Wind power'll be blowin' in, group predicts

Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun

Published: Thursday, April 13, 2006
Wind turbines will soon be spinning in British Columbia as a result of BC Hydro's latest call for new sources of power, a prominent energy group predicted on Wednesday.

B.C. Sustainable Energy Association president Guy Dauncey said six new proposals to build to build wind farms in northern B.C. suggest that one of the world's greenest energy sources will finally arrive in this province.

"We absolutely do expect that Hydro will accept some of the wind calls. We have good resources and it's a totally good technology," Dauncey said in an interview.

B.C. has taken heat in the past from environmental groups, and from wind farm proponents for the absence of wind power in a province that is overwhelmingly lit by hydroelectric power.

B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said the absence of wind power from B.C.'s energy grid is due in large part to an historic abundance of cheap, clean hydro power.

Other provinces such as Alberta, he noted, use wind to offset the environmental impacts of their overwhelming reliance on coal- and natural gas-fired generation.

Neufeld recently announced several incentives including crown land "rent holidays" to attract investment in a coastal province with some of the best wind resources on the continent.

Hydro announced earlier this week that three wind power proponents, presenting a total of six projects, answered the crown corporation's open call for new electricity sources.

Five are in Northeast B.C. while a sixth is at Prince Rupert.

Respondents also came forward with projects that would employ hydro dams and generators, run-of-river hydro, coal-fired generation, biomass burners and innovative projects to harvest energy from natural gas pipeline compressors.

A handful of companies have in the past indicated to Hydro an interest in developing wind resources but only one conformed to Hydro requirements -- it was accepted, but later withdrew its bid.

This time around, Dauncey noted, the proponents have the experience to manage the financial challenges of developing an energy source that has comparatively higher costs than other technologies.

"It's a mature technology and we are long overdue to be looking at it," Dauncey said. "B.C. is the only province in Canada that doesn't have any goals for wind energy. Personally I think we need to move away from the fixation that the only thing the public is concerned about is cheap power.

"When we buy shoes do we always buy just the cheapest shoes, or do we always just buy the cheapest food when we shop for groceries?"

One of the proponents, Aeolis Wind Power Corp., has already struck an agreement with a regional energy co-op and drawn enthusiastic support from the municipality of Dawson Creek, for a joint venture project on Bear Mountain.

The 120-megawatt Bear Mountain Wind Limited Partnership would install a 60-turbine wind farm on the mountain, at a cost of more than $200 million.

Arthur Caldicott, president of GSX Concerned Citizens Coalition, said his energy watchdog group is pleased to find that the great majority of proposals are for green power.

The Coalition was formed in opposition to Hydro's since-aborted plan for a gas-fired generating plant on Vancouver Island, and expects now to turn its attention to the emergence of two proposals for coal-fired generation.

Overall, however, Caldicott said the group is encouraged by the preponderance of projects that don't burn fossil fuels or accelerate global climate change.

"It's an interesting situation to find ourselves in, because we've been so critical of everything BC Hydro has done for so long," he said. "In this list of projects there isn't a lot, on the face of it, to criticize. Overall the picture is pretty good. They are mostly green."

ssimpson@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

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