Hydro awash in independent green power bids
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008Independent power producers are offering BC Hydro enough power in response to a new green-energy call to light every home in the province — at least on paper. Hydro reported Friday that it has received proposals for 17,000 gigawatt hours of electricity — primarily small hydro and wind — in response to its clean call, which closed this week. That’s equivalent to a third of Hydro’s annual output — the amount of power consumed each year by the Crown corporation’s residential customers.
Preliminary tallies from the call, which closed Tuesday, show Hydro received bids from 43 proponents for a total of 68 projects.
It’s the biggest amount of electricity ever bid to Hydro by the independents, and it includes several comparatively large-scale projects, including an offshore wind farm and a 17-stream run-of-river hydro network in Bute Inlet. In total, there are 45 small hydro projects and 19 wind projects, with each sector offering more than 8,000 gigawatt hours. The remaining four proposals include two for waste heat, one biogas and one biomass project. Hydro intends to accept only 5,000 gigawatt hours. Hydro is mandated by the province to make B.C. electricity self-sufficient by 2016 — but plans include conservation measures to cut consumption and enhancements to its network of large-scale heritage assets.
