British Columbia is about to gain three new wind farms, including the first two in the Okanagan Valley, bringing the province’s total wind capacity up to 700 megawatts.
White Rock-based Zero Emission Energy Developments Inc. will build the projects under contract with BC Hydro, Clean Capital News reported. The projects will be located west of Kelowna and southwest of Summerland, in the Okanagan, and near Taylor, in the northeast.
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With the approval of the controversial Site C hydro dam late last year, Energy Minister Bill Bennett said there would be no new renewable energy purchases in B.C. for a few years, telling the Province earlier this month that the province is “not going to purchase electricity that we don’t need.”
“Last December, two wind farm proposals near Tumbler Ridge were shelved after Site C was approved,” Forrest writes. “A third major wind project in the same area is moving ahead, with construction slated to begin in 2017, but it has yet to obtain a purchase agreement from BC Hydro.”
