BC’s Latest Clean Power Project Call Wins Support

First Nations leaders and environmental groups welcomed this week’s announcement that British Columbia will seek more clean energy projects.

But some are concerned the power will be used to expand fossil fuel production.

Premier David Eby said Monday the expansion will allow B.C. to grow the economy while protecting the environment.

“We’re launching an ambitious new strategy to harvest our clean energy advantage,” Eby said. The strategy “will support industry across the province with cheaper energy so that they can not only reduce pollution, but increase the prosperity of everyone in the province.”

Eby introduced the province’s new clean power action plan at a news conference at Clover Point in Victoria with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Mountains in the background.

It includes plans for BC Hydro to buy up to 5,000 gigawatt hours per year of energy “from large, clean and renewable projects in partnership with First Nations and independent power producers.”

That’s similar to the power production from the new Site C dam on the Peace River. It matches the amount that will be produced from 10 renewable energy projects BC Hydro committed to following another call for power last year, which will increase B.C.’s energy supply by eight per cent.

This year’s call for power removes last year’s 200-megawatt size limit for individual projects, but it maintains the requirement that projects include at least 25 per cent First Nations ownership.

The plan also includes new calls for expressions of interest for projects that will store power on the grid, and proposes funding for technologies to help conserve energy.

Kwatuuma Cole Sayers, executive director of industry association Clean Energy BC, participated in the announcement. He told The Tyee he supports the province’s plan. “There are some really innovative projects that I’m excited to see come out of this.”

The plan is a step towards B.C.’s efforts to align its electricity and climate goals, Sayers added. “It’s important to have that context,” he said. “This is a key climate action.”

Robert Phillips, who is on the First Nations Summit political executive and is a member of the First Nations Leadership Council, spoke at the announcement.

He said the commitment to work with First Nations might help reduce concerns about the government’s recent commitments to fast-track projects.

Last week, B.C. introduced laws to fast-track development in renewable energy and infrastructure projects.

“First Nations do have a big hesitation when we hear ‘fast-tracked’... because of course the work that we need to do to ensure the protection of our lands, resources and our water,” he said.

The commitment to co-develop projects and include First Nations in ownership helps to reduce doubts and build support, said Phillips.

“This is a good step in the right direction,” he said. “When we see projects that go into isolated, rural, coastal, northern areas of British Columbia where First Nations are located it’s a good thing, because if there’s prosperity for First Nations, there’s prosperity for all British Columbians and Canadians.”

The province is also seeking expressions of interest by September for new sources of energy storage and “firm” power, which can be used any time, unlike intermittent sources like solar and wind. If they are acquired, the province plans to use those projects to handle peaks in power demand and periods when intermittent power is in short supply.

Examples of firm power sources may include geothermal, hydro and battery projects, said Energy and Climate Solutions Minister Adrian Dix.

The province has not ruled out fossil fuel projects like gas-powered plants, but the Clean Energy Act prohibits nuclear power projects.

“We don’t need nuclear power,” Dix said in an interview. “It’s, in any event, way more expensive than other forms of power... and obviously we’re on a fault line as well, so while other people may be looking at that, it’s not what we’re looking at and we’re not supporting that.”

Sayers said the call-out for capacity projects is exciting and that some First Nations want to pursue projects like geothermal or battery storage. “It’s going to make our grid that much more resilient and prepared for greater energy demand during peak times.”

Conservative Party of BC Leader John Rustad said more power is needed, but he disagrees with the focus on fluctuating renewable resources. “We need a tremendous amount more power, and we need that to come from firm power, not from intermittent power,” he said.

“There needs to be a broad plan in British Columbia about our power generation, what our needs are, where it is going to come from,” he said, adding that close attention should be paid to the impact on the rates BC Hydro customers pay.

Nuclear power and natural gas should also be part of the discussion, Rustad said. “All of these are options that should be on the table and talked about, and all we’re seeing from this government, quite frankly, is hand-picked cash-for-access projects.”

Sunil Singal, climate campaigner at Stand.earth, said the announcement was good news, but the key question is what the province will use the energy for.

He said he hopes the new electricity will be used to reduce B.C.’s emissions, for example by electrifying existing buildings, instead of powering new LNG projects.

But Dix said the province doesn’t intend to discriminate and the energy system will need to contend with various demands.

“We need to do it all,” he said. “Our energy position allows us to drive the economy.”

Along with meeting demand from population growth, B.C. could use added electricity to power mines, ports, data centres, natural gas extraction or LNG projects, he said.

“If you’re going to do things like critical minerals and other developments around the province, you’ve got to get electricity to those projects.”

Dix said the province is anticipating not-yet-confirmed projects in its electricity planning.

“We don’t just have to see the projects there to start building,” he said, adding that the province is building its North Coast Transmission Line “in advance of final investment decisions on some of the projects we’re clearly going to be electrifying.”

“We have to do this or you get delayed for a long time in the development of a project.”

B.C.’s rules around electrifying industry remain hazy. A document released in March scrapped a rule requiring new LNG plants to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Instead they will be required to be “net-zero ready,” including using offsets. Other industrial facilities will have until 2050.

Dix noted “there’s a debate between economic growth and climate change.”

“Well, there’s no debate here. This is fuelling economic growth and addressing climate change.”

Evan Pivnick, program manager at Clean Energy Canada, said the plan is “the clearest signal we've had” that clean electricity will be “front and centre” in B.C.’s economic opportunities ahead.

But Pivnick still wants to see the province commit fully to non-emitting power.

He also wants the province to provide a clearer window into its energy future, including how it plans to decarbonize, which energy sources it will use and how it plans to use its grid more efficiently.

B.C. had promised such a vision by way of its climate-aligned energy framework, originally due last year, which was absent in Dix’s mandate letter released in January.

That kind of planning, said Pivnick, is critical for the kinds of system-wide changes needed to grapple with the momentous energy transition ahead.

Big energy and capacity investments like the one announced are needed, he said, but so are small, localized approaches, sometimes called distributed energy resources, that make the grid more responsive. That could include things like charging electric vehicles or hot water tanks at non-peak hours, effectively turning them into household battery systems that save energy for later, or wide-scale heat pump adoption to reduce energy demand. “That's a change in how the whole grid thinks about itself,” said Pivnick.

“I’d like to see more clarity of direction on some of those things — how we’re going to modernize, how we plan,” he said. “Not just jumping on the big projects.”

“I think there's a really important opportunity to chart a path for B.C. in this turbulent moment,” Pivnick said. “There's no point at which we can rest on our laurels here.”