2001 Triple Bottom Line Report - BC Hydro

A C T I O N S O N G H G E M I S S I O N S
We are committed to limiting the growth of GHG emissions from
our electrical system, wherever economically feasible. At the same
time, BC Hydro is challenged by environmental, social and economic
considerations that encourage us to expand our existing generating
capacity in small increments. Increased generation from natural
gas sources poses a significant challenge to our efforts to reduce
the growth of BC Hydro’s GHG emissions. Our Climate Change
Action Plan, submitted to the Voluntary Challenge and Registry
(VCR) Inc., outlines a multipronged approach to managing these
emissions through measures directed at internal operations,
our customers, green energy purchases and emission offsets at
other locations.
Activities and the progress made to support the BC Hydro Climate
Change Action Plan are discussed in our annual Greenhouse Gas
Report, and include:
S E V E N M I L E D A M
Increasing the generating capacity at BC Hydro’s Seven Mile
Dam and power plant near Trail is expected to contribute
significant GHG emissions savings beginning in 2004.
The Resource Smart project involves installing a fourth generating
unit at the plant to boost generating capacity by 210 megawatts
and add 302 gigawatt-hours to BC Hydro’s annual hydropower
• STRETCHING OUR RESOURCES – Our Resource
Smart program, which improves the efficiency of hydro plants
across our system, gained BC Hydro 578 gigawatt-hours
(GW . h) of GHG-free energy last year.
• HELPING CUSTOMERS SAVE – Annual Power
Smart savings reached 2262 GW . h in 2000, equivalent
to almost 1.2 million tonnes of avoided GHG emissions.
Since its inception in 1989, Power Smart has helped us
avoid more than 9.8 million tonnes of GHG emissions.
• CHOOSING CLEANER POWER – We purchased
2691 GW . h of “cleaner” electricity from independent B.C.
power producers in 2000 to displace fossil-fuel generation
from our thermal plants.
output. The increased hydro production is expected to reduce
GHG emissions by 170 000 tonnes per year.
Installation of the fourth Seven Mile unit began in 2001 and will
take about three years to complete. The plant, located on the
Pend d’Oreille River near Trail, was originally designed to house
four generating units. It opened in 1979 with three turbines.
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