Project Outlook & Opportunity

Renewable energy is essential to meet BC’s climate policies and BC has an aggressive “Climate” implementation plan to meet the CleanBC Targets.

British Columbia Electricity Supply Deficit is growing rapidly. GWs of clean renewable energy is needed and the Province and BC Hydro have initiated the first of many power calls to meet this need.

British Columbia must transition from a dependency on Hydrocarbons for most of its energy to an Electricity based system. Currently BC Hydro provides less than 20% of BC’s energy and hydrocarbons provide close to 70%. Those numbers need to reverse for BC to meet the CleanBC targets, and BC Hydro is currently importing the equivalent of 2 Site C dams (20%) from the USA at a time when we should be more self sufficient.

Electricity demand in B.C. is expected to increase by 15% between now and 2030 due to population growth, housing construction, increased industrial development, and people and businesses switching from fossil fuels to clean electricity, among other factors. This equates to 3.6 GW at 50% CF

A major part of the solution must be electrifying industry and transportation through the development of the renewable energy potential in the province and replacing hydrocarbons with electric power.

The Hecate Strait offshore wind resource is world-class with the potential to provide some of the much-needed electricity to meet BC’s Climate Change objectives.

The following report explains the necessary paradigm shift required to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and renewable energy and in particular, how the Hecate Strait Wind Resource could help meet BC’s electricity demand and CleanBC objectives.

world energy consumption

Hydrocarbons provide over 80% of the energy in the world and approximately 70% in BC. From the graph of world energy consumption (above) it is clear there must be a paradigm shift to renewable energy.

In British Columbia, over 70% of energy used is a hydrocarbon. Electricity can replace a sizable portion of this hydrocarbon usage if action is taken now to start the necessary transition. Both the Federal and Provincial governments have incentivized industry to use renewable energy.

“We need more clean energy to power our homes and businesses and to attract investment in industries – from critical minerals to green hydrogen – that we need to reduce pollution and protect our communities from climate change,” Minister Osborne said

Looking at the required energy transition to meet the climate objectives, BC Hydro must double its electricity output.

In spring 2024, BC Hydro launched its first competitive call for power… The call for power is expected to be the first in a series of calls as BC Hydro continues to provide the power to electrify B.C.’s growing economy and meet the Province’s climate goals.

The Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions announced
“The Province is updating B.C.’s energy objectives in the Clean Energy Act … The Province has issued a regulation to update the objectives under the Act…”

  • Adding a new objective to ensure that BC Hydro is ready to acquire enough electricity to meet B.C.’s long-term climate targets under the Climate Change Accountability Act. (comment: this equates to 1000s MWs)
  • Amending the existing objective that 93% of the electricity generated in B.C. needs to come from clean or renewable electricity generation (which the province has surpassed) to a target of 100% by 2030 for the integrated grid…

The changes are based on the work and recommendations of the BC Hydro task force, and support the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation’s mandate commitment to better align the framework governing the B.C. Utilities Commission with the Province’s climate and affordability goals.

A Quote from SFU Professor, Taco Niet, from the School of Sustainable Energy:

“We also need to expand the electricity system significantly to meet the extra demands of electrification. This will be needed to power electric cars, industrial loads, etc. Depending on the efficiency of the switch and how much of the current non-electric energy load we electrify this could require the equivalent of 1.5 to three extra electricity systems, all of which need to be low-carbon.”

A Quote from the Pembina Report on Finding the Way Forward:

“Analysis indicates that a range of 10.9 to 19.1 terra-watt hours (TWh) (3000 MW – 4000 MW assuming 50% Capacity Factor) of new electricity will be required by 2030.”

Historical emissions data from UNFCCC National Inventory Historical emissions data from UNFCCC National Inventory for 2021, Graph by VisualCarbon.Org May 2021

“…Electrification is seen as a core strategy for GHG mitigation in BC. However, electricity supply is insufficient to meet the growth in demand inherent in the electrification-centered strategy. Even with Site C …about 1666 GWh of additional supply will be needed to meet the 2030 target… As a result, …the CleanBC framework will not reach the 2030 target…the additional supply of renewable energy will be immense.”

An excerpt from the Executive Summary of a 2022 UBC Clean Energy Research Center report

Major Companies Continuing to Expand Purchases of Renewable Energy
  • Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Intel, and Walmart have acquired over 25,000 GWh (source USEPA) of renewable energy to reduce their respective carbon footprints and GHG emissions
  • Pension funds are being pressured to reduce their investments in “Carbon” industries and Oil and Gas companies are looking for green energy projects to fulfill long-term transition objectives
  • The political and media pressure to substantially reduce our Carbon Footprint (UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow COP26) will increase
  • The increasing demand for renewable energy projects by companies wishing to make them less reliant on oil and gas.