Run of River Projects - DOA?

[BigIron]

Kinda Hunting related, as these projects would effect access, and of course wildlife in the targeted drainages...

From today's Globe & Mail:

Green Premier's agenda hits snag as energy plan rejected
Commission says British Columbia government's initiative not in public interest
Mark Hume
Vancouver — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2009 03:01AM EDT

The British Columbia government's energy plan and the future of new renewable-power projects in the province have been shaken by a ruling from the B.C. Utilities Commission.

After hearings that lasted almost a year, the commission has rejected BC Hydro's long-term acquisition plan as “not in the public interest” and has refused to endorse its push for clean energy.

The government's clean – or green – energy plan has been a key initiative pursued by Premier Gordon Campbell and was a major issue in the May election. The ruling could call into question the viability of the B.C. government's policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 33 per cent below 2007 levels by 2020. That promise, and a long term goal of an 80 per cent reduction by 2050, was put into law last year with passage of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act.

Some analysts say the ruling – which shocked the government and the stock market – indicates B.C. has been over-estimating the amount of power the province needs in order to justify the development of independent power projects.

“We have a very flawed energy plan in this province … the government cannot continue to exaggerate the need for power,” said Lori Winstanley, a spokeswoman for the professional employees' union known as COPE, which has long been critical of BC Hydro's energy plan.

For years the opposition NDP has questioned the Campbell government's energy plan, claiming independent hydro projects that harness some of the province's rivers – known as run of river projects – pose hazards to the environment, and sports fisheries.

The ruling delivered a quick blow to independent power producers (IPPs), with shares for Plutonic Power Corp. plunging about 24 per cent yesterday, falling $1.00 to $3.08.

A spokesman for Plutonic, the biggest bidder in B.C. Hydro's calls for new projects, said the company would react later.

Dow Jones Newswires said the commission's decision “could put the development of new renewable-power projects in the province on hold.”

But Blair Lekstrom, B.C.'s Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, tried to steady the market by saying the government remains committed to pursuing the development of more clean, renewable energy through IPP's.

“We are focused on developing clean and renewable energy resources. We are going to continue down that path,” said Mr. Lekstrom.

He said he was surprised by the ruling, which included a refusal to allow BC Hydro to downgrade the Burrard Generating Station. Burrard is a conventional thermal plant fuelled by natural gas that supplements hydroelectric generation in years of low water flows.

BC Hydro wanted to rate Burrard as capable of producing a maximum of 3,000 gigawatt hours annually, while BCUC said the figure should be 5,000 GWh. If the Burrard potential is rated 2,000 GWh higher, then the need for private power would have to drop by the same amount.

“Fully the biggest surprise is Burrard thermal, talk of moving that from 3,000 to 5,000 [GWh],” said Mr. Lekstrom. “That certainly doesn't fit with the direction that we have set as a province … and that's clean renewable energy and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions where we can.”

Bob Elton, CEO of BC Hydro, said the 236-page decision is a detailed and complicated ruling.

“It will take us two or three days to really be clear about what it does mean for the clean power call,” said Mr. Elton.

“As a matter of urgency, we are going through [the ruling] and we will figure out what our position is, what we intend to bring forward. As we've always said a lot will depend on the prices of those [IPP] projects,” he said.

He said BC Hydro did get much of what it wanted in the ruling.

“We were looking for a bunch of things, a total of $630-odd-million of expenditures on different things … and they approved all but $2-million,” he said. “They approved, for example $418-million on demand side management, that's a huge thing for us. ”

BCUC also approved $41-million to continue consultation on Site C, a proposed mega-project on the Peace River.

On the rejection of the overall long-term acquisition plan, Mr. Elton said BC Hydro will be back before the utilities commission next year with a revised proposal.

Ms. Winstanley, director of strategic communications and campaigns for COPE, the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, said the ruling has three key aspects: the rejection of the long-term acquisition plan, a refusal to endorse the clean energy call, and a refusal to allow BC Hydro to downgrade the capacity of Burrard thermal.

“Those are the most significant pieces of the decision, but also there were deficiencies in the government's [energy] conservation plan,” she said.

Tom Hakney, vice-president of Policy for the BC Sustainable Energy Association, said his organization “is frankly surprised and somewhat concerned,” by the ruling.

“The commission is telling BC Hydro to go back and rely on Burrard thermal for energy. We're concerned about that. That is antiquated technology,” he said.

“The commission essentially told them to rely more on Burrard thermal, and there would therefore be less need for [new renewable] energy,” said Mr. Hakney. “Our view is there is a real need to develop renewable energy in B.C. to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.”
.................................................. .................................................. ....

After hearings that lasted almost a year, the commission has rejected BC Hydro's long-term acquisition plan as “not in the public interest” and has refused to endorse its push for clean energy.

“We have a very flawed energy plan in this province … the government cannot continue to exaggerate the need for power,” said Lori Winstanley,

Dow Jones Newswires said the commission's decision “could put the development of new renewable-power projects in the province on hold.”

