The City of Williams Lake has cancelled a lobbying junket to Victoria on the news Adrian Dix, minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, plans to meet with BC Hydro to discuss the imminent shut-down of the Atlantic Power station.
The plant, which generates electricity through the burning of wood waste, is Williams Lake’s biggest industrial taxpayer and a major employer. The company that owns it plans to shut down soon, unless the province can assure it better power rates and reliable fibre supply.
The city has been lobbying the provincial government to prevent the power plant from shutting down, and had planned to converge on the BC Legislature tomorrow for the first day of the new BC legislative session.
The city planned to send a delegation representing city council, First Nations leaders, community business leaders and union representatives to put pressure on the B.C. government to prevent the plant from shutting down.
The town’s mayor today announced the trip to the BC Legislature in Victoria has been called off, after receiving a letter from Dix giving assurances that Dix has asked BC Hydro “to engage Atlantic Power Corporation to find a workable solution to the pending closure of its Williams Lake power plant.”
“With just weeks remaining to secure a path forward for Atlantic Power Corporation, council has exhausted every avenue to bring attention to the importance of this facility to our community and the province,” Williams Lake Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said in a press release.
“With the assurance of the minister and premier, we are now leaving this in their hands to ensure a viable solution is found for not only our community, but for all British Columbians.”
The Atlantic Power plant has a generating capacity of 66 megawatts of power annually. It is among the many independent power producers in B.C. that have power purchase agreements with BC Hydro. The plant is owned by I Squared Capital, an American private equity investment firm that invests in energy, utilities, transport and telecom infrastructure.
Atlantic Power’s contract with BC Hydro gives it until 2029 to continue to operate and sell power to BC Hydro, but the company announced a little over a year ago that the plant is no longer economic and would be shut down.
In a city press release, Rathor notes that BC Hydro imported 13,600 gigawatt hours of electricity, at a cost of nearly $1.4 billion, in 2024.
“It makes sense to save a fully operational source of renewable energy within our jurisdiction rather than relying on purchasing power from Washington State during peak demand times,” Rathor said. “We have tremendous cross-sector support for finding a solution for the Williams Lake Power Plant.”
