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Media Release/Communiqué
For Immediate Release: February 27, 2007
BC Sustainable Energy Association
welcomes new BC Energy Plan
Victoria, BC-The BC Sustainable Energy Association (BCSEA)
today responded positively to the province's new BC Energy
Plan. "We are exceptionally pleased at the commitments
in the new plan," said Guy Dauncey, President of the
BCSEA. "Almost all the things that we were asking for
have been included."
The Energy Plan includes a goal that 50% of new power demand
in BC should come from conservation, by reducing the amount
of energy used, instead of generating new energy. The Plan
also introduces a Standard Contract Program for small renewable
energy producers under 10 MW, similar to the program introduced
in Ontario.
"This is something we have been recommending for a long
time," Dauncey said. "Our only concern is the price
that will be offered to producers of solar, wind and tidal
energy. We hope that BC will offer a similar deal as Ontario,
where solar producers are paid 42 cents a kilowatt hour. In
Washington Sate, solar producers receive 50 cents US a kWh."
In a disappointing move, the Energy Plan repeats the government's
goal to see the federal moratorium on drilling for offshore
oil and gas lifted, and to nurture more investments in BC's
oil and gas sector. "This is counter-productive and counter-intuitive.
It makes no sense to try to expand BC's oil and gas industry
at the same time that we are trying to reduce our greenhouse
gas emissions," Dauncey said.
"The government has budgeting to spend an average $263
million a year on subsidies for oil and gas in 2007, compared
to $25 million for renewable energy and $89 million for hydrogen.
This is a ten-fold greater commitment to oil and gas than
to renewables."
Dauncey said, "while the Energy Plan is very good in
its requirements for sustainable electricity, it is weak when
it comes to our use of energy for transport, which produces
37% of BC's greenhouse gas emissions. We hope the government
will produce a BC Transport Plan to match its Energy Plan.
If we are to have the best Energy Plan in the world, it must
include our use of energy for transport."
There is a new fuel standard for biodiesel, requiring that
all diesel contain a 5% biodiesel mix by 2010. "This
will accelerate the biodiesel industry," Dauncey said.
"We hope that this can be generated as much as possible
from biomass wastes within BC, rather than a imported farm-grown
biodiesel from Iowa."
The BC Sustainable Energy Association is a non-profit association
of citizens, professionals and practitioners, committed to
promoting the understanding, development, and adoption of
sustainable energy and energy conservation and efficiency
in British Columbia.
Contacts:
Guy Dauncey 250-881-1304
Tom Hackney 250-381-4463
Peter Ronald 250-744-2720
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