THREE Thumb's Up for the Commission showing the ONLY common sense to be displayed in this issue since Gordo and his Crew of Clowns dreamed it up. KUDOS! And VERY much Appreciated!

But Blair Lekstrom, B.C.'s Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, tried to steady the market by saying the government remains committed to pursuing the development of more clean, renewable energy through IPP's.

“We are focused on developing clean and renewable energy resources. We are going to continue down that path,” said Mr. Lekstrom.

And in typical GovSpeak one of the underlings responds.
Translation: We don't agree with their findings. We know better. They don't know what they're talking about. We WILL find a way to end run these findings. We are Committed and have made a LOT of promises to our rich buddies in this regard, and simply can't afford to P them off. Thus, we will carry on to carry on...

Should be "Committed" alright!
Gonna be interesting to see how The Circus tries to get around this one...

Cheers,
Nog

[sawmill]

Leave my rivers alone,Although the burrard plant is an antiquated piece of crap.I don`t want to see more damns on the rivers.Maybe Alcan can sell it`s Hydro in B.C.

[the rifleman]

Frankly, I am (happily) surprised that the B.C. Utilities Commission, could actually put the brakes on this ridiculous plan of Campbell and his cronies.

Who do they report to that they couldn't be, pursuaded, bribed, threatened, etc.? I figured Campbell had all of them in his pocket, and would do whatever he had to to make sure it was rammed through.

It wouldn't surprise me to see the Liberals enact some legislation, or pass a law, or some such thing, to get around this. He always gets what he wants, one way, or another.

[the rifleman]

Anybody who is unaware of this Run of the Rivers, Campbell's so called green plan should really take the time to go through some of the videos, and articles, that discuss this.

When his plan to allow BC Hydro to fail, and BC loses all control of our power rights and public rivers, happens, don't say you hadn't been warned..

Save Our Rivers Society

[mountainman]

This is good news for everyone in BC and for the salmon also. Glad to hear it is dead for the time being.

[f350ps]

This isn't over yet! You watch how fast Two-Faced Gordo dismantles the BCUC. K

[Rossbay]

Rafe Mair an ex-Social Credit cabinet minister and an avid fisherman has been front and center on this issue for some time.

From: Rafe Mair
To: Hume, Mark
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 9:18 AM
Subject: The next rock


RAFE HERE

Here's my letter to Mark Hume of the Globe and Mail who did a fine article on Private power in today's (August 4). Mark is the only member of the Main Stream media who understands the issues and has the jam to publish them. '

Helluva good article, Mark. Now it's time to look under the next rock which is labeled Cap & Trade. The Liberals tabled such a bill, Bill 18 in 2008.

Here's how this works. Ajax Power, an international giant, gets a Private license to produce electricity in BC. After eliminating all impedimenta such as trees and fish, he gets "green credits". Even though he has eliminated the carbon cover of the trees that got in his way he gets the credits. Now he has a 40 year "take or pay" contract with BC Hydro, where he gets 2-3x the revenue he could get if he sold into the States.

No one's talking about those credits. How much are they worth?

Can't say for sure because they will likely be in a market like the stock market. What we do know is that they will be worth big bucks. So Ajax power has now destroyed a bunch of our rivers (as what happened in Toba Inlet and what will happen at Bute Inlet) Because if was so decent of Ajax to build his plant and destroy the ecology of our rivers, he will be rewarded with Green Credits! Not only has Ajax get a long term license to steal from the taxpayers of BC he is sent home with credit coupons he can sell anywhere he wants.

It's important to know who Ajax's customers will be. They are corporations that pollute by reason of the business in and they are ordered by government to reduce their carbon omissions by however many tonnes. This customer looks for help and there's Ajax with all those green credits looking for a home. The customer buys a bunch of these credits, credits them against his carbon reduction requirement and merrily pollutes his way to the bank.

The tale has a twist. Supposing Ajax (like GE for example), along with his NC power plant, has a large interest in the "West's" biggest polluter, the Tar Sands. It's simple. Ajax takes all those green credits it got for ruining some rivers in a huge monetary assault on BC taxpayers - Green Credits (that not only didn't cost him anything but made him buckets of money) and takes these ill gotten gains to Ajax Tar Sands Ltd so it can keep right on polluting.

When looking under that rock it's important to remember that BC Hydro, with its normal $8 BILLION capital debt, will also owe hundreds of billions to companies like Ajax. Over the years, Hydro has annually paid dividends of hundreds of millions to the BC treasury. That money won't be there anymore and will be pocketed by Ajax's shareholders.

This sort of boondoggle doesn't happen accidentally and with all that money sloshing around ... well, I'd best not finish that question!

Best,

Rafe

PS you're right, of course, about Burrard Thermal. Here's the analogy I use. Our place is powered by electricity and we have failures from time to time often lasting several days. We've bought a small generator for these occasions. That's Burrard Thermal.

[FRODO]

The sooner we move towards Nuclear Energy here in BC the better!!!