The province has put out a second call for energy sources, with an aim to power 500,000 new homes.
Premier David Eby, Energy Minister Adrian Dix and BC Hydro CEO Chris O'Riley were among the speakers in Victoria Monday (May 5) for the announcement. It followed B.C.'s first call out for new energy sources in April 2024 香蕉视频直播� the first call for power in 15 years 香蕉视频直播� that resulted in 10 new renewable-energy projects.
Dix said Monday's announcement had five key elements, firstly launching the second call for power for a target of up to 5,000 gigawatt-hours per year of energy from large, clean and renewable projects. As well, $12 million from the B.C. Innovative Clean Energy fund for a three-year call for new, made-in-B.C. clean-energy technologies that will combat climate change and create sustainable jobs.
It also included exploring B.C.'s "power potential" through a request for expressions of interest for projects to deliver for peak demand periods and to provide back-up intermittent energy resources and partnering with innovators to deliver market-ready demand-side management technologies that help people and businesses save energy and money.
"We're expecting this call to be equivalent to the first call of power in terms of gigawatt hours, a call for power that will be slightly different than the previous one, in that there will be no limits on individual projects," Dix said.
Finally, the announcement also included "streamlining connections to B.C.'s grid to enable new homes and businesses to access clean electricity faster and less expensively."
BC Hydro CEO Chris O'Riley said the Crown corporation remains focused on expanding B.C.'s electricity system to meet demand while also "ensuring security, sustainability and affordability."
The 2024 call for power is expected to power 500,000 homes and increase electricity supply by eight per cent, with the projects representing up to $6 billion in private capital spending throughout B.C., the Energy Ministry said in the news release.
Nearly all of the 2024 projects have First Nations majority ownership.
Kwatuuma Cole Sayers, the executive director of Clean Energy Association of B.C., said it's not just B.C. but all over Canada that First Nations are leading the clean-energy transition.
"I grew up in this industry, clean energy. My mother, Judith Sayers, she built one of the first clean energy projects that were led by First Nations at a time when there was not very many."
Sayers added now, after the first call for power in 2024, First Nations are the proponents of these utility-scale projects.
