Response to Zapped Allegation of Overspending Billions on Ipps /

The amount of energy BC Hydro purchased through the EPAs was based on its own forecasts and it signed them before it and other forecasters recognized the extent of the drop-in demand after the financial crisis. [...] BC Hydro has advised that, “Access to the electricity markets and delivery of the CE all rely on the same I-5 transmission corridor through the Seattle region that is frequently constrained.”13 The transmission interties with Washington14 can often be congested at the same time that BC needs to import electricity. [...] When BC Hydro applies to the BCUC about building its own projects the BCUC compares the long-term cost of BC Hydro’s projects to the long-term price of IPP projects, not the Mid-C price. [...] Table 4: Summary comparing the price and volume used by Zapped to the results of this report 5.2 The Three Underlying Allegations 5.2.1 Volume of Unnecessary and Forced Energy Contracts Zapped’s allegation that Government Directions that resulted in EPAs total 9,500 GWh/yr “amounted to direct Government interference with the energy planning process at BC Hydro with the intent to create the appeara [...] The price is a lower Levelled Cost of Electricity (LCOE) than the average annual wholesale price paid by the Alberta power pool to combined cycle and single cycle natural gas fired electricity generation from 2008 to 2018.14 The future price for BC utility-scale Solar PV power located on BC’s best solar sites in the same solar irradiance zone as the winning Alberta projects, and using the same tec