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Media Release/Communiqué
For Immediate Release: July 27, 2006
Good and Bad Energy in BC Hydro’s
Open Call for Power
Yes to Wind; Coal to meet "Prolonged,
Persistent Public Protest"
VICTORIA, BC—The BC Sustainable Energy Association welcomes
the prospect of BC’s first commercial wind projects,
but warns of a P-4 response–prolonged and persistent
public protest–against the two coal-fired power projects
announced as winners in the 2006 Call for Power to supply
the BC Hydro grid.
“We are very pleased to see some robust wind proposals
winning contracts,” said BCSEA president Guy Dauncey.
“BC can finally start to catch up with the rest of the
world. All of BC’s electricity needs can be met with
conservation and 100% non-greenhouse gas-emitting energy.”
But Dauncey criticized the two coal-fired projects: “These
will be BC’s first ever coal-fired power plants. British
Columbians are very concerned about climate change and are
aware that we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions. BC Hydro
could cut out the coal and still meet its energy needs. The
coal projects increase BC’s emissions of greenhouse gases
by 1.6 megatonnes a year, adding to BC’s total, as well
as pollutants such as mercury, at a time when the Premier
has said he wants BC to have the best air quality in the world,
and to do better than Oregon in reducing our emissions. We
anticipate a “P-4” response-–prolonged and
persistent public protest–-against these unnecessary
and backward-looking coal-fired power proposals.”
“It is strategically critical that BC Hydro should gain
competence in feeding wind power into the grid, “said
Tom Hackney, BCSEA policy specialist. “The United States
is moving toward mandatory controls on greenhouse gas emissions,
in spite of a rearguard action by the president. BC can’t
afford to be left behind.”
Hackney noted that traditional cost estimates of power fail
to capture the costs of environmental harm from greenhouse
gas emissions. “It’s a myth that coal-fired power
is cheap,” he said. “What will happen when we start
to regulate greenhouse gas emissions? Will BC Hydro ratepayers
have to pay to offset emissions from the coal-fired plants?”
“As a side note,” said Hackney, “no gas-fired
projects are on the winners list. This proves the BCSEA was
right to oppose the Duke Point power plant. Gas prices are
just too high and volatile. The BC Hydro ratepayers would
have taken a bath if that project had proceeded.” BC
Hydro has awarded 38 contracts to independent power producers
across BC, including 29 hydro, three wind, two biomass, two
waste heat, and two coal/biomass projects, totalling 7,125
GWh of energy a year.
“We are pleased that BC will finally join Canada’s
other provinces in the generation of power from the wind,
said Dauncey. “Wind energy is booming throughout the
world and it is about time that BC got on board.”
“On the other hand, we are appalled that BC Hydro has
chosen to grant approval to the generation of power by burning
coal. We know that dinosaurs are very popular with small boys,
but we had hoped BC Hydro would look to the future, not the
past”, Dauncey continued. BC Hydro has awarded power
contracts to 2 coal/biomass power projects with a capacity
for 240 MW of energy (generating 2033 Gigawatt hours a year).
“The public will not react well to this,” he predicted.
“The burning of coal is a primary contributor to global
climate change, as well as releasing mercury and other pollutants
into the air,” Dauncey said. “Many people have seen
Al Gore’s Film An Inconvenient Truth, and there is a
deep current of grave concern running through the world about
the dangers that global climate change presents.”
“With these new coal-fired power contracts, BC Hydro
is feeding global warming, which 72% of Canadians fear will
be the greatest crisis facing mankind by 2020”. (Data
from June 29th 2006 Dominion Institute national poll.)
“BC Hydro wants the coal-fired power to provide ‘firm’
power that will run 24 hours a day, at times when the wind
is not blowing and the creeks are dry,” Dauncey said.
“But BC already has a very strong firm power capacity
in its dams. BC Hydro seems not to have studied the potential
for BC to generate power from intermittent sources such as
wind and microhydro, and use the province’s hydro-electric
dams as a battery where excess power can be stored to meet
the peak demand, which happens during the winter, when the
wind blows the strongest.”
