Business plugging into B.C. energy opportunities
Wind and other renewable power producers make major push into the province’s clean energy sector
Business in Vancouver February 26-March 3, 2008
Krisendra Bisetty
Buoyed by the BC Liberals’ carbon tax budget and opportunities to cash in on green credits, renewable energy developers are rolling out a slew of major projects as B.C.’s environmental agenda gains momentum.
“In our view, British Columbia is emerging as one of the most favourable jurisdictions in North America for renewable development and wind power in particular,” Robert Toole, CEO of EarthFirst Canada Inc. told investors at a clean energy conference hosted last week by CIBC World Markets in Vancouver.
But with BC Hydro having set “very aggressive” targets for procuring renewable energy, Toole said the province has to ensure that developers have the opportunity to own and sell the credits if B.C. wants to attract private capital to develop new assets.
Green credits represent the environmental benefits of clean, renewable energy: power that’s not created by “dirty” sources, such as coal, nuclear or natural gas.
“It’s very difficult right now to get anybody to agree to what 20 years’ worth of green credits are worth,” said Toole, who is also the founder and managing director of Creststreet Capital Corp., an investment management firm that has raised almost $1 billion for investment in resource and renewable energy companies since 2001. “So it’s a better thing for everybody to leave those credits in the hands of developers.”
EarthFirst, which has corporate offices in Victoria, Calgary and Toronto, expects to break ground this spring on its 144-megawatt Dokie Ridge project in northeastern B.C.
Dokie would likely be the province’s first wind farm when it begins production in 2009. EarthFirst expects to install the first eight wind turbines this year. The project, which is being financed in part from a $212 million senior secured credit facility from WestLB AG announced on Thursday, has full environmental certification and a 20-year power purchase agreement with Hydro.
Toole said two additional wind projects, including one that would double Dokie’s capacity, are the closest of any of the company’s competitors to being entered into a new Hydro clean power call expected this spring. The two projects, which have environmental certification, are also in the Peace River region. They represent an aggregate of 226.5 megawatts in potential capacity.
Toole said the company is targeting a rapid build up of installed capacity and aims to have 600 megawatts of in-production wind-generating capacity by the end of 2012.
One of Canada’s largest integrated energy infrastructure organizations, Calgary-based AltaGas Income Trust, is also aiming to spin B.C.’s first commercial wind turbines with its $200 million, 120-megawatt Bear Mountain wind project near Dawson Creek.
Epcor Utilities Inc., an offshoot of the City of Edmonton’s power and water department, is also making huge inroads into B.C.
Through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Epcor Power Development (British Columbia) Limited Partnership, it has initiated an environmental assessment process for a proposed wind project of between 100 and 200 megawatts near Tumbler Ridge. At maximum capacity, the project could cost upwards of $500 million to have up to 120 wind turbines standing about 100 metres tall, Epcor vice-president for B.C., Fred Shafai, said in a separate interview
Shafai, based in Epcor’s Richmond regional office, said wind power had become cost-competitive in recent years with many other forms of generation, making it a viable business.
Epcor, which operates $6.5 billion in assets representing 3,400 megawatts of power at facilities throughout North America, entered B.C. about a decade ago.
In 2005, following a $529 million investment that created Canada’s largest power partnership, it added three other B.C. properties to its portfolio: two small hydro plants and a biomass facility in Williams Lake, which it says is North America’s largest.
In light of Hydro’s recent biomass power call, Shafai said expansion plans for the company, which has 80 employees in the province, are being considered “in and around” the 66-megawatt plant, which annually turns 600,000 tonnes of wood waste from local sawmills into electricity.
“We’re quite bullish about the opportunities in B.C.” •
kbisetty@telus.net
