Power-rich B.C. still has energy problems

< b>Tom Fletcher
B.C. bureau reporter for Black Press newspapers
Penticton Western News
Jul 20 2005

As more and more people crank up the air conditioners this summer, B.C. moves closer to having to import power - again - to get through the year. Blessed with an embarrassment of energy riches, British Columbia still manages to have power problems.

Vancouver Island interests stood firm against the Duke Point gas-fired plant and B.C. Hydro backed down after 10 years of protests and paperwork. So Vancouver Island will continue to import 75 per cent of its energy from the mainland or wherever else B.C. Hydro can buy it from.

Chilliwack MLA Barry Penner rode his opposition to the Sumas Energy 2 gas-fired project in Washington all the way to the environment minister's office. This dispute added a new word to the Lotusland lexicon: lots of places have watersheds, but now the Fraser Valley has an airshed too.

Thanks to the emotional appeal of the modern environment movement, most western U.S. states haven't been able to add any kind of generating capacity for decades. While many areas in the world face a choice between coal and nuclear to meet their electricity needs, B.C. is fussy about natural gas, a fuel so clean it is burned unvented in kitchen stoves.

Granted, the air currents and urbanization of the Fraser Valley mean SE2 emissions would have been a much bigger problem than those from Duke Point.

But now B.C. Hydro will likely have to run Burrard Thermal, its existing gas-fired power station, flat out. Yes, those emissions will head for Chilliwack too.

Without Duke Point, an upgraded power cable is needed to prop up Vancouver Island. Unfortunately, it needs to cross Saltspring Island, where fragile Left-Coast hippitude exceeds even that of Kitsilano and parts of California. Gulf Islanders want the cable buried, to lower the risk of leukemia, a hazard that will come as a surprise to people who already live near the thousands of high-voltage lines that crisscross modern countries.

(Wouldn't you know it, soon after the Saltspring protest, the B.C. Cancer Agency released a study that finds higher levels of leukemia in children correlate with - living in wealthier neighbourhoods.)

On the Left Coast, we like to believe what Green Party leader Adriane Carr said during the spring election: that fossil fuel plants like Duke Point are a relic of the 20th Century, and wind and tidal power are the way of the future.

Energy Minister Richard Neufeld tells me it just isn't so. B.C. Hydro is buying all the green energy it can get its hands on, but in the end the province needs more firm energy" that can be cranked up when needed.

Port Hardy has three proposed wind generation projects. A tidal plant at Race Rocks near Victoria is supposed to start up next year. But these kinds of projects are a drop in the bucket compared to B.C.'s growing appetite for power.

Neufeld says coal-fired electricity isn't out of the question for B.C., although the wealth of hydroelectric has meant none of that so far. And he acknowledges that B.C. Hydro's best bet for some time has been Site C, a third dam on the Peace River.

B.C. Hydro's electricity plan, including the Site C project, goes to the B.C. Utilities Commission early next year. Without Duke Point to look forward to, the prospect of building B.C.'s first big dam since Revelstoke in 1984 seems a lot more likely.

Let the environmental protests begin.

Ontario power tilt

How lucky is B.C.? Take Ontario (please). In June, the first hot spell of the year had officials issuing an emergency plea to the public to reduce power usage at peak times. A labour dispute had publicly owned Ontario Power Generation using helicopters to get workers to the giant Nanticoke coal-fired generator on Lake Eerie, after Hydro One workers put up secondary pickets in addition to those at Darlington and Pickering nuclear plants.
In spite of this mess, Ontario is considering building more nuclear plants. It set a new record for power consumption on June 27, and when it went to the market to buy enough to keep Ontario's air conditioners on, it found the spot price was twice the average for the month.

China cutting coal

China Power Investment Corp. plans to build 10 new 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors on the eastern coast of Liaoning and Shandong provinces in a bid to cut reliance on coal, according to a report in the China Daily last week. Earlier, PetroChina signed a deal to pipe Alberta oil sands crude across B.C. to ships that will haul it across the Pacific for refining.

Dams (almost) green

Hydro dams are not as green" as they seem. The British magazine New Scientist reported in February on the problem of methane and other greenhouse gases produced by decaying trees and other plant matter flooded by a dam. Annual fluctuations in the reservoir level add to the problem, as plants grow when the water level is lower in summer and then are flooded and decay in winter.

Protests getting silly

North Shore enviros want a tunnel for the improvements to the Sea-to-Sky Highway. The Sea-to-Sky project was held up for weeks by the discovery of an eagle's nest. Eventually it was found to be empty. Enviros demanded six more weeks with no blasting, to protect the non-existent eagle chicks.