Site C

[I Think]

Questions about site C
What will the real cost per Kilowatt for power from site C
What is the real cost of wind or solar power for the same amount of power.
Can BC Hydro sell the power it generates at night from its dams?
If not could this power be stored in batteries (using existing technology and market available storage systems) for release during the day, for less than building the legacy dam.
Dams are called legacy projects because politicians and company execs get to put their names on them, unlike solar, wind and battery farms.

[maryjane48]

what about the land that is lost?

does bc supply 100 percent our own power?

can canadians use technology to supply their own power ?

[Gixxer]

what about the land that is lost?

does bc supply 100 percent our own power?

can canadians use technology to supply their own power ?

There's not much going on, on the land that will be lost.

[maryjane48]

ok fair enough

[Gilchy]

Questions about site C
What will the real cost per Kilowatt for power from site C
What is the real cost of wind or solar power for the same amount of power.
Can BC Hydro sell the power it generates at night from its dams?
If not could this power be stored in batteries (using existing technology and market available storage systems) for release during the day, for less than building the legacy dam.
Dams are called legacy projects because politicians and company execs get to put their names on them, unlike solar, wind and battery farms.

According to Wikipedia, the Site C dam will have 1,100 MW of generating capacity. Commercial windmills are approx. $2m per 1MW of capacity for the windmill, plus land and tie-in costs that can easily cost the same as the windmill itself. So we're at $4.4b for capacity that only works when the wind is blowing. Solar won't work up there. There are no existing practical technologies to effectively store this amount of power.

For reliable, on-demand power source, renewables just aren't there yet, unfortunately.

[GrooveTunes]

ok fair enough

https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/sitec

[Gixxer]

https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/sitec

Fear mongering, anti site C dam propaganda.

[GrooveTunes]

Feel free to point out anything that's not true.

[I Think]

There are no existing practical technologies to effectively store this amount of power.

Manghani believes Tesla’s April announcement that it would produce batteries at $250 per kWh is pushing other battery manufacturers. They are not likely to get to that price point this year, Manghani said, but it will come in the near future.

This will make battery storage equal to the cost of wind installations and quite a lot cheaper than site C damn.

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/why-bat ... ff/407096/

[GordonH]

By added a dam land is lost yes, on the other hand a lake is formed which would add thing to the area. More water foul & other animals... etc.... etc
Besides power generation what would be added with solar or wind farms, if anything.

[I Think]

Gordon, not against dams, they often are the most practical solution, since this one is a legacy project it bears some analysis.
Solar and wind are scalable dams, usually, are not.
Solar and wind make minimal impact on the environment.
Wind and solar if sited appropriately are the lowest cost power available, delivered costs in the $0.02 cents per KW range, over a 20 year cycle. One study of 2MW machines installed in Oregon indicate that all installation, recycling and operating costs for each 2MW machine will be covered in the first 5 to 8 months of its duty cycle.
So for 19 + years each machine will be delivering enough electricity to power 500 houses at no additional cost.
Batteries are becoming an inexpensive (compared to dams) way to even out the supply to suit the demand, this applies to using batteries to augument our existing dams as well as wind power. (imo solar is not an option this far north at todays solar costs)

An interesting fact is that if you couple wind farms with existing hydro dams, you can hold back water when the turbines are generating, and release water as required to augument the turbines. This is important in the drought plagued south west.

If you goggle "wind turbine life cycle costs" you will find several in depth peer reviewed analysis.

[Gixxer]

Feel free to point out anything that's not true.

old growth boreal forests. The flood plain is all junk aspen, and spruce trees.

The land in question happens to be some of the best agricultural land in northern BC, with the only class one soil north of Quesnel.

Not true. Again the flood plain is mostly junk trees, with little to no agricultural land.

There's no links to actual studies that this website claims, Its just someone's theories and opinion's

[GordonH]

Off the main topic
Its been about decade now that downsized and moved into smaller in town place, frees up my personal time to do other things. i.e. travel, be available to older siblings etc… etc

If I still had the house, I would be doing everything I could to be completely off the grid. Say to hell with Fortis

Added: of course my location would be away from to many neighbours, so I could use wood to heat my home. To be truly off the grid.

[I Think]

We heat our hot tub with wood, no electricity just a solar powered vacuum to clean any debris out of the water.
Heat our cabin with 90% wood, will heat the house with wood with gas back up.
Much of our lighting is solar powered.
Our main use of the grid is for charging the battery powered tractor, and running power tools to build house.
Wood is a very good heat source for those of us in BC. cheap, available and ecologically friendly if done right.

[Gixxer]

Im basically heating my house for free with bitcoin miners.