Patrick Kenny: And then I guess it’s been less than a month since you announced the roll-up transaction. But just given this August performed well, I guess, validating your strategy of simplifying the story, I know the near-term priority is closing RNW here, but are there any other corporate structure optimization opportunities that you might be able to point to that might serve to keep the valuation momentum going beyond cleaning up RNW?
John Kousinioris: Yes. I mean, look, we’re focused on getting the RNW transaction done in that late September, actually, early October timeframe. It’s a critical thing that we need to do. We’re pleased that it’s been well received in the marketplace. We’re focused on our upcoming Investor Day, where we’re going to talk about kind of our pathways going out for the balance of the decade. Our M&A team, we have a small team, but they’re a very capable team. They are continually looking at the funnel. It’s a very wide funnel of opportunities that arise and they see stuff that ranges from renewables in each of our three jurisdictions to alternative fuels, which is kind of new to even occasionally some natural gas opportunities that might exist.
So we’re still active from that perspective. Very mindful, Patrick on just the cost of things. We still find assets in the M&A market to be a bit expensive, I would say. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities there. I think there are. But we’re going to be super disciplined and make sure that if we proceed with something, whatever we pay makes sense for our shareholders.
Operator: Your next question comes from Chris Varcoe with Calgary Herald. Please go ahead.
Chris Varcoe: Hi, John. With all of the renewable projects in Alberta that have been proposed over the last couple of years, what impact do you think it’s having on the Alberta market? And you talked about reliability concerns and some of the other issues. And I guess just taking a big picture, what are in the broader impact that you’re seeing?
John Kousinioris: Good morning, Chris. In terms of the renewable buildout coming into the province, I mean, I think — so first of all, I would say, we have a lot to be proud of here in the province in terms, how much we decarbonize the grid. And I think that journey continues. I think if you go back, oh gosh, like probably even five years ago, certainly 10 years ago, our engines per megawatt generated in the province were probably more than double what they are today. So a tremendous amount has been accomplished and a lot of that was on the back of kind of the ship from coal to natural gas. We have seen significant renewables build-out in the province. That isn’t surprising to us given kind of the state of the marketplace here in Alberta.
And as a deregulated market, particularly given corporate ESG requirements, I think there was a rush that I think continues to be demand for renewables in the marketplace. In terms of impact, look, we’ve been talking for quite a while to here in Alberta, frankly, everywhere, because it’s similar challenges we’re seeing everywhere that we operate, about the importance of kind of aligning the importance of having clean generation with affordability and reliability. And what we’re seeing with the renewables is more, I would say, a few things. So when it’s a windy day or a super sunny day, you’ve got a lot of renewable generation that is actually in the marketplace. And then if all of a sudden the wind dies down or all of a sudden we’re getting to dusk and that we’re getting into the evening, the solar just goes away.
And it’s not like it’s 50 megawatts, it’s large amounts of generation that are online offline, if you see what I’m saying. So that increases the kind of volatility that you’re seeing in the marketplace, and really, from an Alberta perspective, that’s up to our gas and I’m saying gas because a little bit of coal, we have left is going to be converted to gas to backstop that, and make sure that, that is there and in a way that is reliable and affordable for Alberta. I think the other element with the renewable build-out is I think it does create pressure on transmission. We have more dispersed generation coming across the province and kind of building out that transmission that you need to be able to take the power where it’s being generated and move it to the populated areas or the industrial areas of the province is an incremental cost burden that we need to be mindful of.
And finally, just from a regulatory, permitting, supply chain, making sure that stakeholders in parts of the province that have seen quite a bit of development are being heard is another third factor that I think needs to be addressed. So there’s a lot of change. It’s come relatively quickly. And we’re seeing some of the impacts of that, and I think the province is trying to just make sure that we have thoughtful pathways going forward and that the pace, I think, is an appropriate pace to maintain that three-legged stool of clean, reliable and affordable for our province.
