Brandywine Creek Green Power Project
The Brandywine Creek green power project, which started producing power in October 2003, is a small run-of-river hydroelectric project that will generate 7.6 megawatts of electricity.
Brandywine Creek flows into the Cheakamus River about three kilometres north of Daisy Lake Dam, near Garibaldi. Creek water is diverted into a three-metre-high concrete weir built at 822 metres of elevation. From there, it flows through a 4.5-kilometre-long penstock (the pipe that carries water from the intake to the generating plant) to the powerhouse, falling 282 metres along the way. The project will offset 37,000 to 42,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, equivalent to the amount produced by a conventional coal or oil plant providing the same energy output.
Although Brandywine is not a fish-bearing stream, the developers, Rockford Energy Corp. and Pacific Northwest Energy Corp., and the builder, Ledcor Power Inc. incorporated a special screen in the water intake that allows tiny (2 mm or less) aquatic life to pass through it and larger species to pass over it. In addition, the intake head pond has proven to be friendly to Harlequin ducks and frogs in the area.
Brandywine Creek project took less than a year to build. It was developed in cooperation with local recreational users including kayakers, all-terrain vehicle users and snowmobilers, and in consultation with both the Lil'wat and Squamish First Nations, who will share in both its operation and its profits.
