Plutonic Power Corp. signed an agreement last month with GE Energy Financial Services to develop 1,000 megawatts of run-of-river hydro generation in the Toba and Bute inlets on the southeast coast of the province.
The largest single private-sector investment in hydroelectric generation in Canada is starting to take shape in B.C.
Plutonic Power Corp. signed an agreement last month with GE Energy Financial Services to develop 1,000 megawatts of run-of-river hydro generation in the Toba and Bute inlets on the southeast coast of the province.
Capital costs are expected to reach about $4 billion.
The Upper Toba Valley Project is a series of three sites with a capacity of about 120 MW and the Bute Inlet Project has 18 sites with a capacity of about 900 MW.
Both are in the permit and review stages of the Environmental Assessment Process.
“We are submitting the project as part of the power call or procurement competition and expect an answer by summer 2009,” said Marc Stachiw, Director of Corporate Development with Plutonic Power.
B.C. Hydro, the province’s Crown-owned power utility made a call for clean energy projects last June.
“These projects have the potential to generate enough clean energy to meet the needs of over 300,000 homes,” said Plutonic vice-chairman and CEO, Donald McInnes.
The clean energy is expected to offset more than 2.2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Stachiw said Plutonic will start construction on the Upper Toba Valley once a power purchase agreement is put in place in the summer of 2009.
Construction on the Bute Inlet project is planned to begin in 2010.
“Kiewit is interested in working on the projects and it looks like that will happen,” said Stachiw.
“We are working with Kiewit to do a costing exercise on both projects, they are the front runner.”
Kiewit is the main contractor on the East Toba River/Montrose Creek run-of-river power project, which is Plutonic’s first hydroelectric project.
Plutonic and GE Energy Financial Services are already partnering on the $660 million, 196 MW power project.
It has been under construction since July 2007.
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