Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon
Again, we don't need to pump power back up into the dam, we can just cut the flow to the generators when were not using it. Most of our power infrastructure has minimum required allowed flow rates for environmental reasons. Besides that you can't just pump river back into a dam, you'd need a downstream lake. As far as I know most dams in BC don't have this.
A good chunk of our power would go direct to California regardless of the source. Since we can turn our generators on or off whenever we feel like it, we can sell the states expensive power, and buy back more off peak power while still making money off the transaction. That's how BC hydro makes money and main reason why hydroelectric dams are so economical. The addition of Site C would let us actually produce as much power as were using. We currently use more power than we produce, hence why BC is a net importer of power right now.
You didn't mention wind farms. You mentioned using wind as an add on to other infrastructure and buildings. The economics with wind power is all related to scale. With wind, big is cost efficient. 3MW was huge a few years ago, now 10MW generators are coming online. These things are 500' tall and require tonnes of room.
Without economics factored in, we could power 20% (ish) of the grid (at peak wind power production) with wind and not loose grid stability. With the wind production factor taken into account this would only produce about 4-6% of our total power production.
Cheap power is also a huge competitive advantage that we shouldn't be trying to take away from BC industry. A lot of industry we have is sensitive to cheap power. Because BC is not an otherwise cheap place to operate in, taking away this advantage might just drive a lot of employment away. I know some mining operations that are very sensitive to power pricing, and specifically negotiate with hydro because of this. When you're drawing more than 10MW with some industrial machines the costs add up really quickly.
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I pointed to other alternatives that had been proposed on this very same board by others, you amongst them brought up windfarms. So, yes, I did.
I have read you all loud and clear on the economics. I just don't agree that our power sales to the US market are worth the damage that Site C will do.
That valley is worth more to me than 8c/KWh. It's that simple.
By the way, as far as companies being sensitive to power pricing. Is this what you meant?
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/f...er+rates+says+utility/2443159/story.html
You can bag on the environmentalists all you want, but this just makes me mad.
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