Two Written Submissions and a Technical Presentation to the British Columbia Utilities Commission Regarding the Site C Inquiry

BC Hydro received approval from the provincial government to begin construction on Site C, an $8.8 billion project to construct a third dam and generating station on the Peace River in northeast BC, in December 2014. Site C is an exempt project under the Clean Energy Act, which means that the BCUC has no jurisdiction over the project. However, under section 5 of the Utilities Commission Act, the Lieutenant Governor in Council can set terms of reference and direct the BCUC to inquire into any matter.

In response to a growing public concern regarding the construction of Site C, the BCUC was directed to examine the financial impact on BC Hydro ratepayers associated with continuing, suspending or terminating the Site C project.

As previously mentioned in our BC policy updates, CanGEA made a submission to the preliminary report on August 30, 2017. Since then, the CanGEA Policy Team, led by Nathan Coles, have made two other submissions. Additionally, on October 14, Alison Thompson, Chair of CanGEA, presented at the Technical Input Session in Vancouver in front of the BCUC.

The first submission of October 10 was a Response to the British Columbia Utilities Commission Site C Inquiry Preliminary Report. The submission was focused on addressing a range of questions posed by the BCUC as well as addressing comments made by BC Hydro that geothermal energy was not a viable source of energy for British Columbia.

The second submission of October 18 was Comments on the Alternative Portfolios. The second submission was focused on addressing the absence of geothermal energy from the alternative portfolio of renewable sources prepared by the Panel.

The report argued that information used to dismiss geothermal energy as a viable source was flawed, then explained why geothermal should be a part of the alternative portfolio and considered for future energy source options.

Both reports are available via their title link in this update as well as the Technical Input Session presentation.

​October 10, 14 and 18