Power play: BC Hydro is facilitating the province’s energy transition

Thanks to an abundance of hydroelectric resources, British Columbians enjoy the third-lowest electricity rates in North America. Per rates approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission, rate increases by BC Hydro, the province’s public power utility, between 2017-18 and 2026-27 will have run a cumulative 12.4 percent below the rate of inflation.

This year BC Hydro added Site C on the Peace River, the first new dam in decades, to its roster of generating stations, increasing the system’s total generation capacity by 8 percent. But Site C alone will not be enough to meet demand into the medium term. With population continuing to increase, transportation increasingly being electrified and incremental demand coming from data centres and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, the Crown utility is seeking new sources of supply for the 2030s and beyond.

In 2024 BC Hydro issued a Call for Power inviting independent power producers as well as First Nations to propose 10 renewable energy projects with a collective capacity of 5,000 gigawatt hours per year of electricity, enough to power half a million new homes. This year the company issued a second request for proposals of the same magnitude.

“To fuel our economic growth and meet the need of growing communities across B.C., it’s essential to expand access to made-in-B.C. renewable power sources both now and in the coming decades,” BC Hydro said in response to an enquiry for Invest in BC. “Our goal is to secure clean supply quickly to support the growing demand while creating thousands of new jobs in addition to the 10 renewable projects announced under our 2024 Call for Power.”

BC Hydro began buying power from independent power producers in the 1980s and today they represent about a quarter of the integrated grid’s supply. By and large the energy comes from smaller wind, solar and hydro projects as well as cogeneration at industrial sites. Diversifying energy sources and locations enhances grid reliability and, by the utility’s own admission, “the private sector brings different skills and expertise that can complement BC Hydro.”

The most recent calls for power include a mandate that at least 25 percent of equity ownership come from First Nations. “First Nations participation in energy projects in a key priority for us as we advance reconciliation and implement UNDRIP principles into our business,” BC Hydro said. (UNDRIP stands for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. B.C. became the first province to adopt it by law as a framework for reconciliation in 2019.)

The 2024 Call for Power is projected to trigger between $5 billion and $6 billion in private investment and create 2,000 jobs during construction. In addition to the new supply, BC Hydro is making investments in energy efficiency that are expected to save 2,000 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, enough to power 200,000 homes. Through the combination of these measures, the utility intends to honour the provincial government’s commitment to keep rate increases below the rate of inflation well into the future.

Hydrogen Highways

The transition to low-carbon energy is going to take more than just electrification, which is why the B.C. government laid out a Hydrogen Strategy in 2021. The strategy aims to stimulate development of both supply and demand for hydrogen as a fuel for commercial transportation and heavy-duty equipment—uses less suited to electrification than home heating or personal automobiles.

One company that has seized this opportunity is Hydrogen Technologies and Energy Corp. (HTEC) of Burnaby. The 21-year-old firm has come out with H2 Gateway, a $900-million plan to build three clean hydrogen production plants in Burnaby, Nanaimo and Prince George, a hydrogen byproduct liquefaction plant in North Vancouver and a network of 20 fuel stations (five already open) along “hydrogen corridors” throughout B.C. and into Alberta. Not content to wait for the market to materialize, HTEC this year launched a subsidiary, Vehicle Leasing Corp., that aims to put 100 hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks on the road and lease them to fleet operators.

Other companies are joining the push to build out hydrogen infrastructure. For example, this year Empire Hydrogen set up mobile fuel stations extending west from the growing hydrogen hub in Prince George to supply customers along the Highway 16 corridor in Smithers, Kitimat and Prince Rupert.

The H2 Gateway program “upgrades the earlier BC Hydrogen Highway plan by creating a complete hydrogen ecosystem for transportation,” says Todd Romaine, executive director of H2BC, the British Columbia chapter of the Canadian Hydrogen Association. Though adoption by the heavy-duty trucking sector is “still in its early stages,” global demand for clean hydrogen is projected to increase tenfold in the next 30 years, he adds. With its hydrogen hub and corridor plan, B.C. aims to lead the transition.