Earthmoving operations on the north bank of the Site C dam project in northern B.C. | BC Hydro
The Site C dam is likely to cost $10 billion, not $8.3 billion, and is unlikely to be in service by 2024, according to the BC Utilities Commission.
In its final report on Site C, the commission says it's not convinced the project can meet its in-service date of November 2024.
It's also recommending that the “least attractive” of three possible scenarios would be to halt the project and resume construction at a later date. That would add another $3.6 billion to the project's cost. The other two options are completion and cancellation.
Cancelling the project will add another $1.8 billion in remediation costs to the $2.1 billion that will have been spent by the end of this year. In other words, the cost of terminating the project will leave BC Hydro with $3.9 billion in sunk costs.
The commission suggests the dam is not needed, stating that BC Hydro’s load forecasts are “excessively optimistic.”
Most damning of all, the BCUC finds that “increasingly viable alternative energy sources such as wind, geothermal and industrial curtailment could provide similar benefits to ratepayers as the Site C project, with an equal or lower unit energy cost.”
BC Hydro and a number of energy experts who have supported the project have insisted that large hydro-electric power would be the best option in terms of costs, compared with other energy sources, like wind power, so the BCUC’s opinion is a damning one.
Work continues on the dam, with more than 2,000 workers employed on the project. Based on the BCUC's opinions, it now seems likely those workers may be laid off around Christmas time. The NDP government has stated it will make a final decision on the fate of the project by the end of this year.
"This will be an extremely difficult decision," Michelle Mungall, B.C. minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources said in a press release.
"We inherited a project that was advanced by the previous government without proper regulatory oversight, is now more than two years into construction, employs more than 2,000 people, and on which about $2 billion has already been spent.
"We are going to take the time we need to make a decision on Site C that works for B.C. families, businesses and the sustainability of our environment and economy."
