BC's 2010 Throne Speech - Untapping BC's Clean Energy Potential
Today, the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia delivered the Speech from the Throne (click to read), which opened the Second Session of the 39th Parliament of British Columbia.
The 2010 Olympics and the economy were principal topics of course, but the BC government's commitment to revamping the Province's clean energy industry also featured prominently. Below are some of the highlights from the Speech relevant to the clean energy sector:
- The BC government will take a fresh look at B.C.'s regulatory regimes, including the BC Utilities Commission.
- BC can harness [BC's untapped energy] potential to generate new wealth and new jobs in its communities while it lower greenhouse gas emissions within and beyond our borders.
- Clean energy is a cornerstone of BC's Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one‑third by 2020.
- Building on the contributions of the Green Energy Advisory Task Force, the BC government will launch a comprehensive strategy to put BC at the forefront of clean energy development.
- BC has enormous potential in bioenergy, run‑of‑river, wind, geothermal, tidal, wave and solar energy. We will put it to work for our economy.
- The BC government will introduce a new Clean Energy Act to encourage new investments in independent power production while also strengthening BC Hydro.
- It will provide for fair, predictable, clean power calls.
- It will feature simplified procurement protocols and new measures to encourage investment and the jobs that flow with it.
- New investment partnerships in infrastructure that encourage and enable clean modes of transportation, such as electric vehicles, hydrogen‑powered vehicles and vehicles powered by compressed natural gas and liquid natural gas, will be pursued.
- The BC government will support new jobs and private sector investment in wood pellet plants, cellulosic ethanol production, biomass gasification technologies and fuel cell technologies.
- Bioenergy creates new uses for waste wood and beetle‑killed forests and new jobs for forest workers.
- A new receiving license will give bioenergy producers new certainty of fiber supply, while a new stand‑as‑a‑whole pricing system will encourage utilization of logging residues and low‑grade material that was previously burned or left on the forest floor.
- The BC government will optimize existing generation facilities and report on the Site C review this spring.
- It will develop and capture B.C.'s unique capability to firm and shape the intermittent power supply that characterizes new sources of clean energy to deliver reliable, competitively‑priced, clean power — where and when it is needed most.
- New conservation measures, smart meters and in‑home displays will help maximize energy savings. New smart grid investments and net metering will provide more choices and opportunities for reduced energy costs and more productive use of electricity.
- New transmission investments will open up the Highway 37 corridor to new mines and clean power.
- New transmission infrastructure will link Northeastern B.C. to our integrated grid, provide clean power to the energy industry and open up new capacity for clean power exports to Alberta, Saskatchewan and south of the border.
- We will seek major transmission upgrades with utilities in California and elsewhere.
- If the Province act with clear vision and concerted effort now, in 2030, people will look back to this decade as we look to the 1960s today.
With significant investment in green energy being made elsewhere, both in Canada and the US, we hope that today's Speech from the Throne demonstrates the BC government's commitment to building the Provincial economy in part with the support of the clean energy sector.
