Good news for a wind farm project planned for the Nulki Hills south of Vanderhoof.
The BC Clean Energy Association has signed an agreement with the Province and BC Hydro aiming to help get clean independent energy projects like Nulki Hills off the ground.
Paul Kariya, President of BC Clean Energy Association says the memorandum of understanding is like “renewing wedding vows”
“You need three of us involved; government to set the policy, BC Hydro to buy the power and our association who represents the people who sell the power.”
Right now Kariya says the biggest hurdle facing independent clean energy projects is a lack of demand from the grid.
When My PG Now last spoke with Innergex, the company behind the Nulki Hills wind farm, they said they were actively looking for a power purchaser while they were waiting for clean power RFP’s from BC Hyrdo. Innergex is also a member of the BC Clean Energy Association.
“But it doesn’t matter how you look at it… all our power sources for homes, our cars and how we live are going to have to get less carbon intensive.” Kariya said “That probably means more clean electricity.”
While BC Hyrdo pursues their own large projects such as the Site C Dam, 25% of the province is powered by independent producers. While Kariya says there is no “call for power” from BC Hyrdo right now, this agreement is about looking forward.
“These projects take some time to plan for. You have to get through environmental assessments, public process and consultations with first nations. So the idea of planning out 3-5 years, it’s not a long time.”
Under the MOU, quarterly meetings between the three parties will now take place until at least December 31 2017.
Environmental assessment certificate work is ongoing at the Nulki Hills project 30km south of Vanderhoof. The wind farm is a 50-50 partnership with the Saik’uz First Nation.
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