Alterra Power Corporation has agreed to purchase the water rights for four hydroelectric developments near its Toba Montrose operations in the Toba Watershed, approximately 100 kilometres north of the City of Powell River.
The four projects at Chusan, Powell, Eldred North and Eldred South creeks are between 20 to 30 kilometres from Toba Montrose and Jimmie Creek, two run-of-the-river hydroelectric developments Alterra currently owns.
“Acquiring these projects gives us new expansion options in the Toba Valley where we will be operating nearly 300 MW of renewable generation once the Jimmie Creek project begins operating,” Jay Sutton, Alterra vice president of hydro, stated in a press release.
The Jimmie Creek project will add 62 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity and is expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2016, stated Alterra.
The four projects are located along the corporation’s 145-kilometre transmission line, which runs from Toba Montrose to a substation at Saltery Bay.
The Vancouver-based company is buying the water rights from Sigma Engineering, a subsidiary of Synex International, though the financial terms of the agreement were not released. Alterra said it expects the transaction to be complete by the end of 2015.
Each of the four projects will generate between 10–15 MW of electricity and could be eligible for power-purchase agreements under BC Hydro’s Standing Offer Program, according to Alterra.
The company already has a 35-year agreement with the public utility to buy 100 per cent of power generated from the East Toba River and Montrose Creek project, BC’s largest private run-of-the-river development.
The Toba Montrose facility was first planned and developed by Plutonic Power Corporation with an estimated 120-megawatt plant on East Toba River and a 50-megawatt plant on Montrose Creek.
In 2011, Plutonic merged with Magma Energy Corporation to become Alterra.
Alterra currently operates five power plants totalling 553 MW of generation capacity.
