Six bids submitted for Island power plants
John Kimantas
The Nanaimo News Bulletin
24 August 2004
B.C. Hydro has received six bids by private industry to offer better value than the natural gas power plant at Duke Point.
Some of the alternatives, however, are looking remarkably familiar.
Five of the six proposals are for natural gas plants, with at least one project involving a 255-megawatt gas power plant for Duke Point.
The power plant is one of two proposals being put forward by Edmonton-based EPCOR Power Development Corp. in a partnership with Calpine Canada Power Ltd.
The project is similar in output and location to the project sidelined by the B.C. Utilities Commission last year. The commission halted the project when it said B.C. Hydro hadn't proved the 265-megawatt gas plant at Duke Point was the cheapest way to supply the Island's future energy needs.
The call for proposals followed. Of the original 23 bidders, 11 were prequalified for 22 projects, and six submitted bids before the Aug. 13 deadline for submitting tenders.
Calpine Island Cogeneration is proposing a natural gas plant for Campbell River and Green Island Energy is proposing a biomass project for Gold River.
Three of the other proposals involve plants in Nanaimo: the EPCOR-Calpine project, an ENCO Power Company natural gas plant for Nanaimo and a proposal for a natural gas plant by Duke Point Power LP.
EPCOR is also proposing a smaller, 45-47 megawatt "peaker" natural gas plant for Ladysmith to be used during peak periods of electrical consumption.
Jim Boston, the director of government relations for EPCOR, said the 255-megawatt plant would be identical to an EPCOR plant operating in Frederickson, Wash., just south of Tacoma.
"It's set up, we know how to build it, we know how to run it really well. We looked at that and thought it was a good plant for the project," Boston said.
B.C. Hydro will be reviewing the six submitted bids with projects expected to be operating by May 2007.
Comment
The Call for Tenders (CFT) has a $50 million built in incentive for companies to aquire the assets of BC Hydro's Vancouver Island Generation Project (VIGP), so it's no surprise that there's "remarkable familiarity" between that project and the CFT shortlist. The surprise would have been had a project emerged as dominant that didn't look like VIGP. The interesting question is whether GSX will be part of the winning configuration. At time of writing, August 2004, the prospects for GSX look dim in Canada, but not so in the US, where Williams is pushing it aggressively through a review process by Whatcom County Council.