Syntaris Power

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell gave California legislators a vote of encouragement Thursday in a rare appearance before the state’s assembly…The premier’s remarks, not surprisingly, are diplomatic — but the subtext here is that the premier is voicing support for the assembly’s efforts to tackle greenhouse-gas emissions. Assembly Bill 32, which would commit California to participating with B.C. and several other states and provinces in the Western Climate Initiative, is potentially threatened by a forthcoming state-wide referendum known as Proposition 23

…The premier’s remarks also signalled B.C.’s interest in selling premium-priced renewable energy to California. At present, Assembly Bill 32 disqualifies hydroelectricity from facilities with a electricity generating capacity in excess of 30 megawatts per hour.

That condition puts a substantial limit on B.C.’s ability to expand green power production for export and the premier is hoping to convince the assembly to qualify electricity from larger facilities.

It’s worth noting that in a recent meeting with The Sun’s editorial board, Energy Minister Bill Bennett, BC Hydro president and CEO Dave Cobb said that the 30-megawatt limit was more or less pulled out of the air by California legislators and didn’t take into consideration the green power opportunities that other jurisdictions could present to the state.

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John Baird is moving to the key position of government House leader in a federal cabinet shuffle announced Friday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Baird, who has served in three different cabinet posts —Treasury Board, Environment and Transport — replaces the retiring Jay Hill.

Chuck Strahl steps in for Baird as transport, infrastructure and communities minister while John Duncan replaces Strahl as minister of Indian affairs and northern development.

Strahl was also first elected as a Reform party MP in 1993, and represents the British Columbia riding of Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon. He has served as agriculture minister and most recently, as the Indian affairs and northern development minister.

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VANCOUVER — BC Hydro is paying an average of $124 per megawatt hour in new electricity contracts with independent power producers, the Crown corporation said Tuesday.

In a report on its 2008 Clean Power Call, Hydro said it has contracted to pay 27 successful bidders a levelized firm energy price ranging from $105 to $133 per megawatt hour, averaging $124 once the comparative size and electricity output of each project is weighted in.

…Hydro said that even with a 30 per cent attrition rate among successful bidders, its grid will gain 2,286 gigawatt hours of power annually. That’s enough to meet the British Columbia government’s order that Hydro be self sufficient — no longer dependent upon imported power to meet domestic demand — by 2016.

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Link to BC Report on the RFP Process

The B.C. Citizens for Green Energy (BCCGE) has claimed that lumping the U.S.-generated electricity the province is entitled to under the Columbia River Treaty and calling it an export is “misleading and even somewhat disingenuous.”

BCCGE spokesperson David Field said in a release Thursday morning, “You can’t really consider electricity generated in the U.S.A. under the Columbia River Treaty to be an electricity export from B.C.”

The BCCGE, which advocates for more independent power production in B.C. and less energy importation, said that revenue generated by BC Hydro subsidiary Powerex from B.C.’s Columbia River entitlement is one reason electricity rates in B.C. are lower than many other jurisdictions in North America.

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