BC’s provincial government has approved a five-year investigation into a potential hydroelectric project for Goat Island in the middle of Powell Lake.
Powell River Regional District announced the approval at its planning committee meeting on Tuesday, December 13.
Electoral Area A director Patrick Brabazon said at the meeting that the proliferation of hydroelectric projects has become an issue of principle for him, with BC Hydro paying a premium for the power.
“I wonder if we are learning our lesson on applications for investigative purpose for water power,” said Brabazon. “I think I have. The next one that hits the table will not be favourably received.”
He added high-voltage transmission lines interfere with other industrial and recreational uses of the land.
The regional board supported the provincial government’s referral last December for the 2,000-megawatt pumped-storage hydroelectric project, stating the project did not contravene any bylaws regulating activity in the area, but City of Powell River ‘s council opposed the development as its lines would run through the Haslam Lake watershed, the source of the city’s drinking water, and Powell River Community Forest.
Pumped-storage hydroelectric systems, common in Asia and Europe, generate electricity by pumping water between reservoirs at different elevations. The systems can generate significantly more power than run-of-the-river projects.
Electoral Area C director Colin Palmer pointed out that the original motion that made up the referral to the provincial government included a number of ecological, geotechnical and social-impact studies and asked that the regional district be able to comment further once these studies were sent to them.
Despite that, Palmer said he thought the project was “one of the daftest ones” the planning committee had seen so far.
According to a referrals application update report from regional district planner Julia Dykstra, the regional district received notification from BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations on November 21 that it had granted the five-year licence to Vancouver-based hydro-power engineering consultants BBA, formerly known as Kawa Engineering.
The licence, which covers 1,174 hectares, includes Clover and Frogpond lakes. Kawa Engineering was involved in designing the Toba Montrose and Jimmie Creek run-of-the-river projects northwest of Powell River.
Dykstra pointed out in her report that when the province asked for consideration of the application it was for 4,654 hectares, the footprint of the power plant and transmission lines, and the province approved the investigation of only the power plant area.
Local conservation advocate Janet Southcott told the committee during question period that the potential location for the facility on Goat Island is also the nesting site of red-listed species Northern Goshawk, only one of three sites in the regional district. She told the committee she would be contacting the engineering firm about the nest.
