On Monday, BC Hydro announced in their 2024 Call to Power nine new wind-powered contracts they will be building in the upcoming years. These new projects will be in partnership with Indigenous groups across British Columbia.
The nine projects are estimated to provide 5,000 gigawatts hours per year. That equates to enough electricity to power 500,000 homes and boost BC Hydro’s current electricity supply by 8%.
The project is also projected to supply a growing field of jobs for British Columbians. The projects are estimated to create 2,000 jobs annually in project construction and generate five to six billion dollars in private capital spending.
The newly appointed B.C. Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, Adrian Dix, awarded the nine 30-year contracts to wind projects. The two biggest are in the Peace Region with the Taylor Wind Project and the Steward Wind Project which will be in partnership with the Saulteau First Nations and West Moberly First Nations respectively.
“Now that the projects have been selected, we’re going to work together with BC Hydro, First Nations, and proponents to get these projects built quickly, responsibly, and efficiently, and get those turbines spinning” states Dix.
The cost of BC Hydro projects has been a subject of complaints in the past, but the fees for the new Call to Power are projected to be lower than in past years. The cost of wind has dropped significantly over the past few years, making the average price for the successful calls in this project 40% lower than BC Hydro’s last call for clean power in 2010.
Tamara Davidson, Minister of Environments and Parks, says: “It’s clear there are enormous opportunities to generate clean electricity through wind, and that we need to do more to get larger projects online faster. That’s why we are announcing our intention to exempt wind-power projects from the environmental assessment process, with a rigorous provincial permitting process in place, while ensuring First Nations are full partners in our shared, sustainable future.”
Another area of past complaints was BC Hydro’s relationship with British Columbian Indigenous groups. BC Hydro reported that for this Call for Power, the company engaged extensively with First Nations and included a requirement that the new projects must have a 25% equity ownership held by First Nations. BC Hydro also reported that eight of the nine successful energy projects will have 51% equity. This represents $2.5 billion to $3 billion of ownership by First Nations in new renewable energy projects in BC.
As Dix states, “In short, we need more power: this gives us more power. We need urgent action on climate change: this is urgent action on climate change. We need to ensure the First Nations are involved in the economic development of the province and have an equity interest: it does just that.”
Link for Donations:
We are solely independent with our news and our only funding is your amazing donations to the link below. If you value non-biased and truthful news based on facts, please anything helps us keep you informed and in the know
References:
Comments