BC Hydro selects 19 projects for first clean power purchase agreements

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.

The power purchase agreements, which will include the range of prices Hydro will pay for the electricity, must be submitted to the B.C. Utilities Commission for review.

Hydro says another 28 projects remain in its Clean Power Call and the utility expects to select more later this month.

Although most of B.C. power is generated by its network of aging hydro dams, population and economic growth has required it to import power from the United States and Alberta, some of it from fossil fuel-powered facilities.

"Over the last eight years we've imported 10 to 15 per cent of our system needs," Van Ruyven said in an interview.

In all, Hydro initially received 68 proposals from 43 bidders representing more than 17,000 gigawatt hours per year of electricity.

The winners in this phase include Finavera Renewables Inc., CP Renewable Energy Limited Partnership (formerly EPCOR), Cloudworks Energy Inc., Creek Power Inc., Plutonic Power Corp. (TSXV:PCC), Selkirk Power Co., Swift Power Corp., NI Hydro Holding Corp., C-Free Power Corp. and Kwagis Power Limited Partnership.

The government has committed the province to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020, spurring an explosion of interest in renewable energy projects.

Last summer, the B.C. Utilities Commission rejected Hydro's plan -mandated by the province - to buy power from new clean-energy sources.

The commission said the plan over-estimated future electricity demand and the clean-power element would cost ratepayers too much.

It told Hydro to fall back on the gas-fired Burrard Thermal plant near Vancouver to make up any shortfalls.

The government - which is committed to closing Burrard Thermal - responded by directing the commission not to consider it in Hydro's application.

Van Ruyven said she anticipates no problems with the commission's review of these projects.