Member Article

There have been two important developments in British Columbia’s wind energy sector in June.  The first was the release of BC Hydro’s Draft Integrated Resource Plan (Draft IRP) for public consultation.  The Draft IRP recommends building new clean generation resources to ensure sufficient future capacity within the system. Specifically, one of the Recommended Actions is to:

Develop energy procurement options to acquire up to 2,000 gigawatt hours from clean energy producers for projects that would come into service in the 2016 — 2018 time period.

The good news for wind energy developers: the Draft IRP indicates that BC Hydro expects the majority of this power to come from wind generators, as well as run-of-river hydro and biomass projects.  Final decisions on the timing and volume of energy to be purchased will be made when there is greater certainty regarding projected electricity loads.

Another auspicious sign for wind power developers this month is the arrival of turbines in Nanaimo for BC’s first wind farm.  International Power Canada is developing the project, which will consist of 55 turbines on land east of Cape Scott Provincial Park.  The wind farm is anticipated to produce enough energy to supply 30,000 homes, with construction scheduled to begin in October of this year.