VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A proposal to flood parts of Canada's Peace River valley is one idea to consider in a bid to meet growing electricity demand in British Columbia, BC Hydro said in a report on Wednesday.
But the provincially owned utility will remain neutral as the government debates the controversial Site C dam project in northeastern British Columbia, and it stressed that more financial analysis was needed.
"One of the questions the government will address is what do they think of Site C. But it isn't Site C by itself. It's Site C compared with alternatives," chief executive Bob Elton told reporters.
"There are always alternatives," he said.
BC Hydro, which now serves about 1.7 million residential and commercial customers in Canada's westernmost province, warned in a report on future energy demand that British Columbia has been a net importer for the past five years, even with its large hydro-electric system.
The gap between demand for electricity and BC Hydro's ability to generate power using its existing facilities and purchase contracts will grow by between 25 percent and 45 percent over the next 20 years, the utility said.
The utility said it was looking at increased conservation efforts, adding capacity at its existing hydro-electric facilities, and purchases from independent power producers -- including new facilities.
A plan to add two generators to its existing Revelstoke plant on the Columbia River will add 500 megawatts of capacity, it said.
The utility now has a generating capacity of over 11,000 megawatts, which is about 85 percent of the total electricity produced in the province, it said in the report.
The report to regulators on long-term energy demand had been scheduled for release in December, but it was delayed at the last minute, reportedly over government concerns that the analysis of Site C was inadequate.
The 900-megawatt facility was first proposed in the 1970s, but is strongly opposed by environmentalists and aboriginal groups in the area who say it would flood hunting and fishing territories.
BC Hydro said its initial analysis put the capital cost at between C$2.3 billion ($2 billion) and C$3.2 billion, but it cautioned the cost in "as-spent dollars would be significantly higher."
"Based on a range of initial estimates of the capital costs of the Site C project, the analysis suggest that Site C is within the range of costs of other resource options," it said in the report.
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