Tides and waves could power the province

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      As the climate-change crisis continues to grow, the search for alternative sources of energy is intensifying. If proponents of ocean energy have their way, B.C.’s coastal waters will become a key source of power for the province.

      Energy from the ocean can be harnessed using a variety of technologies, including surface devices that capture wave power, dams built across estuaries or bays to capitalize on the tides, and slow-moving, submerged turbines. With the exception of tidal dams, these technologies are considered to be in the precommercial phase; worldwide, there are only a handful of ocean-power projects in operation today.

      B.C. Hydro first investigated the possibilities of ocean energy in the 1990s. In 2001, the provincial power authority signed agreements with two wave-power companies to build two demonstration sites off Vancouver Island.

      “When Hydro’s mandate was changed to work through IPPs [independent power producers] rather than develop new capacity themselves, that all came to a grinding halt,” Chris Campbell, executive director of the Vancouver-based Ocean Renewable Energy Group, told the Georgia Straight by phone from his office in Nanaimo, referring to a policy change in 2003. “A real sort of baby in the bathwater story, unfortunately.”

      B.C. Hydro operates 30 hydroelectric facilities and three natural-gas power plants. Ninety percent of the electricity generated in the province comes from hydropower, so alternatives haven’t been sought as aggressively in B.C. as they have in other parts of the world.

      “You look at the capital investment that went into those hydroelectric facilities—that’s similar to what’s gone into ocean-energy technologies abroad,” Brad Buckham, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Victoria, told the Straight via cellphone.

      One of the main challenges in developing wave power, according to Buckham, is that it’s a “highly variable resource”. This means that, for instance, a wave-power project could have “significant” energy potential in the winter, when waves are high and long, but its potential could drop substantially in the summer months.

      Environmental concerns related to the development of wave and tidal power include the potential leakage of lubricants, the impact of mooring lines and equipment on birds and sea life, and the effect on ocean currents.

      The only energy project currently in the waters off B.C.’s coast is a demonstration project installed in 2006 at Race Rocks, an ecological reserve and marine protected area located 17 kilometres southwest of Victoria. That’s where Clean Current Power Systems, a Vancouver-based company, tests its deep-water tidal turbines, a proprietary technology it licensed this year to French energy giant Alstom Hydro.

      “There is a very good tidal regime on our coastline, mainly because we’ve got so many islands,” Glen Darou, the president of Clean Current, told the Straight by phone from his downtown Vancouver office. “Whenever the tides squirt between islands they tend to speed up, and the velocity is what gives you the world-class sites.”

      Darou estimates that, in areas with strong tides, his company’s machines can deliver electricity at a cost of less than US$0.20 per kilowatt-hour.

      But moving electricity from marine environments to the grid is expensive. Buckham predicted that, within five years, Canadian-made technology will be employed in small-scale power projects that move electricity generated in the ocean to nearby communities.

      Buckham and his colleagues at UVic’s Institute for Integrated Energy Systems are working on a wave-power project with SyncWave Systems, a Pemberton-based company that develops small floating units that capture the energy in waves. Their $10-million project, to be located off the coast near Tofino, received $2 million in seed money from the B.C. government’s Innovative Clean Energy Fund in April.

      Like many of the players involved in developing ocean technology, SyncWave is a privately held company. The same goes for the Calgary-based New Energy Corporation, which together with the City of Campbell River plans to develop a tidal-power project at Canoe Pass, between Maud and Quadra islands.

      The $6-million Canoe Pass project, which also received $2 million in ICE funding, is “more of a developmental initiative than a full-scale power project.” Campbell said. It’s expected to provide 100 kilowatts of generating capacity by the end of next year, and is being evaluated under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

      In July, the B.C. Utilities Commission rejected B.C. Hydro’s 2008 Long-Term Acquisition Plan, a decision that could have forced the power authority to reconsider its plans to buy electricity from independent power producers. But Lt.-Gov. Steven Point’s throne speech on August 25 indicated the provincial government intends to push forward with private power production, including tidal power.

      According to Campbell, smaller projects such as Race Rocks and Canoe Pass will show that ocean energy is a feasible alternative.

      “It’s all very early days,” Campbell said. “If you don’t have the demonstration of success, generating financing is very difficult.”

      Comments

      8 Comments

      Rachel

      Sep 17, 2009 at 11:57am

      Independent Power Producer (IPP) Run-of-the-River Technology FACTs:

      Independent Power Producers pay 3 times more social benefits to government than BC Hydro does.

