WHEREAS the City of Port Moody has been informed by the Government of British Columbia that the 900 MW megawatt natural gas-fired Burrard Thermal Generating Station in Port Moody is scheduled for closure in 2016, a plant which can provide an essential service by generating electricity to meet peak electrical loads in British Columbia during the winter months, is located in the lower mainland the load centre of British Columbia as an important strategic asset and can provide backup electricity in the event of low water levels behind BC Hydro dams or the failure of lengthy transmission lines due to forest fires, ice storms or similar causes; AND WHEREAS the annual operating cost of Burrard Thermal, which has the lowest nitrogen oxides emissions of any natural gas standby plant in Canada, is approximately 20 million, as opposed to the 55 million presently being paid by BC Hydro to keep a smaller 275 MW natural gas-fired plant on standby in the outlying community of Campbell River; AND WHEREAS BC Hydros Integrated Resource Plan 2013 indicates a possible shortage of capacity even in the absence of new electricity-supported Liquefied Natural Gas as early as 2018, a shortage which is proposed to be met by constructing new natural gas plants: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM petition the Government of BC and BC Hydro to keep the Burrard Thermal Generating Station open until at the very least a review by the British Columbia Utilities Commission is conducted on the closing of Burrard Thermal and the construction of Site C Dam, with the end goal being that this facility be powered by a renewable energy source.
Ministry of Energy Mines Since 2010, Burrard Thermal has been producing less than 100 gigawatt hours per year, which is about 0.2 per cent of BC Hydros total energy requirement. With the installation of additional hydroelectric units at Mica and completion of the new Interior to Lower Mainland transmission line, BC Hydro will no longer require Burrard as a source of backup generating capacity. To put Burrard into a fully operating generation facility would cost roughly 400 million. Even with these investments, Burrard would not operate very efficiently and as a result would be used very little. Shutting down Burrard Thermal as a generating station will save BC Hydro customers 14 million per year, taking pressure off rates.