Projects Ratified by First Nations
Members of the Tahltan First Nation have approved two run-of-river power projects in their territory that will feed into AltaGas’s Forrest Kerr project now under construction and bring the Alberta-based energy company’s total investment in the province’s northwest to $1 billion.
Tahltans voters ratified Impact Benefits Agreements with AltaGas that Tahltan Central Council president Annita McPhee said will bring jobs during construction and a secure revenue source for the first nation for 60 years into the future.
The multi-generational scope of the agreement was sought by the Tahltans, whose traditional territory covers the northwest corner of the province, which is undergoing a boom in resource exploration and development.
“These Impact Benefit Agreements are going to provide benefits for not only our current generations but our future generations,” McPhee said in an interview. “We want to make sure we are sharing in the revenues from these projects and having opportunities for ownership and options to purchase additional ownership.”
The AltaGas project is unprecedented in B.C. as AltaGas signed a 60-year contract with BC Hydro to provide clean electric energy at the request of the Tahltans. Contracts typically run for 25 to 40 years.
The AltaGas project is a cornerstone of anticipated development in the northwest. It will feed 195 megawatts of power from the Forrest Creek project and an estimated 80 megawatts-plus from the two smaller projects on McClymont Creek and Volcano Creek respectively, into the new 287 kilovolt Northwest Transmission Line BC Hydro is constructing along the Highway 37 corridor.
“These are important projects,” Dan Woznow, AltaGas vice-president of renewable energy operations, said in an interview. “These three projects are really the anchor tenant for the Northwest Transmission Line, giving the backbone to that region. They are acting as a potential catalyst for further development in the area.”
The impact of the northwestern B.C. projects has caught the attention of RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Kwan, who has upgraded AltaGas shares from sector perform to outperform. AltaGas shares closed at $27.80, down 37 cents Friday on the Toronto stock exchange.
“Forrest Kerr Value Could Be Very Significant,” he said in a research report. “Due to what is one of the most attractive power contracts that we have observed, we think that Forrest Kerr has a significant value that should be factored into today’s share price.”
Woznow said construction is already underway on the larger Forrest Kerr project, which is to divert water from the Iskut River below the confluence of Forrest Kerr Creek into a 10-metre diameter tunnel being drilled three kilometres downstream to an underground powerhouse. The elevation drop to the powerhouse is 100 metres. A camp has been built at the site an 100 to 150 people are now working there, Woznow said.
The two smaller projects are on tributary creeks at a higher elevation than Forrest Kerr tunnel; Volcano Creek is upstream and McClymont Creek downstream. Water diverted from them will be fed into the Forrest Kerr generator.
Woznow said AltaGas still needs to receive environmental assessment approval for the two projects. The Forrest Kerr project is expected to be completed in 2014. McClymont Creek has proposed 2015 startup and Volcano Creek 2016.
All projects are upstream from salmon habitat, a big factor in the acceptance of the project by the Tahltans.
Read more: https://www.vancouversun.com/business/AltaGas+investment+Northwest+river+projects+billion/5415413/story.html#ixzz1YQGnbPXu
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