Water, wind and solar
These B.C. developments have introduced sustainable initiatives
If nothing else, B.C. is ambitious. The province’s Clean Energy Act stipulates that at least 93 per cent of grid electricity must come from renewable resources — part of a push to reduce carbon emissions 40 per cent below 2007 levels by 2030.
It’s a lofty goal, but improvements in renewable energy sources are making the alternatives to fossil fuel more attractive than ever.
While wind is arguably the least influential renewable in this province, it still accounts for about 4 per cent of B.C.’s electricity generation capacity, according to Canada Energy Regulator. One of the most significant wind farms is the Meikle Wind project north of Tumbler Ridge, which began operations in 2017: it increased wind power capacity in the province by more than one third, to almost 674 megawatts (enough to power 54,000 homes).
However, construction of the Site C dam (which will provide a massive 1.1 GW of power when completed in 2025) means BC Hydro is not looking for additional power in the near future, prompting advocacy organizations such as The Canadian Wind Energy Association to focus attention on Alberta and Saskatchewan, where coal is being replaced
Business in our first quarter this year almost equals all of 2021”
Rob Baxter Co-founder of Vancouver Energy Cooperative
by other forms of renewables.
Much more prevalent in B.C. is solar power, which Rob Baxter, co-founder of Vancouver Renewable Energy Cooperative (VREC), calls “the most democratic form of renewable energy because it can work almost anywhere and be of any size.”
Baxter’s cooperative has been in business since 2004 and is the leading installer of grid-tied photovoltaic systems in Metro Vancouver. He estimates that B.C. now has “several thousand installations, mostly residential, commercial and institutional, thanks partly to cost. For example, since we first opened for business the price of solar panels has dropped 90 per cent, and the cost for projects overall has decreased by 70 per cent.”
The first large scale megawatt solar farm project — the Sunmine Solar Power Project in Kimberly —began operating in 2015, and the first First Nations fully owned and operated large scale solar power plant was the Tsilhqot’in Solar Farm 80 kilometres west of Williams Lake. However, given BC Hydro’s stance that it’s not looking for additional power, Baxter says solar’s growth will continue to be of the 100-kilowatt residential variety.
Fortunately, the demand for residential solar is such that VREC and other providers are busier than ever. “Business in our first quarter this year almost equals all of 2021,” he says. “Real estate developers want solar and so do homeowners, plus it’s becoming commonplace in many new school developments because it’s so effective.” Indeed, it’s now commonplace for a rooftop array to not only generate all of a home’s electrical needs but also produce excess that can be fed back to the BC Hydro grid, thus earning homeowners a utility credit.
Water power remains by far the most important
renewable energy source in B.C., and the controversy over the Site C dam notwithstanding it has helped give the majority of the province a power surplus until 2029.
“Our clean, reliable and low-cost hydroelectric system comprised of 30 hydroelectric plants gives B.C. an advantage other provinces and states don’t have,” says Kevin Aquino, spokesperson for BC Hydro. Plus, the system will be able to accommodate further power from wind and solar after 2029.
However, BC Hydro’s Integrated Resource Plan notes that greater electric vehicle adoption (an estimated 635,000 on the province’s roads by 2030) will increase electrical demand in the south coast region. “We’ll need an additional 1,800 gigawatt hours of electricity per year,” Aquino says. “Fortunately, it’s something we’ve been planning for and will be able to supply.”
Part of the solution lies in adjusting energy transmission. “The majority of electric vehicle charging takes place overnight at home, which is when residential power load from cooking, heating and lighting is the lowest,” Aquino says. “We can tell when load changes in specific neighbourhoods and will proactively upgrade a local community’s transformer if we see the load of the transformer has increased.”
While the carbon reduction targets set by government have their fair share of sceptics, that doesn’t take away from the growing effectiveness of alternative energy sources or their benefits — and BC Hydro’s latest initiative, its Electrification Plan for transportation, buildings, and industry, strives to capitalize on these benefits in a major way.
Aquino explains, “Over the next five years we intend to spend $260 million to advance our plan. If it is fully realized, by the end of fiscal 2026 domestic sales will be 3,100 gigawatt hours higher and reduced or avoided emissions will be an additional 930,000 tonnes annually — equivalent to removing 200,000 cars from the road each year.”
Additionally, customer rates will be about 1.6 per cent lower by 2026 compared to what they would pay if there were no plan.