“Regarding the 29 water-based hydro projects, the BC
Sustainable Energy Association is fundamentally supportive,
provided each project is very carefully assessed for potential
impacts on fish habitat and water flows,” Dauncey said.
BC Hydro also granted a contract to a 90 MW power project
in Gold River by Green Island Energy, which will burn biomass
on the site of the closed-down pulp mill. “We are dubious
about this project,” Dauncey said. Each megawatt requires
20,000 tons of wood waste, so the 90 MW project will require
almost two million tons of wood waste a year.
“We are very concerned about where the ‘biomass’
will come from, as there’s not enough wood waste on Vancouver
Island to feed the plant. Are they going to ship up California’s
garbage and burn that?”
Burning garbage produces dioxins from the plastics, as well
as other air pollutants. Dioxins are among the most toxic
chemicals in the world, and a known cause of cancer. The BC
government has said that it is dedicated to the vision of
a cancer-free world.
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For more information please contact:
Guy Dauncey, BCSEA president (250) 881-1304 guydauncey@earthfuture.com
Tom Hackney, (250) 381-4463 thackney@island.net
BCSEA Backgrounder: 2006 BC Hydro Call for
Power Results
In the 2006 Open Call for Power, BC Hydro was seeking 2,500
Gigawatt hours (GWh) a year of firm energy from large projects
and 200 GWh a year from small projects. This is enough power
to run 270,000 homes, if each home uses 10,000 kilowatt hours
a year. BC Hydro currently generates up to 55,000 GWh a year.
BC Hydro has awarded power contracts to 3 wind-power projects,
with a capacity for 328 MW of energy (generating 979 Gigawatt
hours a year). They are:
• 180 MW project by Dokie Wind Energy, with 200 1.5
MW turbines at Chetwynd,
• 120 MW project by Bear Mountain Wind Partnership
near Dawson Creek, and,
• 25.2 MW project by the Mount Hays Wind Farm Partnership
near Prince Rupert.
BC Hydro has awarded power contracts to 2 coal/biomass power
projects with a capacity for 240 MW of energy (generating
2033 Gigawatt hours a year). They are:
• 184 MW project by AES Wapiti Energy Corporation,
using coal from Hillsborough Resources Limited coal mine
between Tumbler Ridge and Dawson Creek
• 56 MW project by the Compliance Power Corporation,
at Princeton, using coal from a mine the company operates
near Coalmont, nearby.
Based on by BC Hydro information, the 2006 Open Call for
Power breaks down as follows:
• Water – 29 projects awarded contracts –
2,851 GWh/y (Gigawatt-hours per year) – 40% of total
energy in 2006 Open Call
• Coal/Biomass – two projects – 2,033 GWh/y
– 28% of total energy awarded
• Biomass/Other – two projects – 1,186 GWh/y
– 17% of total energy awarded
• Wind – three projects – 979 GWh/y –
14% of total energy awarded
• Waste Heat – two projects – 75 GWh/y –
1% of total energy awarded
• Brilliant Power Expansion – 226 GWh/y –
not in 2006 Open Call
A 2005 study by Garrad Hassan, the world’s largest wind
energy consultancy, showed that BC has the potential to generate
from 5,000 to 50,000 MW of energy from the wind.
The BC Sustainable Energy Association has 500 members across
BC, including 60 business memberships, and chapters in Vancouver,
Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops and Prince George.
In 2004-05, the BCSEA participated in the BC Utilities Commission
review of Pristine Power’s 250 Megawatt gas-fired power
plan proposal at Duke Point, near Nanaimo. BCSEA argued that
the plant should be disallowed due to the high cost of gas
and unacceptable levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2005, the BCSEA participated in an application for leave
to appeal the BCUC’s approval of the Duke Point power
plant. The BC Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal, but
BC Hydro cancelled the project before the appeal could be
heard.
In a June 29th 2006 Dominion Institute national poll, 72%
of Canadians said that they feared global warming would be
the greatest crisis facing mankind by 2020. In a similar July
2nd BBC World Service poll, 91% of Canadians agreed that our
energy production is harming the climate and the environment.
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