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The BC Sustainable Energy Association is actively
engaged with provincial energy policy in a variety of ways.
Below are files and documents describing policies and solutions
to lead BC towards a sustainable energy future.
BCSEA Comments on the Proposed Green
Building Code
On December 21, 2007, the BCSEA submitted the following
comments ( PDF,
135kb) on the proposed changes to the BC Building Code.
In addition to our own analysis of the Building Code changes,
the BCSEA also endorsed the comments submitted to the government
by the Pembina Institute. Click
here to see the Pembina Institute's proposals. (PDF,
173kb)
Budget 2008 Submission
On behalf of BCSEA's Policy Committee, Guy Dauncey presented
the following submission to the Select Standing Committee
on Finance and Government Services on October 2, 2007. Click
here... (PDF,
102kb)
Click here for the Committee's report/recommendations and
more info on the
BC government's budget consultation...
Federal Pre-Budget Consultation
In August 2007, BCSEA submitted a brief to the Federal
Standing Committee on Finance, re: "the tax system
the country needs to prosper." Click
here... (PDF,
165kb).
On December 3, 2007, BCSEA Policy chair Tom Hackney made
a presentation to the committee at their Victoria session.
Click
here... (PDF,
55kb).
Climate Action Portfolio
BCSEA president Guy Dauncey and Policy Ctte. chair Tom
Hackney met recently with Graham Whitmarsh, Head of the
BC Government's Climate Action Secretariat.
The Secretariat is the staff support group for the Cabinet
Committee for Climate Action. Government is putting considerable
effort into developing a climate change plan, including
significant commitments of cabinet time, including senior
ministries. Government intends non-trivial initiatives to
cover all relevant sectors (although we shouldn't hold our
breaths for a moratorium on oil and gas development or the
immediate cancellation of the Gateway project--those items
will take more pushing from us and the people of BC).
For this engagement, the BCSEA developed a dozen one-page
policy points for our developing Climate Action Portfolio,
ranging from over-arching principles (strong climate change
plan; pricing carbon), to specific detailed proposals (a
"Phase 2" for the government's recent Standing
Offer Contract).
This is an on-going series, and we welcome your input to
help complete it. Keep in mind that there are two main areas
for us to address with government:
(i) the development of an appropriate framework of legislation
and regulations that can start to signal a shift to more
efficiency and renewables, and can be tighted up over time,
if needed;
(ii) measures to promote renewable energies.
BCSEA's Climate Action Portfolio
Advanced Renewable Tariffs (or
Standard Offer Contracts)
Advanced Renewable Tariffs or ARTs (also known as
Standard Offer Contracts or SOCs, Feed-in Tariffs,
etc.) have been adopted in Europe and elsewhere as the method
of choice to encourage renewable electricity generation.
Instead of forcing producers through onerous competitive
bid processes, a power utility offers producers a fixed
price to deliver electricity to the grid. That price can
be adjusted over time to encourage more projects or curtail
over-production.
The BC government's 2007 Energy Plan mandates a standing
offer (ART) for 'clean' electricity projects up to 10 megawatts.
The BCSEA strongly supports this and expects to be involved
in helping BC Hydro, the government, and perhaps Fortis,
to develop ART plans suitable for wind, small hydro, tidal
current and other renewables. In Fall 2006, BCSEA engaged
Thomas Vlcek to study ARTs in the BC context. Power
Procurement in British Columbia: Self-Sufficiency Through
Advanced Renewable Tariffs in BC (PDF,
877kb) gives an exciting and exhaustive analysis of the
situation. Thomas also recently gave a
presentation on this topic (PPT, 766kb) to BCSEA's Vancouver
Chapter on this topic.
BC Utilities Commission Engagement
BCSEA has actively advocated sustainable energy in reviews
of BC Hydro's plans before the BC Utilities Commission
since 2004. Bill Andrews has served continuously as counsel
for BCSEA and its ally groups in several fillings where
BC Hydro laid out plans for acquiring more power and/or
developing conservation and efficiency programs.
- BCSEA evidence on BC
Hydro's 2006 Integrated Electricity Plan and Long Term Electricity
Purchase Agreement, submitted at the BC Utility Commission
hearings in early 2007.
Intervention in BCUC review of the
2007 Electricity Purchase Agreement with Alcan
Along with the Sierra Club of Canada (BC Chapter) and Peace
Valley Environment Association, BCSEA is intervening in
the BC Utilities Commission
review of BC Hydro’s 2007 Electricity Purchase Agreement
(EPA) with Alcan (now "Rio
Tinto Alcan"). The deal envisions long-term sales
of surplus power from Alcan’s Kemano hydro-electric
generation facility, after Alcan meets the needs of its
proposed new smelter in Kitimat.
Alcan’s power is controversial, mainly because, in
the ’fifties, government gave Alcan perpetual rights
to water from the Nechako River, in exchange for less-than-ironclad
obligations to smelt aluminum. Alcan can produce power very
cheaply from what used to be a public resource and sell
it for profit, while aluminum workers worry about their
jobs. This, however, will not be addressed by the Utilities
Commission, which will look only at whether Hydro’s
ratepayers will benefit from the agreement.
BCSEA is interested because Alcan’s power is “rich
in capacity”--reliably available when needed. As such,
it may help to “firm up” generation from intermittent
resources like wind, and so increase the amount of renewable
energies that the grid may accommodate.
Province's
new Energy Plan signals BCSEA policy success
Over the past three years, the BCSEA has promoted 12 specific
policy initiatives to the BC government:
- Strong goals for climate action and greenhouse gas reduction;
- Strong energy conservation goals;
- A strong commitment to produce more power from green,
sustainable sources of electricity;
- An acceptance that we can use BC's dams to firm up wind
energy, and the value of aggregated wind energy as a contribution
to the grid;
- Smart metering, differential rates, and the ability
of energy saving companies to be able to sell saved "negawatts"
to BC Hydro for the same price they pay for new megawatts;
- A Public Benefit Fund on hydro bills to finance efficiency
upgrades and/or renewable energy;
- A Standard Offer Contract for small wind, solar, tidal
energy, etc. (as in Ontario and Germany);
- A review of the BC Utilities Commission mandate to "serve
the public interest", which the BCUC has usually
interpreted to mean "cheap power", ignoring
social and environmental benefits;
- Strong support for solar hot water;
- A rejection of polluting coal-fired power plants, like
those proposed for Princeton and Tumbler Ridge;
- A commitment to include the cost of greenhouse gases
in all power contracts;
- More support for sustainable biodiesel.
Thanks to our advocacy and your letter writing, the government
has supported our positions on every one of these goals
in its 2007 Energy Plan. Now, while the climate goals are
not as strong as we need, and the conservation commitment
is not as much as we want, and the Standard Offer Contract
needs a lot of work around the pricing, it is much more
than we had expected.
Make no mistake, there are many negative aspects of the
plan, such as support for the lower mainland's Gateway Project,
and the continuing subsidization of BC's oil and gas sector.
A huge amount of work remains to be done.
For a moment, at least, we need to acknowledge and support
progress, and celebrate success when we achieve it. And
for our young non-profit society, with a very modest funding
base, realizing these 12 policy objectives is a great achievement
indeed.
Sustainable Energy Solutions for BC
 Sustainable
Energy Policies for BC
Last Updated April 24, 2008
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