Syntaris Power

Oil sands, pipeline and coal-power companies now among the biggest players

Several of Canada’s largest energy and resource companies are quietly staking out positions in a sector that seems at odds with their usual extractive activities: the renewable power business.

Oil sands, pipeline and coal-power firms are now among the biggest players in renewables, with portfolios of wind, solar, small hydro power and ethanol production that in some cases outpace the holdings of most “pure” green companies.

Environmentalists and small companies in the sector are sanguine about the competitors; they welcome the big firms as a significant source of clout and capital that can add momentum to the shift to renewable energy.

“It reflects the reality of energy in the 21st century,” said Ian Bruce, a climate change specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation. “A lot of the innovation is happening at the small company level and then is getting [moved] up to larger businesses that have the capital to invest more.”

…Meanwhile, Calgary pipeline operator Fort Chicago Energy Partners recently bought up three small-hydro operations – Swift Power Corp., Pristine Power Inc., and the B.C. hydro assets of Enmax Corp.

…While Suncor plans to add one wind farm a year to its holdings, Mr. Lambert is loath to predict how large a proportion of its business renewables will make up. So much depends on access to power grids, provincial energy rules, and the shape of the still-undefined federal energy strategy.

It makes sense to have a diverse range of companies in the renewable business, he said. “You need to have those entrepreneurial players who are creating new ideas and innovating, then you need the big players for the growth stages of many of these technologies where access to capital is important.”

Small green energy companies agree. “The more that gets done, the better, whether it is by a pure play or by a traditional fossil fuel generator,” said Kent Brown, the former chief executive officer of Canadian Hydro who is now running a startup firm called BluEarth Renewables Inc. “We want to see projects get done and get done successfully.”

Capital projects, upgrading of infrastructure account for most of proposed increases

By Jesse Ferreras

BC Hydro confirmed last week that independent power producers (IPP) are playing a role in the Crown corporation’s application to the B.C. Utilities Commission for rate increases.

In the fifth paragraph of a Dec. 2 news release, the power authority states that it is forecasting an increase of $7 each year for the next three years, on an average monthly bill of $71 – a total of 27 per cent over three years. The rate increases are subject to approval by the BCUC.

BC Hydro President and CEO Dave Cobb said he’s looking to implement the increases so that the Crown corporation can take on a $6 billion effort to renew and expand the province’s electricity infrastructure.

“We are committed to meeting B.C.’s growing demand for electricity by modernizing and investing in the province’s electricity system to safely keep the lights on for British Columbians,” Cobb said in a news release. “We are also taking steps to keep rates affordable by making our operations more efficient and introducing new conservation programs that will help offset rate increase.”

BC Hydro has a long list of capital projects it hopes to pay for through the rate increases. The projects include adding a fifth unit to the Revelstoke Generating Station; a seismic upgrade at the Coquitlam Dam; and increases in generating capacity at the Fort Nelson Generating Station.

…Speaking on background, a BC Hydro spokesman said in an e-mail that the capital projects account for half of the rate increase, while energy costs from sources such as independent power producers account for less than one fifth of the increases.

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VICTORIA – Moira Stilwell announced this morning she will run for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party, giving the race its first official candidate.

An MLA for just 18 months, Stilwell was most recently the minister of regional economic and skills development.

She announced this morning that she will step down as minister to run her campaign.

Before becoming MLA for Vancouver-Langara in May 2009, Stilwell was a radiologist and nuclear medicine physician, and head of nuclear medicine at St. Paul’s Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital, Abbottsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Clinic.

Stilwell was also the Co-Chair of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation 2020 Task Force.

The B.C. Liberals are holding a race to replace Premier Gordon Campbell, who recently announced he will be stepping down.

The leadership vote will take place on Feb. 26, 2011.

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Kelowna-Mission MLA Steve Thomson was appointed to the position of energy minister Wednesday, not long after Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett was kicked out of the Liberal cabinet.

It will be added to Thomson’s current responsibilities in the newly created Ministry of Natural Resource Operations, a topic that also became the target of Bennett’s ire when he spoke to reporters at the legislature this afternoon.

“Steve Thompson’s a first-rate individual and he’s got plunked into the middle of a terrible, awkward situation being the Minister of Natural Resource Operations, and no one knows what in the hell that is exactly,” Bennett said.

Premier Gordon Campbell has said the reorganization of resource ministries is needed to reduce duplication and red tape for industry, and it is going ahead as planned.

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