BC has been net buying energy from the USA the last 3-4 years. Expectation is that drought from climate change will crater hydro production in the coming years. BC Hydro is already in low key panic about energy in the province. Second or third call to power in as many years. So the government approves $9B data centers to create 500 jobs instead of funding schools, healthcare, and transportation infrastructure. FFS.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I checked the data from here in case you're interested. These are the US intertie flow numbers but they have Alberta numbers that are similar.

2021 BC net exported 3.92TWh
2022 BC net exported 3.65 TWh
2023 BC net imported 9.48 TWh
2024 BC net imported 7.57 TWh
2025 BC net imported 2.77 TWh
2026 Jan to Apr BC net exported 0.48 TWh but importing from AB, and the dry summer months are still ahead of us so we'll see.
NB: "net buying" is not the same as "net exporting" even if I think that's what you meant. The timing and pricing of when our exports are bought and sold mean that BC could make money even if we sold less energy than we bought.

I do worry about the droughts predicted over the next decade, hopefully we can find suitable places to build wind/solar and build there.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Update: Higher snowpack in the north means BC expects to export more power than it imports this year.

[–] bookmeat@fedinsfw.app 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think the BC government is trying to encourage residential solar, like in California, but it should be better publicised or maybe the incentive is still too small, imo.

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It most certainly is not.

Both Fortis and HydroBC actively discourage ppl from requesting grid-tie meters.

[–] bookmeat@fedinsfw.app 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They do? By what means?

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

To add solar to an existing building, I need to convert my meter to a bi-directional one so that during low-demand, high-sun times, I can feed back energy into the grid and be compensated for it.

Both Fortis BC and BC Hydro put up administrative barriers to this in the form of filling out a proposal, including what gear you are installing, who is installing it, etc before they "approve" the meter. They will then charge you for the replacement, a few grand.

[–] bookmeat@fedinsfw.app 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What would you propose as an alternative?

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Go off-grid, I suppose? What kind of question is this?