Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for the opportunity to present before you today on an important subject.
Perhaps I'll start by giving you a little background on New Brunswick Power. We're a government-owned public utility. Our vision is to provide sustainable electricity for future generations with a mission to become our customers' partner of choice for energy solutions.
We have a very diverse generation mix. We range from hydro, biomass, and wind, to coal, oil, and nuclear. We pretty much have all the bases covered. That generation mix has served us very well over the last 100 years of our existence. Today, we're proud to say that, with that generation mix and with our interconnections, we are over 70% non-emitting. We have a target of 75% non-emitting by 2020 and we're confident we will achieve that.
New Brunswick Power is probably one of the most interconnected utilities in North America and I'll outline our interconnections for you. For New Brunswick to Quebec, we have 1,000 megawatts. For New Brunswick to New England and northern Maine, we have approximately 1,100 megawatts. For New Brunswick to Nova Scotia, we have 300 megawatts and for New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island, we have 300 megawatts. As you can see, our geography and geographical location has benefited us well over the last 50 years.
When we talk about regional electricity independence, we recognize that Canada is a very diverse country and with that diversity, our electricity production has similar characteristics. Some regions benefit from vast hydro resources, while others require more diverse supplies, such as ourselves with small hydro, wind, and imported hydrocarbons, as well as electricity imports.
Electricity is necessary to sustain an acceptable quality of life and it is critical for economic prosperity. We view electricity as a staple. You have to have it to exist. It needs to be reliable and economically priced.
Historically, electricity needs have been met by each province individually. They look after their needs first and foremost. Within the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada, Quebec and New England have had a long history of interties with 50 years of collaboration for the purchase and sale of electricity and capacity in the operation of the power system. This has benefited customers within New Brunswick, our surrounding neighbours, as well as those within New England.
When we look forward, with new developments such as Muskrat Falls, hydro development within Quebec, and the potential for a second nuclear reactor within New Brunswick, the regional collaboration envisions the participation of the four Atlantic provinces along with Quebec. As in the past, transmission interconnections are the key enabler to allow regional collaboration.
When we look forward to a low-carbon electricity distribution, recent experience has shown us that by adopting intermittent renewables, we're reaching our point of saturation certainly within the provinces and the balancing region of northern Maine and Prince Edward Island, so we need to look at new solutions for how we can integrate more renewables. This is why New Brunswick has embarked on an energy smart or, in other terms, a smart-grid initiative within the province to allow a more dynamic flow of electricity and allow greater integration of renewables.
As I mentioned before, each province has its own challenges with respect to their carbon footprints. To enable regions to reduce their carbon footprints strategic interties are necessary to facilitate the movement of renewable as well as non-emitting electricity across the broader region. When we look at Canada as a whole, we have strong interties typically north to south with our U.S. partners. On the east-west conversation, we are limited in other parts of Canada. Many regions are not able to have capacity exchange for electricity with their neighbours or to develop their interties as they should perhaps.
Over the last 50 years, as I mentioned, New Brunswick has benefited from strong interties with our neighbours. Last year, we had the opportunity to present in front of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources regarding the transition to a low-carbon economy. We recognized and stated during that opportunity that this is only made possible through the development and expansion of strong interties.
Optimizing the abundance of hydro, expanding renewable generation, and embracing new nuclear development allows for each region in Canada to meet its future electricity requirements in a safe, sustainable, and environmentally sustainable way.
As I mentioned before, when we look to the U.S. and our relationships with our partners in the U.S., Atlantic Canada has been a leader, along with Quebec, in developing these interties over the last 50 years. It has allowed both of us to benefit from lower and stable rates while maintaining reliability. Looking forward, Canada is well-positioned to benefit from these strong interconnections and new strategic interties with the U.S. The recent Massachusetts request for proposals that closed in July, requesting large quantities of renewable electricity, is a good example of these opportunities.
When we look at the North American free trade discussions that are ongoing currently, it's important we preserve electricity and ensure that it is not subject to any new duties or penalties that could jeopardize this commerce from occurring. When we look at employment and economic impacts, a cornerstone of New Brunswick Power's ability to provide reliable and competitively priced electricity is related to two things: our diverse generation mix and our strong interconnections.
New Brunswick is unique, and as I indicated earlier, there are many jurisdictions within the country that are unique. We have a very strong dependence on electricity. Our economy is very electric-intensive as a result of pulp and paper, mining, and petroleum refining. New Brunswick is one of the most electric-intensive economies in the world. Certainly, within Canada, it is second to Quebec, and within the broader spectrum, it is in the top five in the world as far as being one of the most electric-intensive economies. As such, we are acutely aware of the need for competitive, stable rates in order to sustain our economic growth. We're also very export dependent. As I mentioned earlier, with our pulp and paper, mining, and petroleum, our exports are very critical on a go-forward basis to make sure electricity is competitive.
Given New Brunswick's electric-intensive and competitive electricity rates, strong interconnections are critical on a go-forward basis, and that we maintain them and strategically expand them.
In conclusion, the utilities within the Maritimes, Quebec, and New England have a long history. As I mentioned, we've had 50 years of collaboration. This has been enabled through strategic interties. Canada's energy strategy and transition to a low-carbon economy is very dependent on strategic interties not only east to west but north to south.
As I indicated, our economy is very electric-intensive and export dependent. Competitive electricity rates to sustain our economy are essential. Finally, given our independence and uniqueness in each province, it will be important for the federal government to support and promote the development of strategic interties across provincial boundaries.
Thank you, and I welcome your questions.