Green energy boondoogle: Canada's Site C hydro power shows the real cost of 'clean' energy

Source:

https://financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-b-c-s-site-c-hydro-power-boondoggle-shows-real-cost-of-clean-energy

 

 

" ... Officially described as the “Site C Clean Energy Project” by its developer, B.C. Hydro, the project on the Peace River — some 1,185 kilometres by flying crow north of downtown Vancouver ...

... Early last year B.C. Hydro identified “structural weaknesses” in the project, which has been under construction since 2015. Site C is also said to suffer from “weak foundations.” 

... Should Site C be killed and the $6-billion already sunk into it be abandoned?

...  In a review of the economics of the Site C hydroelectric project, three Canadian university economists — Brett Dolter in Regina, Kent Fellows in Calgary and Nic Rivers in Ottawa — conclude that the whole project is uneconomic as an energy source and fails its major green and clean promise, which is to reduce carbon emissions.

The worst numbers in the study: the total present value of the electricity produced from Site C is estimated at $2.76 billion against an estimated total cost of $10.7 billion, implying a loss of $8 billion.

... if the project were cancelled now, the loss would be cut in half to maybe $4.5 billion. The economists conclude that “policy makers should stop throwing money at a project that is likely to end up under water.”

... It’s hard to imagine politicians are going to kill the project at this stage, but it is also hard to see how Alberta is going to go along with paying high prices for B.C. electricity to bail out B.C. Hydro.

Whatever happens to Site C, it serves as an alarming demonstration that the current mad dash to net zero carbon emissions is filled with economic peril.

Similar hydro power fiascos — each conceived as green substitutes for fossil fuels — include the $10-billion Keeyask project in Manitoba and the giant $12.7-billion Muskrat Falls money pit in Newfoundland.

 ... the boondoggle status of the Site C, Muskrat Falls and Keeyask hydro projects should keep everyone alert to the perils of green and clean energy policy."