Another Plank in Government Plan For Energy Self-Sufficiency

By 250 News

Speaking at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Prince George, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Minister Richard Neufeld has announced draft terms and conditions for a program aimed at making it easier for independent power producers to sell electricity to BC Hydro.

"Our energy plan commits us to achieving electricity self-sufficiency by 2016," the Minister told the local business crowd, "And this offer is one of the made-in-B.C. solutions we have to ensure a secure, clean supply of energy, while helping small power producers participate in clean energy alternatives."

The producers will be able to sell 10-megawatts to Hydro, or enough electricity to power 4,000 households annually -- that’s double Ontario’s limit of 5-megawatts.

Neufeld says the Standing Offer Program should simplify the current process, which, he says, many independent producers find too onerous.  Right now, he says, the producers have to wait for Hydro to issue a call for proposals, then they have to register with it, and go through the full cycle of that process - in order to get an energy purchase agreement.

"And it was very difficult for some of the small ones (producers), if they’ve got one or two-megawatts...they don’t want to spend all that time and hours going through the (same process that someone would who generates 500-megawatts), so we simplified it down."

The Minister says the draft documents will go out to the independent energy producers and to the B.C. Utilities Commission for their approval and he’s hopeful it will find little opposition and can be finalized without the need for a full hearing.

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