I attended the Tuesday night forum on Rivers At Risk and was alarmed at some of the figures presented there.
Over 500 creeks and rivers are under present application for `run-of-river’ diversion to facilitate electrical generation.
Proponents are touting this as green power but their evaluations contain none of the long-term costs. Loss of wildlife habitat, damage to water cleaning riparian habitat, carbon imprint created by the construction of these plants and their subsequent power lines.
I question the feasibility of run-of-river plants as their peak generation period coincides with BC Hydro’s full reservoirs necessitating BC Hydro’s spilling water. For the proponents it is a good deal as they are being guaranteed a rate of return close to 20% greater than BC Hydro presently charges with an escalator clause that guarantees that differential. The ratepayers and taxpayers will have to pick up the difference.
It is estimated that we will see a doubling of our rates in the next decade to finance these private ventures.
A local example that has been around for 60 years is the Spillimacheen `run- of-river’ power plant built by East Kootenay Power and later taken over by BC Hydro.
This plant was built as the answer to the power supply to the valley.
At that time the communities of the Columbia Valley were supplied by diesel power plants. The year that Spilli’ was commissioned and they had started the decommissioning of the diesel plants, cold weather hit in the fall and the four megawatt plant at Spilli suddenly became an 1.5 megawatt plant and there was a scramble to try to re-commission the diesel plants.
They then built a power line from Cranbrook to supply local needs as they could see Spilli’ was not going to be the answer.
Spilli’ still puts power into the grid and at today’s prices is making money but for only a few months of the year. Why would any of these 500 proposed plants be any different?
In the short term, conservation is the only true answer and we have the means and it is called `demand metering’; meaning power consumed at peak periods above a certain level will pay a penalty. It works beautifully in industrial and commercial applications and modern day metering has made it an easy fix.
In the longer term, alternate forms of power (tidal, solar, wind, fusion, hydrogen) as they become viable will supply our growing needs.
Mick Eldstrom,
Windermere