Alberta electricity generator selling power to bitcoin miner fined for bypassing regulatory approvals
An Alberta power generator has been fined for running a plant for months without regulatory approval.
The Alberta Utilities Commission has fined Avex Energy more than $240,000 for running a natural gas-fired generator while bypassing regulatory tests for safe and unobtrusive operation.
“They have not been approved to operate,” said commission spokesperson Geoff Scotton.
According to an agreed statement of facts, officials from what was then Avila Energy approached the commission with plans to build a generating station in the County of Stettler in the summer of 2019.
Avila already held permits for operating a natural gas field in that area of central Alberta and planned to use that gas to fuel the plant.
“On the basis of those discussions, Avila believed that no additional approval was required and proceeded on that basis,” the statement says.
The generator was built and fired up on April 23, 2021.
The electricity, eventually reaching 3.5 megawatts, was sold to a bitcoin miner.
Avila, which eventually turned into Avex Energy, planned to generate up to 10 megawatts.
By December, the commission began to receive noise complaints from residents, some as far as nearly three kilometres away.
“The complainants stated that they first noticed the noise in May 2021 and that the noise became increasingly problematic in October 2021, when the additional generating capacity was added,” the agreed statement of facts says.
The utilities commission investigated the noise complaints and found Avex was unlicensed.
Investigators found Avex had not applied for a permit to build the plant. The company had not conducted a noise assessment as required, nor did it receive required environmental approvals.
The Red Willow power plant was shut Dec. 22, 2021. It remains closed.
Avex was “co-operative, forthright and responsive,” during the investigation, the commission said in a summary of the settlement.
The total fine was $241,477. The amount reflects a reduction of 30 per cent in recognition of Avex Energy’s response to the investigation, the AUC said.
Scotton said such infractions are unusual but do occasionally occur.
“From time to time these situations are brought to our attention.”
In December, the AUC ordered a Vancouver company to pay more than $400,000 in penalties and legal expenses for having multiple unsanctioned cryptocurrency mines in Alberta.
The commission investigated Green Block Mining after residents in 10 households complained about noise from a natural gas plant near Greystone Manor, a neighbourhood in Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton.
The company, formerly known as Link Global, had set up four 1.25-megawatt gas generators on the site, powering computer servers that were mining digital currency.
The AUC also learned that the company had two other plants — one in southern Alberta’s Special Area 3 and another in Westlock County, north of Edmonton. The commission said all three of the power plants have been shut down since 2021.
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