      Private power IPPs pay $25 per MWh in taxes, water license rental fees, and community benefits to the government. About half of that is paid to the local government as property tax (while BC Hydro pays no local property taxes for 25 billion dollars of assets that it owns).

      BC Hydro, on the other hand, pays only $8 per MWh as dividend, water license fees, and taxes to the government (2008) while most of that power is produced by dams that have permanently altered the Columbia River and Peace River basins with cumulative environmental impacts. In fiscal 2009, BC Hydro paid no dividends to the government. To meet our current energy shortage, BC Hydro wants to build yet another dam (Site C) at 3 times the cost per MW, compared to low-cost low-impact private run-of-the-river technology.

      A small 10 MW run of river IPP plant pays about $1,400,000 a year to various levels of government, most of it to the local government. On the other hand, BC Hydro pays only $420,000 in water rental and dividends for the same amount of power to the Province, including a negligible ($2,000) “grant-in-lieu” to the local government.

      Private IPPs generate green, renewable and clean power at $50 to $90 a MWh. This compares to $80 a MWh that BC consumers pay. BC Hydro on the other hand is a very high cost producer - $110 a MWh, from its own Aberfeldie run-of-the-river project that it has just completed. The cost of production at the proposed Site C mega-dam on the Peace River will be about $160 a MWh.

      No IPP run-of-the-river project is on a salmon bearing reach of a stream, and the environmental impact is minor and can be compensated. Run-of-the-river technology can co-exist and share the habitat with fish and other wildlife. IPPs do not build dams – but low weirs or taps on generally a steep stream that has little or no resident fish. The impact is far less than dams built by BC Hydro, logging, mining, oil and gas, coal, real estate development, transportation, pulp and paper, pipelines, utility telephone and cable poles, etc. And unlike mining, oil and gas, coal, transportation and real estate – run of river technology is sustainable, renewable, clean and significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

      http://www.greenenergybc.ca/powerploy.html
      http://www.greenenergybc.ca/Assets/PowerPloy_Intro.wmv
      http://www.greenenergybc.ca/Assets/PowerPloy_Chapter_01.wmv

      Bob Smith

      Sep 18, 2009 at 1:43am

      First off I am ALL FOR harnessing tidal power. If it works out, it'll be a terrific way to get untapped power in BC.

      But...I read a couple of decades ago that changing the tidal flow affects the earth's rotation (yep, true...I didn't make this stuff up).

      Anyone come across further studies about this?

      Eric Doherty

      Sep 20, 2009 at 5:36pm

      Strange, but the first comment on this string (by 'Rachel') does not seem to be a comment on the story at all. Instead it seems to be an advertorial for the private power industry referencing an industry 'astroturf' group.

      This article points out an awkward truth for the private power industry and Premier Campbell, BC Hydro was cautiously involved in innovative renewable power development until Campbell decided private corporations should get all the action and profits.

      “When Hydro’s mandate was changed to work through IPPs [independent power producers] rather than develop new capacity themselves, that all came to a grinding halt,” Chris Campbell, executive director of the Vancouver-based Ocean Renewable Energy Group, told the Georgia Straight by phone from his office in Nanaimo, referring to a policy change in 2003. “A real sort of baby in the bathwater story, unfortunately.”

      At that time BC Hydro was about to contract for BC's first wind farm as well. Great to see the real history in print, not so great to see the industry so quick off the mark to counter the truth.

      Tasikat

      Sep 22, 2009 at 9:24pm

      Eric Doherty says: <i>“When Hydro’s mandate was changed to work through IPPs [independent power producers] rather than develop new capacity themselves, that all came to a grinding halt,”</i>

      What nonsense. BC Hydro developed the Aberfeldie run-of-river plant in 2008, at TWICE the cost of IPPs. Face it, due to COPE union control of BC Hydro and HUGE management salaries and other non-market costs, they are a very high cost producer. There is no way that BC Hydro can compete with private industry. Please stop pushing mythologies because the FACTS are in:

      BC Hydro Aberfeldie 25 MW run of river at $110 / MWh.

      Private run of river (Ashlu Creek) at $55 a MWh.

      BC Hydro is unable to develop anything less than 200 MW, and its Site C will cost $160 / MW.

      So Eric Doherty is complety wrong (and uninformed).

      Tasikat

      Sep 22, 2009 at 9:34pm

      And obviously Eric Doherty brushes off the facts presented by Rachel, only to call BCCGE "astroturf" without any evidence. Ad hominem at its worst.

