Power experiment proves conservation is answer: group

Robert Barron
Nanaimo Daily News
Wednesday, May 11, 2005

After a three-week experiment, culminating in a three-hour ‘power-down’ on Gabriola Island on May 3, a group has concluded Vancouver Island’s energy needs can be met by conservation and peak load reduction.

Bob McKechnie, a member of the NoGasPlant Coalition which opposes the planned construction of a gas-fired power plant at Duke Point, said the power on Gabriola Island was monitored for three weeks before May 3 to establish a base-line of power usage.

“With the cooperation of BC Hydro, a separate meter was set up specifically to monitor the island’s energy use during this time,” McKechnie said.

“We established that during peak times, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the electricity load on the island went up an average of 630 kilowatts. Then on May 3, during the peak-use time, about 350 participating households on the island cut their power use and many went for a picnic.”

McKechnie said power usage on the island only went up 140 kilowatts during the peak period on May 3, about a 77% reduction from the average baseline.

He said if this comparison is translated to power usage on Vancouver Island, then extra power usage during peak times could drop from 4.12 megawatts to 3.10 megawatts, or a 25% reduction in power usage, using conservation methods alone.

“If Vancouver Islanders could reduce their power usage by half of that, around twelve-and-a-half per cent, during peak times, about 112 megawatts of power could be saved through conservation,” he said.

“Then if we add that NorskeCanada’s offer to reduce their usage during peak times by 140 megawatts, we have a total of 252 megawatts, which is exactly the amount of power the planned Duke Point plant is supposed to produce.

“What we learned on Gabriola suggests Vancouver Island’s power needs could be met now without costly construction, simply by modifying the time of day we use power,” McKechnie said.

BC Hydro’s Ted Olynyk said the Gabriola Island experiment is forward looking and sets a “great precedent” for other islands and areas to take up similar challenges.

“PowerSmart and load management are definitely part of the solution of meeting our energy needs, but it’s not the complete solution,” he said.

“BC Hydro needs a firm supply to deal with growing power demands, and we’re looking at a mix of PowerSmart, increasing efficiencies from our own operations, alternative energy, new generation like micro-hydro and the Duke Point power plant.”