Briefly: March 22, 2013

Earth Hour

For one hour on Saturday evening, March 23, if all goes to plan, Powell River will be in total darkness as the community turns off the lights and unites with millions protecting the planet during Earth Hour.

BC Hydro is encouraging Powell River residents to join millions of Canadians in support of Earth Hour 2013 by turning off their lights from 8:30 to 9:30 pm on Saturday, March 23. Earth Hour is an annual global event hosted by the World Wildlife Fund and supported by BC Hydro. It began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 and has grown to become a global phenomenon. The goal is to encourage individuals to turn off unnecessary lights and electronics in an effort to conserve power.

Last year, Powell River lowered its energy consumption by 3.60 per cent during Earth Hour. BC’s overall electricity load dropped by 1.67 per cent.

In 2010 Powell River reduced its power consumption by 1.7 per cent, more than the provincial average of 1.04 per cent. The local percentage was lower in 2011 at 0.69 per cent, while provincially it grew to 1.8 per cent.

“I encourage all British Columbians to power down for Earth Hour 2013,” said Terry Lake, BC’s minister of environment. “You might even help your community achieve the highest reduction in energy use in the province. You’ll be joining hundreds of millions of other people around the world that will also be showing their concern for the planet throughout the day.”

This year, many BC Hydro account holders can track their energy use by logging onto MyHydro—their online account at www.bchydro.com/myhydro—to compare their electricity use on the Saturday prior to Earth Hour with their actual use during Earth Hour. The new tools provide timely information on household electricity consumption, giving customers the ability to make informed decisions year-round. Customers can now see their hourly, daily or weekly electricity use, not just the total energy used in a two-month bill.

“Turning the lights off for Earth Hour signifies that British Columbians want to conserve energy,” said Rich Coleman, minister of energy, mines and natural gas. “It also shows that we can use less electricity than we usually do. Conserving energy helps our environment and has the added benefit of saving money on electricity bills.”

In 2012, British Columbians saved 121 megawatt hours of electricity and reduced the provincial electricity load by 1.67 per cent during Earth Hour, the equivalent of turning off about nine million 12.5-watt LED light bulbs.

Last year, Revelstoke had the highest reduction in energy use at 12.1 per cent. Pemberton measured the second highest decrease at 6.8 per cent. In total, 91 communities across BC registered their participation in Earth Hour.

Earth Hour was observed last year by 6,525 cities, towns and municipalities in 150 countries and territories. A total of 511 Canadian cities participated.

BC Hydro is working to meet at least 66 per cent of new electricity demand through conservation and energy efficiency by 2020. In the last three years, its Power Smart program has saved close to 3,000 gigawatt hours of electricity, enough to power 270,000 homes annually.

BC Hydro provides tools, resources and incentives to help people conserve year-round through Power Smart. Readers can go online for more information on Earth Hour.

Energy sale

Catalyst Paper Corporation announced on Wednesday, March 20 that it completed the sale of its approximately 50 per cent interest in Powell River Energy Inc. and Powell River Energy Limited Partnership to Powell River Energy Trust, a Brookfield Renewable Energy affiliate, for $33 million.

Approximately $12.7 million of the net proceeds of the sale will be distributed to certain unsecured creditors of Catalyst pursuant to its plan of arrangement under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act through the monitor, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The company will offer to purchase a portion of its floating rate senior secured notes with the balance of the net proceeds.

Powell River Energy consists of two generating stations with a total installed capacity of 83 megawatts, producing an average of 546 gigawatt hours (GWh) on an annual basis. The system has a storage capacity of approximately 158 GWh and is interconnected to the BC power grid.

All electricity generated by Powell River Energy will be sold to Catalyst under a power purchase agreement, which expires in 2016, with possible extension to 2021 at Catalyst’s discretion.

Catalyst entered creditor protection on January 31, 2012 and exited on September 13, 2012.