Hydro: The WAC Bennett Dam on the Peace River consists of the main earth fill dam, which holds back Williston Lake (1,761 km2), and the underground GM Shrum Generating Station (peak capacity of 2,730 MW). Although the dam is one of the largest in the world, on average, it runs at just over 50% capacity because the amount of water that flows into Williston Lake is insufficient to allow BC Hydro to direct more water through GMS turbines while maintaining the reservoir at an acceptably high level. That said, the Bennett Dam and Williston Lake are the crown jewel of BC Hydro, which has a total generating capacity of about 11,000 MW.

Wind: Northeastern BC has hundreds of kilometers of flat, windswept ridges that run along the trailing edge of the Rocky Mountains that are textbook perfect wind farm sites. Conservative estimates suggest that there are more than 20,000 MW of wind on these ridges. Currently, there is but one wind farm in the region (102 MW Bear Mountain Wind), but in its 2008 Clean Power Call, BC Hydro awarded electricity purchase agreements to five wind power projects in the region. This is just the tip of the iceberg as Hydro is expected to announce another call for clean power in the near future to much further develop this and other clean energy resources in the province.

Natural gas: Today, BC produces about one trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year from conventional gas fields. Near Fort Nelson, however, lies the Horn River basin, site of a recently discovered shale gas field that contains an estimated 250 trillion cubic feet of gas, roughly 10-20% of which is thought to be recoverable. The Horn River basin is one of the largest unconventional gas fields in North America. Further south, near Dawson Creek, lies the Montney shale gas field, estimated to hold 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Together, these fields position BC to become a major supplier of natural gas to markets in North America and Asia.

Coal: Northeastern BC has extensive reserves of coal, particularly high-quality metallurgical coal, most of which is shipped unprocessed to markets in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Europe. In the extensive Peace River Coalfield near Tumbler Ridge several coal mines are currently in operation, and a few others are in the development stage. The Peace has hundreds of years of coal reserves remaining, and thus the capacity to increase production for new products and markets.

Railways: Canadian National Railways operates a mainline from the northeastern corner of BC at Fort Nelson south to Prince George, and then west to ports on the coast. Connected to the mainline are numerous spur lines, created collaboratively by CN and mining and other resource-based companies.

The grid: At present, 500 KV circuits run south from the GMS generating station at the Bennett Dam to Prince George, from which lines head west to Terrace and further south to the lower mainland. 138 KV circuits extend northeast from GMS to just north of Fort St. John, while a 230 KV line reaches down to the Tumbler Ridge area to supply coal mining and natural gas processing operations. Significantly, the BC Government’s February 2010 throne speech noted that: “New transmission infrastructure will link northeastern BC to our integrated grid. . . to provide clean power to the energy industry” and “to open up new capacity for clean power exports to Alberta and Saskatchewan.”

The plan is to build the Northeast Transmission Line between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson to provide power to the natural gas fields in the Horn River Basin. Today, the far northeast is totally dependent on a gas-fired generating station in Fort Nelson backed up by a link to the grid in Alberta—where coal-fired power plants make up about 50% of the power generating capacity. The February 16, 2010 edition of the Vancouver Sun noted that shale gas, which is trapped in layers of shale, “is extracted by forcing water into the rock under extreme pressure, a process that involves considerable expenditures of electricity.” To develop northeastern BC’s shale gas fields, the Northeastern Transmission Line is essential. Using vast amounts of BC natural gas—or, heaven forbid, Alberta coal—to generate electricity to produce natural gas simply won’t wash because the BC Government is legally required to reduce GHG emissions in the province 33% by 2020. The new line will parallel the foothills of the Rockies and hundreds of kilometers of proposed wind farms, facilitating large-scale expansion of BC’s wind industry.