Notice of Application Maritime Electric Company Limited Approval to Purchase Combustion Turbine TAKE NOTICE that Maritime Electric Company, Limited ("Maritime Electric" or the "Company") has a request for expenditure approval for a combustion turbine generator with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (the "Commission"). The Commission's docket number is UE20723. The Company seeks Commission approval of an expenditure of $68 million for the design, construction and commissioning of a new combustion turbine generator with a nominal rating of 50 MW to be located at the Charlottetown plant site. Subject to Commission approval, the unit is expected to be in service late 2017 or early 2018. BACKGROUND The application states the new combustion turbine unit ("CT4") is needed for the following reasons: The Charlottetown Thermal Generating Station ("CTGS") is nearing the end of its useful life and extensive refurbishment is required to continue to operate safely and reliably. The newest generating unit at CTGS is 48 years old. Even if refurbished its operating cost is not comparable to the lower cost alternative of CT4. Transmission system constraints on the mainland require more on-island generating capacity to meet peak demand loads. These transmission constraints are a separate issue from the capacity limitation of the two existing cables and/or the addition of additional undersea cables. The Charlottetown plant site location for CT4 has been selected to strategically serve as back up to much of the on-Island transmission system.  This expenditure is in addition to the annual capital budget which the Company files each year. That application is expected in July, 2015 and will include capital budget requirements of the Company.  The CT4 application documents a variety of capacity purchase scenarios and concludes the least cost and most reliable solution is the installation of CT4. The extent of the impact on customer rates will not be finalized until further discussions can be undertaken between the Company and the Government of PEI, who have stated their intention to have the option of financing and/or owning the CT4.  HOW TO SEE THE APPLICATION A complete copy of the application can be obtained by clicking here.  Any person wishing to obtain a hard copy of the filing can do so by writing to Maritime Electric at the address below. HOW TO COMMENT AND ASK QUESTIONS Any person wishing to comment on the filing can do so by writing to the Commission at the address below. In order to be considered, comments must be received by Tuesday, September 15, 2015. Persons wishing to pose questions to Maritime Electric on the filing may do so by sending their questions, in writing, to the Company on or before Friday, July 24, 2015. Questions posed to Maritime Electric must be answered by the Company, in writing, on or before Friday, August 14, 2015. Copies of both written questions and written answers must be copied to, or filed with, the Commission not later than Wednesday, August 26, 2015 in order to be considered. *Note: The Commission has extended the deadline as noted above. All questions posed and comments provided related to this application will be made available on the Commission's website at www.irac.pe.ca. A public hearing will not be held unless the Commission determines a hearing is necessary. If there is a public hearing, a Notice of Hearing will be published. Otherwise, the Commission will finalize its review in the form of a written Order. All Orders issued in this matter will be posted on the Commission's website at www.irac.pe.ca. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Additional information on the application can be obtained by contacting Maritime Electric at 629-3756. Written communications should be forwarded to: S.D. Loggie, CPA, CA Vice-President, Finance & Chief Financial Officer Maritime Electric Company, Limited P.O. Box 1328 Charlottetown, PE  C1A 7N2 J.M. Lanigan, CPA, CA Regulatory Services Island Regulatory & Appeals Commission P.O. Box 577 Charlottetown, PE  C1A 7L1 email: info@irac.pe.ca DATED at Charlottetown, this 24th day of June, 2015. Posted: 2015/06/29 * The Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view and print PDF documents. The Reader can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe Systems Incorporated by clicking here.