Revelstoke Dam’s long awaited sixth generating unit installation is still front of mind, a City of Revelstoke staff report noted. But time is possibly out on the current environmental assessment certificate from the BC Environmental Assessment office, stalling the project.
In an April 9 general city council meeting, Coun. Aaron Orlando shared the minutes of the Revelstoke and Area Economic Development Commission, which met with Jesse Smith, senior project manager for BC Hydro’s Revelstoke location for a tour of the dam and update on current projects.
“Unit six is more or less on again,” Orlando told council, noting that the project had stalled out in 2021.
BC Hydro originally explored the option to add a generating unit in the sith penstock at the Revelstoke Dam to match expected energy needs for 2026, but paused the project indefinitely stating they were not “forecasting a need for a sixth generating unit at Revelstoke Dam over the next 20 years.”
Originally built with four generating units installed and operating, Revelstoke Dam has slowly increased its power capacity, with unit five installed and brought online in 2010.
In 2017, when the environmental assessment certificate was originally applied for, growing power usage across B.C. and the future of Mica Dam were cited as key reasons for the generator installation. Mica Dam, situated 135 kilometres upstream from Revelstoke Dam, requires maintenance work on four of its generating units.
“Starting in 2026, the units will be out of service one at a time for 12 to 18 months, reducing Mica’s capacity by 410 megawatts for up to six years,” BC Hydro announced in a 2017 press release.
The Revelstoke Dam unit six project is now looking to extend or renew the environmental assessment certificate, after receiving multiple extended deadlines including one in 2018 to aid George Heyman, minister of environmental and climate change strategy and Doug Donaldson, minister of forests, lands and natural resource operations and rural development in reviewing the application for unit six.
Environmental assessment certificates expire five years after they are issued if the project is not “sustainably started,” with the assessment of the project reviewed by the Ministry of Environment.
“We are focused on moving the project forward and to do this we need to extend the certificate,” Susan Edgell, BC Hydro’s community relations told Revelstoke Mountaineer.
Once the unit six project is underway, local housing for workers will be in high demand, Revelstoke and the Area Economic Development Commission noted in their meeting.
Transitional housing will be required for roughly 400 workers over a 10 year span, and the report suggested that BC Hydro, Revelstoke Community Housing Society, Indigenous groups and Community Futures meet with the Economic Development Commission to discuss housing plans and potential collaboration.
“It was actually really interesting to hear some of the innovative projects and initiatives that BC Hydro is involved in already in other parts of the province,” Orlando told city council, mentioning projects such as hotels that would eventually be owned by community members once BC Hydro completes the unit six project.
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