Bute Inlet Hydroelectric Project

Synopsis

Alterra Power Corp. (formerly Plutonic Power) proposes to build hydroelectric facilities on 17 streams in Bute Inlet, with a capacity of 1027 MW. The project will include 443 km of transmission line, 270 km of permanent roads, and 85 km of penstock. The scale of industrialization triggered intense public opposition. BC Hydro rejected the project in the Clean Power Call. A federal panel will review the project application when it re-surfaces. See note below.

Category Energy

Type Small Hydro

Prov BC

Region South Coast

Posted 06Sep09

Updated 28Jan12

Status Proposed

Massive Bute Project Sparks Conflict, Delores Broten, March-April 2009

Contacts

LOCAL
COMMUNITY

Friends of Bute Inlet, Lannie Keller, ButeInlet(at)gmail.com, www.buteinlet.net, 250-285-2846

Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, Daniel Bouman, office(at)thescca.ca, www.thescca.ca, 604-886-8325

PROVINCIAL
REGIONAL

Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Gwen Barlee, info(at)wildernesscommittee.org, www.wildernesscommittee.org, 604-683-8220, toll free 800-661-9453

Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Craig Orr, wwss(at)telus.net, www.watershed-watch.org, 604-936-9474

GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES

BC Environmental Assessment Office, Kathy Eichenberger, Kathy.Eichenberger(at)gov.bc.ca, www.eao.gov.bc.ca, 250-952-6501

Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Marie-France Therrien, Marie-France.Therrien(at)ceaa-acee.gc.ca, www.ceaa.gc.ca, 613-957-0324

ABORIGINAL
GROUPS

Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) First Nation

Klahoose First Nation

Sliammon First Nation

PROPONENT

Alterra Power Corp., www.alterrapower.ca, info(at)alterrapower.ca, 604-669-4999, toll-free 877-669-4999

More information

Location

NOTE: In 2011, Plutonic Power Corp and Magma Energy Corp. merged, forming Alterra Power Corp. Alterra has removed the Bute Hydro Project from its website, and its environmental assessments are dormant. BC Hydro rejected the project in its Clean Power Call. The project is not dead, but when it reappears, it is likely to have been reconfigured with a view both to improving its public acceptability and its fit for BC Hydro. Canada's Environment Minister has stated that a federal review panel will be reinstated when the project reapplies (though changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the aggressive championing of energy projects by the federal government suggest that assurance may not be reliable.)

Plutonic Power Corporation is proposing to construct the largest cluster of hydroelectric projects ever built in British Columbia, on streams feeding into Bute Inlet. The company claims it will have a "nameplate" capacity of 1027 megawatts (MW) from 17 powerhouses. This is 10% of the total hydroelectric generating capacity in BC Hydro's legacy dams.

Plutonic's revised project description, submitted in December 2008 to the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO), states that:

The Project will be comprised of three interconnected groups of run-of-river hydro facilities on tributaries to rivers that drain to Bute Inlet on British Columbia’s central coast. In total, the three groups will be comprised of 17 run-of-river facilities, generating a total nameplate capacity of 1,027 MW. Six facilities (Southgate Group) will be located in the Southgate River Drainage, three facilities (Orford Group) in the Orford River Drainage, and eight facilities (Homathko Group) will be located in or near the Homathko River Drainage. 

Each group of facilities will be connected to the proposed substation near the mouth of the Southgate River (referred to as the Pigeon Valley Collector Substation in figures associated with this document) through 216 km of 230 kV collector transmission lines on new right of way. From the proposed substation located near the mouth of the Southgate River, electricity will be transmitted 227 km through a 500 kV trunk transmission line to the point of interconnection with the British Columbia Transmission Corporation (BCTC) grid, at the BCTC Malaspina substation near Earls Cove.

More Project Info

Plutonic Project Info

BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO)

Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA)

Project Maps