Alternative energy projects suspended,
B.C. misses way to make hydro cheaper: critic
Dozens of solar, wind and run-of-river power projects have been indefinitely suspended by the provincial government in an effort to manage the cost of electricity from independent power producers.
“That will have to change if B.C. is to pursue its CleanBC plans,” said Jae Mather, executive director of Clean Energy BC.
By turning its back on alternative energy, B.C. is missing the opportunity to make electricity cheaper for consumers, he added.
“The price of wind and solar is the lowest of any form of electricity generated on the planet right now,” he said.
The provincial government’s CleanBC plan calls for a massive program of electrification of homes, industry and transportation with aggressive greenhouse-gas reduction targets set for 2030.
By 2040, every car sold in B.C. is to be zero-emission, while every home is to be netzero energy ready by 2032.
“We will need more renewable energy if we are going to meet those goals for electrification,” said Mather. “Electrifying industries like liquid natural gas could require the power of two Site C dams.”
A second phase of CleanBC with even deeper reduction targets is expected to roll out this year and next.
“We warned the government that proceeding with Site C would kill the clean energy sector in British Columbia. They didn’t heed our warning, and here we are, killing it,” said Green party Leader Andrew Weaver.
He fears the province may be the target of legal action by companies that invested in projects under the Standing Offer Program that the government has singled out for termination.
“Instead, BC Hydro could have put out a call to independent power producers at eight cents or 10 cents a kilowatt hour and watched the sector respond — and it would have,” he said. “It would have been far cheaper electricity than building Site C.”
BC Hydro predicts the province’s electricity-demand requirements will rise by about 26 per cent between 2020 and 2035 in its most recent rates revenue application to the B.C. Utilities Commission and that it will have a “surplus supply of energy” until the early 2030s.
The Clean Energy BC white paper released late last year paints a very different picture, predicting demand for electricity will go up 50 per cent if B.C. is to meet its 2030 GHG targets.
However, after the Site C dam was approved, the crown utility approved five modest clean-energy projects with First Nations and shelved 14 others in various stages of the approval process pending a review of its procurement policies and future energy needs.
Now, BC Hydro’s Standing Offer Program for independent power producers has been suspended indefinitely, the government announced Thursday.
Around 250 alternative energy projects identified by Clean Energy BC and First Nations are stalled while the process plays out, said Mather.
Adding to the gloom, a report released Wednesday found that BC Hydro is overpaying for power in contracts it has already signed with independent power producers.
As a result, customers are paying $200 a year more than they should be, the report said.
There are about 125 independent power projects already operating in B.C., almost all of them partnerships with First Nations.
Distributed power projects are also a useful tool for economic development and reconciliation in rural B.C., said Weaver.
“These projects produce stable jobs and produce clean power,” he said.
Clean Energy B.C. has about $10 billion worth of clean energy projects ready to go with another 27 First Nations, said Mather.