Clean Power Call

BC Hydro posted the following: November 18, 2009 New Q&As on BC Hydro’s role with respect to First Nations consultation November 17, 2009 BC Hydro is continuing to advance the Clean Power Call to acquire clean, renewable and cost-effective energy. The Clean Power Call supports the BC Energy Plan’s goal of achieving electricity self-sufficiency by 2016 and the Province’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. BC Hydro received a total of 68 Proposals from 43 Proponents, representing more than 17,000 gigawatt hours per year of electricity. BC Hydro will now move forward with post-proposal discussions with the Proponents of 13 Proposals that have been identified as the most cost-effective. BC Hydro will also complete an assessment of the adequacy of consultation with First Nations for this group of Proposals. BC Hydro will also be contacting the Proponents of the other 34 Proposals remaining in the Clean Power Call by November 30, 2009 to afford them with an opportunity to make their respective Proposals more cost-effective. Depending on the outcome, BC Hydro may offer to move forward to hold post-proposal discussions and complete an assessment of the adequacy of First Nations consultation as set out above.  BC Hydro has now notified some Proponents that certain Proposals have been eliminated from the Clean Power Call because they did not meet the Request for Proposals requirements or because of too high a level of Proposal risk. The list of Proposals continuing in the call process can be viewed on the Proposals page. While the timing of Electricity Purchase Agreements (EPAs) awards will be dependent on the time required to conduct post-proposal discussions and to complete the assessment of the adequacy of First Nations consultation for particular Proposals, BC Hydro intends to begin awarding EPAs in December 2009. Such contracts will be filed with the British Columbia Utilities Commission for acceptance pursuant to section 71 of the Utilities Commission Act. New Q&As have also been posted on the Q&A page.   Archived Bulletins

Request for Proposals

BC Hydro issued the Clean Power Call Request For Proposals (RFP) on June 11, 2008.

The web content is intended for the Proponents registered to participate in the RFP. BC Hydro will update these pages on an ongoing basis. It is the sole responsibility of each Proponent to review the pages on a regular basis and to identify new postings, including Addenda and revised versions of RFP documents. BC Hydro assumes no liability or obligation to Proponents who are unaware for any reason of the web content.

The Clean Power Call has been changed from a Call For Tenders process to a RFP to allow BC Hydro more flexibility in working with the developers to come up with cost-effective contract terms and conditions that address the needs of larger and more complex projects.

BC Hydro is issuing this structured RFP to help ensure that the province has sufficient clean electricity to meet its electricity needs. The Clean Power Call RFP aligns with the BC Energy Plan: A Vision for Clean Energy Leadership, released February 27, 2007, which indicates that at least 90% of all electricity generated in the province must continue to come from clean or renewable sources and to achieve electricity self-sufficiency by 2016.

Some of the key aspects of the RFP are as follows:

• The RFP will be for "clean" energy as defined by the province in its forthcoming guidelines for clean and renewable resources, from projects using proven technologies.
• The acquisition target will be up to 5,000 GWh/year of seasonal and hourly firm energy through a competitive process.
• The RFP will accommodate larger projects with extended in-service dates of 2016 or earlier.
• The RFP will be structured and allow limited negotiation regarding the terms of the Electricity Purchase Agreement with some Proponents. Other Proponents will sign contracts that involve little or no negotiations.

Joint BC Hydro & BCTC information session – RFP registration and interconnection matters

On July 8, 2008, BC Hydro and BC Transmission Corporation (BCTC) held a joint session in Vancouver on RFP registration and interconnection matters for potential Proponents in the Clean Power Call RFP.

This information session was divided into a morning and an afternoon session, with the morning session presented by BC Hydro for an overview of the RFP and the afternoon session presented by BCTC on Clean Power Call interconnection matters. The presentation material is available on our Workshops and Presentations page.

RFP documents and information

Proponents participating in the RFP need to familiarize themselves with the following relevant documents and other pertinent information.

• RFP Documents and Addenda
• Questions and Answers
• Archived Documents

Inquiries and mailing list

Please email us your question or join our mailing list to keep up-to-date on the latest Clean Power Call updates.