Run of river projects set to augment B.C.'s power grid

About seventy nine run of river (ROR) power projects are either planned, under construction or built in British Columbia.

The province has extensive hydro infrastructure, but has been a net importer of power for nine of the last 11 years, said Paul Kariya, executive director of Clean Energy BC, which represents independent power producers (IPPs) in the province,.

He added that demand for power will continue to increase, but there have been no major additions to the B.C. power grid since the 1980s.

To add capacity, the utility has been buying power from IPPs.

The latter have about 70 operating electricity purchase agreements (EPAs) with BC Hydro with 42 of those being run of river.

ROR uses water flow, without the dams and reservoirs of conventional hydro power, to generate electricity.

In addition to operating projects, IPPs have 48 EPAs with BC Hydro for projects in development, 35 of which are ROR as of October 2011.

An example of a run of river project in development is Veresen Inc.’s Dasque Cluster, a 20 megawatt (MW) project about 20 km west of Terrace.

It consists of two projects, the 12 MW Dasque Creek and the 8 MW Middle Creek East.

Dasque Cluster will be connected by a 21-km transmission line to the BC Hydro Skeena substation in Terrace, at the start of the new Northwest transmission line

Neil Zawadzki, Veresen’s VP of hydro power development, said construction, which will cost $75 million, began in fall 2011 and will be completed by the middle of 2013.

The general contractor is Dowland Industrial Works of Kamloops.

To date, access roads have been built, trees have been cleared, a bridge at the water intake has been completed and excavation for the power house has started.

Because of the local climate, construction is restricted to the end of March until December.

“And this year the roads were washed out,” Zawadzki said.

Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. has two ROR projects under construction in B.C.

One is the 49.9 MW Kwoiek Creek project, on a tributary of the Fraser River, about 14 km south of Lytton.

The second is a 17.5 MW Northwest Stave River project, about 35 km north of Mission.

Construction at Kwoiek began in August and is expected to be completed by October 2013.

Construction will cost about $130 million.

The prime contractor is CRT Construction Inc. of Quebec City.

Richard Blanchet, senior vice president – western region, said construction completed to date includes site clearing and access, bridges, excavation for the powerhouse and a tram across the Fraser River for transporting materials.

A 70-km 138KV transmission line to the Highland Valley substation has also been started.

Excavation for the powerhouse needs to be completed, the transmission line has to be strung, the water intake built and the 600 pieces of the penstock need to be brought onsite by the tram and welded together.

“Kwoiek is a challenging project in a difficult location,” said Blanchet.

“The terrain is steep and there is danger of falling rock. And, because the project is on the other side of the Fraser from the highway, there are logistical problems.”

Construction of Northwest Stave River began in September, with completion slated for December 2013.

Construction will cost about $65 million.

CRT Construction is also the prime contractor on this project.

The site has been cleared, road access built and the construction camp completed.

“We’re starting now on excavating for the powerhouse,” Blanchet said.

Like Kwoiek, construction at Northwest Stave River is challenging.

All the equipment has to be barged in, and, because the construction site is at a high altitude, there is a lot of snow in winter.

“This season’s construction is just starting now,” Blanchet said.

AltaGas Ltd.’s Forrest Kerr ROR project, about 1,000 km northwest of Vancouver, will have a capacity of 195 MW.

The $725 million project will redirect a portion of the Iskut River through a 3 km tunnel to an underground powerhouse.

It will deliver power to the BC Hydro grid at the Bob Quinn Lake substation on the Northwest Transmission Line.

Construction began in the summer of 2010 and is expected to be completed in mid-2014. AltaGas is acting as its own prime contractor.

David Harris, president – power of AltaGas said it has completed “quite a lot” of the construction.

It has completed a 400-person construction camp, the construction access tunnel to the powerhouse, the main access tunnel, 60 per cent of excavation for the powerhouse and 75 per cent of the excavation of the water intake.

Looking ahead, the weir still needs to be built and the headwork, intake and power tunnel need to be completed.

Construction of the powerhouse begins in the summer and is expected to be finished by fall 2013.

The 37 km transmission line to the Bob Quinn Lake substation is slated for completion by October 2013.

“In addition to the logistics of undertaking a construction project 1,000 km north of Vancouver, the main challenge was the design of the intake to take into account the high silt concentrations on the Iskut River,” Harris said.