Whereas BC municipalities are moving quickly to enable electrification through community climate action plans and municipal energy and emissions plans; And whereas there is currently a lack of funding or incentives to support electrification in existing residential, commercial and institutional building retrofits, and a lack of certainty that the electrical grid has the capacity to accommodate the anticipated electrical demand that will result from future retrofits: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM coordinate with the Province, BC Utilities Commission and BC Hydro regarding the need for communities to understand BC Hydros readiness to meet electrification requirements and to support electrification in retrofits in order for communities to meet climate action goals.
Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Government is committed to improving the portfolio of retrofit offers over time. The CleanBC Better Homes and Better Buildings BHBB program plays an integral role in achieving the Provinces 2030 climate commitments for the building sector by advancing electrification and building retrofits. BHBB is an integrated offer of incentives and supports to help households, businesses and institutions save energy and reduce greenhouse gas GHG emissions through heating system replacements and building envelope improvements. More information on available rebates in British Columbia is available at: www.betterhomesbc.ca and www.betterbuildingsbc.ca. Utilities also have a role to play in electrification. BC Hydros Electrification Plan includes significant investments to support customer fuel switching in buildings. These investments are enabled through provincial regulation. BC Hydro is also conscious of the shift in customers interest in switching to electricity from the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. BC Hydro has submitted its Integrated Resource Plan IRP to the British Columbia Utilities Commission BCUC. The IRP looks at future energy needs over a 20-year period, and explores the resources required to meet them. The IRP is currently before the BCUC, which will make its decision at the conclusion of a public process. On June 15, 2023, BC Hydro filed an update to its IRP with the BCUC. Jointly, the Province and BC Hydro announced that BC Hydro would need to procure 3,000 GWhyear of electricity as early as 2028. Since June, BC Hydro has engaged with First Nations, local governments, independent power producers, and other stakeholders on the elements of a Call for Power to meet this need. To ensure that it can get this new generation to its customers, BC Hydro is undertaking initiatives like its North Coast Transmission Line Expression of Interest to assess the transmission infrastructure needed to meet growing demand. Government is working with BCHydro, through the BC Hydro Task Force, to accelerate the planning and procurement of new electricity infrastructure while keeping rates affordable and advancing Indigenous ownership opportunities in future electricity generation and transmission investments.
BC Hydro BC Hydro understands that BC municipalities are moving quickly to enable electrification through community climate action plans and municipal energy and emissions plans. As we look ahead, BC Hydro has a range of actions that it can leverage to ensure customer needs are met, including preparing for a new Call for Power to acquire about 3,000 gigawatt hours of clean or renewable electricity. In the short-term, Site C will be coming online soon and will provide an additional 8 of our current supply. Thats enough to power nearly half a million homes - or 1.7 million electric vehicles - per year. We are also accelerating or extending the timing of several existing near-term actions, including actions on energy efficiency, demand response, industrial load curtailment, electricity purchase agreement renewals, and utility-scale batteries. In addition, BC Hydro offers study and project implementation funding to enable electrification projects. This is facilitated through BC Hydro offers and those which it administers on behalf of CleanBC to encourage energy efficient design, construction, and renovation of buildings. These actions will ensure that BC Hydro has enough power to meet our customers needs. Other actions were taking include: - Energy Efficiency: we are accelerating and ramping up our energy efficiency programs and integrating these offers with our electrification funding to make it easier for customers to strategically manage their energy use., - Renewing electricity purchase agreements: with existing clean or renewable Independent Power Producer projects at cost-effective prices. - Building our system: For example, our Revelstoke generating station was built with the option to expand when the timing is right. With this option, we can add a final turbine to provide 500 megawatts of additional capacity, which is enough to power more than 200,000 homes. We are committed to continuing to deliver what our customers expect from us - clean and reliable power. We look forward to working together to help local governments achieve their climate action goals.