POWER July 2014 - 58

Global Business Reports
www.gbreports.com
Stantec, BC Hydro 2L22 Emergency Rebuild
Project from the north side, Surrey, British
Columbia. Photo courtesy of Stantec.
seeking to stem the inevitable tide of rate
increases for customers.
Under its current plans, BC Hydro plans to
spend C$1.7 billion per year over the next
10 years on capital improvements while
rates are expected to rise by 28% by 2019.
" There is a direct, unassailable connection
between investment in infrastructure
and rates, " said Bill Bennett, BC's Minister
of Energy and Mines. " The cost of infrastructure
is the main driving factor in determining
rates. The Rates Plan was brought
about to bring certainty to electricity rates
for the residential, commercial and industrial
consumers of BC. "
Even
with the rate increases, BC's electricity
will remain amongst the cheapest in
North America.
The plans fail, however, to clarify two very
important issues: the upcoming inal decision
for whether BC Hydro's Site C, a longproposed
1,100 MW project on the Peace
River, is approved, as well as the development
of substantial gas reserves through
the construction of electricity-intensive
LNG export facilities.
The Last in a Legacy's
Line: The Push for Site C
Site C is a project decades in the making.
There are dozens of ways in which the project
can be viewed, and a wide variety of
stakeholders, each with differing concerns.
If the project is approved, everyone in BC
from First Nations to ratepayers to environmentalists
to engineering, construction
and procurement irms (EPCs) to independent
power producers will feel an impact.
Site C was originally proposed as the third
of four major dams on the Peace River
in the mid-twentieth century. Two other
dams, the 2,876 MW W.A.C. Bennett Dam
and the 700 MW Peace Canyon Dam, were
completed in 1968 and 1980 respectively.
2
Global Business Reports // POWER BRITISH COLUMBIA
In 1982 and 1989 the British Columbia Utilities
Commission, BCUC indeinitely tabled
proposals for developing Site C, but BC
Hydro announced plans for Site C's resurrection
in April 2010. The debate amongst
stakeholders has not ceased since.
Following the approval of the IRP in November
2013, BC Hydro is currently working
on securing the next round of permitting
and social licenses for Site C. " The
approved IRP contemplates that BC Hydro
would proceed with various processes and
stages to advance Site C to a stage that
would enable the government to make an
informed inal decision on whether Site C
should proceed sometime in 2014 or 2015, "
commented Charles W. Bois, a partner at
Miller Thomson LLP.
If approved in the aforementioned timeframe,
BC Hydro plans to bring the project
online by 2024. " Site C is dispatchable
and it produces 1100 MW of irm capacity,
which makes it higher quality than run of
river or wind, which are both intermittent
resources, " said Doug Little, vice president
of energy planning and economic development
at BC Hydro.
The government, meanwhile, is conscious
that rosy growth projections made at the
height of the commodities boom are untrustworthy.
The resource-rich province recovered
exceedingly well from the Global
Financial Crisis, posting GDP growth igures
of 5.1% and 4.4% in 2010 and 2011
respectively. However, lower commodity
prices have partially been responsible
for the province's slowed growth; the
Royal Bank of Canada estimates 2.1%
growth for 2014.
Although most indicators point towards
Site C's approval in the coming months,
there are still some hurdles to overcome.
BC's independent power producers (IPPs)
are closely monitoring the situation. " Conditions
have changed; I would not classify
myself as an advocate of the [Site C]
project. It is my job to assess whether Site
C is the best way to generate 1100 MW
of electricity at the point in time when it
would be built and operating. Over the
last several months I have been busy trying
to develop alternative packages of ideas,
combinations of generation that I can
take to the Cabinet and let them make the
choice whether to pursue Site C or another
option, " commented Minister Bennett.
July 2014
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POWER July 2014

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