BC Hydro Says Site C Best Way To Meet Future Needs
Prince George, BC – BC Hydro says the proposed Site C dam on the Peace River in northeastern BC is its best option to meet future energy needs…
While the Joint Review Panel's assessment of BC Hydro's proposed Site C Clean Energy Project does not come out with a clear endorsement for the project, the utility is pleased with its initial review of the report. "We're pleased that the Joint Review Panel confirmed there will be a long-term need for new energy and capacity, and that Site C would be the 'least expensive' of the alternatives to meet this growing demand," says President and CEO, Charles Reid.
The project has been 35-years in the making and is being proposed to meet long-term electricity needs in the province, which BC Hydro forecasts will increase by approximately 40-percent in the next 20-years. The utility says an emerging liquefied natural gas sector and significant electrification of vehicles could further increase demand.
To meet that future growth, Reid says Hydro is proposing aggressive conservation measures – 78-percent of future demand is to be met through demand-side management. And he says that Hydro's analysis of resource options found that Site C "provides the best combination of financial, technical, environmental and economic development attributes, compared to alternatives."
"All new electricity-generation projects have environmental impacts, including Site C," says the CEO. "That's why BC Hydro has undertaken years of detailed studies to identify and assess potential effects from the project, and has proposed a comprehensive set of mitigation measures that are expected to largely offset these effects."
The federal and provincial governments are expected to make decisions on environmental approvals within the next six months, then the provincial government will make a final investment decision.
Comments
Another 6 months. Another construction season squandered. Damn it, build the dam.
Having Hydro decide on the power needs of the Province without any oversight from the BCUC is like putting a monkey in charge of the Banana inventory.
Hey Pal your always on it.
Its all about providing for their rich friends in need by selling the surplus to their USA friends for more profit.Cheers
We just love to suck up to the big machine south of us.
Cheers
So how come our rates have been so low? So palopu can you back up your comment? So retired you are saying we shouldn’t sell surplus power, just spill the water? I guess by your reasoning we should not be selling lumber? Cheers
Seamut. Why wouldn’t our rates be low. We built the WAC Bennett dam for hundreds of millions of dollars so that we could get cheap power. We have cheap power. Problem is, is that Hydro likes to sell to the USA and make more money. The BC Government then skims the money from Hydro. Hydro then increases our rates.
The Columbia River Hydro Project generates $200 Million per year for Hydro. We sell all the power generated to the Yankee’s, then we claim we have a shortage, and then we want to build another huge dam.
We already sell lots of power to the USA, the question is, are we going to build Site C to export more power. It seems like it, because they are having problems showing that there is a need for more power in BC.
You might also note that Hydro avoids the discussion of Natural Gas generating plants like the plague, even though this would be the more intelligent way to go.
As previously stated Seamut. The BCUC said no to Site C in the 1980’s so this time around the Government ensured that the BCUC was out of the picture. Why would they do that? Perhaps you can explain.
If the Government wants to flood land to generate power I suggest that they build the dam on Vancouver Island, as close as possible to Victoria. Then we would see very quickly that it is not needed.
Building this dam in the Peace River is like taking your dog for a walk and letting is dump in someone else’s yard. It might solve your problem but it creates problems for those who have to clean up the crap.
Lets keep an open mind about this project, and try to get all the facts on the table to determine if in fact it is a need, or a Corporate want.
Why are you so fixated on gas for generation? It costs more pure and simple and is under threat from future market costs. There is no sourse for large generation on the island. As I have said before Hydro sells surplus power. There is no large excess of generation built just for the hell of it. The grid is designed for high and low water years along with contingency for major unplanned outages and planned maintenance outages this results in the availability of surplus power. So you seem to have an issue with selling this on the open market.
Also there is backup required for non firm IPP power. Go to The Tyee and do a search for independent power producers then you will see how we are getting screwed.
Want the smallest footprint generation, build fourth generation nuclear.
Hydro generation is the cheapist generation of all types.
Comments for this article are closed.