VICTORIA – BC Hydro was forced to abandon plans to fill the Site C reservoir this fall due to the first unfinished paints on the Peace River Hydroelectric Dam.
Characteristically, the public app announced its resolution in a press release in which it attempted to pretend that things were business as usual on the troubled project.
“The procedure to begin filling the tanks at site C will begin, as planned, in 2024,” it reads.
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Then came the real news: “B. C. Hydro has the option to start filling the reservoirs this fall, a year ahead of schedule. However, there are still some critical paint gaps that need to be finished before filling the tanks can begin, adding the technical channel, spillway gates, and plant intake valves.
“With the arrival of winter weather and colder conditions, the window to start filling the tank safely is coming to an end. As a result, British Columbia Hydro has made a prudent decision to meet the existing schedule for its project.
The news ended a plan touted through Hydro since late last year, when it suggested that the Site C structure schedule be complex enough to allow for an early start to fill the reservoir.
This remained the goal the year British Columbia withdrew. Hydro has removed impediment after impediment.
At the end of July the construction of the earthen dam was completed. Already at the end of summer, the diversion tunnels were also effectively adapted to the reservoir filling plan. All required entry permits were in force.
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At the end of September, Hydro informed its regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of British Columbia, that “all operational requirements” had to be in place to allow “the reservoir to be filled this fall. “
This, in turn, will allow Hydro to power up the first of the plant’s six groups ahead of the planned commissioning date of December 2024.
But when September gave way to October, the plan ran into trouble. Filling the tank would take a full 4 months. Winter is coming. And there’s no time.
Last week, Green MP Adam Olsen asked Energy Minister Josie Osborne, “When will B. C. adapt?The hydroflooding of the dam and the filling of the reservoir? »
Osborne himself.
“At this time, B. C. Hydro is in the process of determining when they will flood the reservoir and begin work to power the turbines and supply blank electrical power to B. C. ,” he told the legislature on Nov. 7.
“As soon as we have that information, we will share it with the parliamentarian and everyone in this chamber. “
Instead, Hydro itself announced the news on Tuesday this week, raising the need to carry out full work on the plant’s channel, spillway gates and inlet gates.
There is no mention of what prompted Olsen’s consultation in the legislature.
“I just learned that very soon 24 active bear burrows will be flooded, and those looking for bear burrows are having a hard time knowing exactly when the dam will be flooded,” he said at his home.
Olsen’s switch with Osborne also sparked a heated exchange over the potential impact on Site C’s budget and structural schedule.
Don’t worry, the energy minister insisted.
“Site C is still on track to be completed within the approved budget of $16 billion,” Osborne said. “But let’s not say that the government beyond rushed to push Site C past the point of no return, and collects billions of dollars with no right. “supervision. We had to manage this task that we inherited.
It’s too much for Olsen. ” This government has controlled costs to the ceiling,” he said.
Site C’s budget was $8 billion when the new Democrats came to power. Since then, they’ve increased it to $10. 7 billion and then to $16 billion.
One of the great drivers of the moment is the burden of correcting a geotechnical instability in the project’s foundations.
The New Democrats studied the issue in late 2019 but kept the details and financial implications secret until they secured a majority in the fall 2020 snap election.
Site C isn’t out of the woods today either. Hydro’s most recent update to the BCUC acknowledges that the safety, scope, timeline, cost, environmental conditions, and overall suitability of the assignment remain in the “orange” zone, meaning significant hazards still exist. administer.
However, this week’s press release continues Hydro’s practice of reporting that everything is fine.
“Work on the Site C assignment will continue to progress as planned and will be in a position to be completed to begin next fall. The allocation remains on track to be successful with the first force in 2024, put the six generator sets into operation until 2025 and be completed within the approved budget.
In fact, Site C is on schedule for the year and is one hundred percent over budget.
But at Hydrospeak, that translates to “on track and on budget. ” As for waiting until next year to fill the tank, well, they intended to do that.
vpalmer@postmedia. com
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