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BC Hydro selects 19 projects for first clean power purchase agreements
March 12, 2010
By Steve Mertl (CP)
VANCOUVER, B.C. — BC Hydro has awarded the first batch of electricity-purchase agreements in its contentious, government-driven clean-power program.
The 19 wind and run-of-river projects will generate 2,400 gigawatt hours of electricity a year - enough to power 218,000 homes.
B.C. Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom said Thursday they’re a significant step toward meeting the government’s goal of becoming energy self-sufficient using clean, renewable energy by 2016.
But the NDP Opposition is challenging the need for the projects at all, as well as their potential costs to electricity ratepayers.
The 19 projects by a handful of companies include 14 run-of-river operations, where water is diverted through turbines to generate electricity, and five wind-turbine projects.
Lekstrom said in a statement that all told, the projects involve $3 billion in capital investment and generate 3,000 person-years of employment during construction.
Hydro’s acting president, Bev Van Ruyven, said more clean-power projects will be announced in the coming weeks, with the Crown-owned utility’s target of acquiring up to 5,000 gigawatt hours annually of clean energy from B.C. sources.
