Post by
BayWall on Mar 06, 2022 10:14am
Planning for future
BC Hydro has to be involved bigtime. Any wind projects will have to use their transmission lines.
Oceanic (old Naikun) back in 2003 said there was enough transmission line capacity to support the windfarm. "Studies were done to determine the best specific technologies and operating practices for interconnection and the cost of spinning reserve".
Only minor adjustments to the BC Hydro grid infrastructure were required. Back then 2003, a 700MW project was envisioned. been scaled down since to 400-600MW for Phase One.
In 2009, the project was deemed to have access to almost 800MW of BC Hydro grid capacity.
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In their MD&A's, Oceanic states, projects as LNG Canada (Phase 1 and 2) Kitimat LNG and Cedar LNG would require 1000MW of additional electricity. Local renewable energy projects could can meet that demand.
Also likelihood that there will not be a new hydro dam nor large gas generation facility built in the province. If Site C is the last mega dam and even with that, by 2030 electrical demand will exceed supply, then where will the additional electricity come from? Import?
Have to plan now, a decade in advance. In addition, how to accomodate electricity from intermediate sources. Transmission management strategies, demand response, baseload renewables, balance supply/demand, etc.
Intermittent sources (even with energy storage) alone cannot cost-effectively generate electricity for a balanced grid.
A lot of work with Northland and BC Hydro ahead. This is not simply a matter of placing wind turbines in the water. Can hydrogen back-up or a hydrogen (green or blue) micro grid play a role?