Renewable Energy and Conservation Initiatives
BC Hydro's Power Smart program encourages energy conservation among its residential, commercial, and industrial customers. It also promotes energy saving retail products and building construction, and includes a Sustainable Communities Program. Its in-house Resource Smart program is used to identify and implement efficiency gains at existing BC Hydro facilities. BC Hydro also practices energy conservation at its generating facilities through the continuous monitoring and efficient use of the water resources used to power its generators.
BC Hydro is committed by the BC government's Energy Plan to achieve electricity self-sufficiency by 2016, with all new generation plants having zero net greenhouse gas emissions by the same year. The government will set policy around reaching zero net emissions through carbon offsets from other activities in British Columbia. Over half of the power needed to satisfy the demand gap is to come from conservation and retrofitting of existing facilities; the remainder will come from both private and public sources.
Hydro has also entered into energy purchase contracts with a new category of company created by special legislation, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to buy electricity generated from intermittent renewable sources, mainly from small capacity run of river hydro and more recently, wind power, wood residue energy, and energy from organic municipal waste. There has been some criticism of this policy on the basis that it will result in Hydro paying significantly higher rates to private producers than it would have if the power were self-generated.
BC Hydro has collaborated with a number of groups to promote energy conservation including the Gulf Islands Film and Television School (GIFTS).
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