      And then Eric Doherty belongs to Wilderness Committee (I assume) that the First Nations have rightfully called them "fake environmental" organization (i.e. astroturf) - not by the silly and uncredible leftist-marxist rag The Tyee, but by the chiefs of the First Nations.

      Can Mr. Doherty explain why his organization is in favor of BC Hydro destroying the Peace Valley with the Site C dam flooding 10,000 hectares of pristine land? True astroturf, this "wilderness" Committee that brushes facts away and engages in ad hominem and supports Site C.

      Michael Tarbotton

      Sep 25, 2009 at 9:32am

      I think Dawn has the wrong coast with her photo. This really looks like Annapolis Royal Tidal Station in Nova Scotia. Definitely not Seymour Narrows or Canoe Pass!

      Stephen Hui

      Sep 25, 2009 at 10:37am

      Thank you, Michael Tarbotton.

      We have corrected the photo cutline.

      seth

      Sep 25, 2009 at 10:47pm

      Low value time and seasonally variable power at 20 cents a kwh is a killer for tidal. Even our IPP Pirate's are cheaper.

      Speaking of which, I see those wacky astroturfers Rachel and something called a Tasikat from Pirate Power are online telling huge fibs again.

      IPP's “pay 3 times more social benefits to government than BC Hydro”

      TskTsk Your mama is going to have to wash you mouth out with soap on that one. BCHydro is a many times larger corporation than all you Pirates put together. The employment, taxes, and community service it and its employees pay and provide are a hundred times anything Pirate Power does now or will ever provide.

      "Private power IPPs pay $25 per MWh in taxes...while BC Hydro pays no local property taxes"

      Mama get the soap. BC Hydro for example pays $7 million in property tax for Burrard thermal. The other taxes Pirates pay are really just a kickbacks for the insane12 cents a kwh we are paying them.

      " BC Hydro paid no dividends”

      BCHydro has payed billions over the years in dividends to the taxpayer both in extremely low power rates and actual dividends. Because so much of BCHydro revenue has to be paid out as obscene profits for Pirate Power it will likely not be able to pay dividends ever again. In fact it will be lucky to survive

      As for the Columbia, Americans pay BC through BCHydro hundreds of millions in downstream benefits.

      “(Site C) at 3 times the cost per MW, compared to low-cost low-impact private run-of-the-river”

      Plutonic's Bute will cost taxpayers $16 billion generating 3000 gwh's pa of power of unreliable early summer power and ruining up to 45,000 hectares of land. Compared that to Site C's $6.5 billion generating 5000 gwhr's pa of high value baseload power on its 9000 hectares - a much better deal.

      Pirate Power can be very cheap for the Pirates to build. Unfortunately, because of the corruption in the form of cronyism, campaign donations, and lucrative positions for BCLiberal party hacks, Gordo Inc is paying the Pirates 12 cents a kwh for their latest scams buying their low value mostly in the springtime power that has to be sold at 2 cents a kwh on the spot market. Site C will cost half what we pay the pirates per kwh.

      "A small 10 MW run of river IPP plant pays.. "

      Yup all comes out of that 12 cents a kwh BCHydro has to pay for power it sells at 2 cents.

      "Private IPPs generate ... at $50 to $90 a MWh. This compares to $80 a MWh that BC consumers pay. BC Hydro on the other hand is a very high cost producer - $110 a MWh, from its own Aberfeldie ... The cost of production at the proposed Site C mega-dam on the Peace River will be about $160 a MWh."

      Mama git the soap. Rachel and Tasikat (what is that anyway?) are fibbing again. Actually any person with grade 3 arithmetic can show site C at around 6 cents a kwh. using BC's 4% cost of money over a 60 year life. Aberfeldie is an aberration. BC Hydro hires the same contractors as the Pirates and has real engineers on its staff not a bunch of BCLiberal party hacks, attorneys and stockbrokers that run the Pirate operations. If you look on the BC Hydro 2009 annual report, you can see we are paying 10 cents a kwh for the latest Pirate Power contract purchases at ludicrous rates, and are due to pay 12 cents for Lekstroms new sweetheart deals. BC Hydro rates are going to double in the three or four years to pay for these obscene power deals with BCLiberal party hacks. Ask yourself, what business is going to stay in BC and pay double the power rate of Alberta or Washington state.

      Actually the Pirates plan on running upstream lake levels up and down using them as a reservoirs significantly altering historical seasonal level changes. All rubber stamped by Gordo's NOT environmental review process.

      So prove you are not an Astroturf organization? Make your books public? Who is paying for your airfares, hotels and meals as you travel the province? No deal huh. Didn't think so.
      seth