI Group concluded the City of Calgary would save $11.2 billion in infrastructure costs and $130 million per year in operating costs over the next 60 years through the adoption of Plan It Calgary — the city’s long-term vision for the development of the municipality.
How could $11.2 billion make a constructive difference in our community?
As of June 30, the assets reported on the balance sheet of Enmax were $3.6 billion. In other words, the infrastructure cost savings alone identified in the IBI Group’s analysis of Plan It roughly equate to three times the asset base of our community’s principal energy provider.
It’s not unreasonable to contemplate the impact that Plan It savings could have if a portion of those savings were used to accelerate the transition of this truly innovative utility into cleaner, more distributed and more sustainable energy production technologies.
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James Schwinn is the founder of Aixecar Incorporated. His previous professional experience includes roles as Director and head of the ING/Barings global conduit finance business and a Vice President at Citibank.
Enmax doesn’t actually own the bulk of the generating stations of long-distance transmission wires used by the city. They have the wind farm, and one natural gas plant, but mostly they buy power from other companies.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is, you couldn’t spend just $3.6 billion and power another city the size of Calgary.