WILL CANADA BUILD N. AMERICA’S 1ST OFFSHORE WIND?

Everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it. Not the weather. Offshore wind.

Ah, but those British Columbians – they’re doers.

Example: Most economists believe a carbon tax would be a better way than a cap-and-trade system to mitigate global climate change – if it was politically doable. So the British Columbians did it, they became the first state-sized political entity in North America to institute a carbon tax. (See CANADA’S CARBON TAX: HOW’S IT SETTING IN?)

Now, while the wind-rich coasts of Massachusetts and Texas host on-going environmental fights over offshore installations and Delaware wrestles with U.S. regulatory complications, British Columbia (B.C.) is almost ready to again be a pioneer by building North America’s first offshore project. It is an energy-harvesting technology already familiar in Europe, where there are 19 offshore wind projects now generating electricity and many more being built and planned.

It’s amazing how many ways the U.S. has turned itself into the archly conservative, slow-to-move, fuddy-duddy type of nation it once ridiculed the Europeans for being, while the Europeans are becoming more quick and agile all the time.

The Canadians – at least out west in B.C. – retain the pioneer spirit.

click to enlarge

NaiKun Wind Energy Group Registers Offshore Wind Energy Project With BC Hydro
August 12, 2008 (NaiKun Wind Energy Group via eMediaWorld)

WHO
NaiKun Wind Energy Group Inc. (Paul Taylor, President); BC Hydro; ENMAX Corp.

WHAT
NaiKun registered Phase 1 of the Haida Energy Field, its planned offshore wind project, in response to BC Hydro’s Clean Power Call Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

Right where Canada's biggest winds are. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- Britsh Columbia’s ambitious goal is to be energy self-sufficient by 2016.
- To obtain power puirchase agreement from B.C., Naikun must submit a bid to BC Hydro by November 25.
- Construction cannot begin until approvals are granted by BC Hydro. Phase 1 will take 2 years to complete.
- NaiKun hopes to begin generating electricity some time in 2010.

WHERE
- The Haida Energy Field is in the Hecate Strait between Haida Gwaii of the Queen Charlotte Islands and Prince Rupert on the British Columbia mainland.
- NaiKun has a permit on a 550 square kilometer area but the turbines are expected to be I a 65 square kilometer area off East beach on Dogfish Banks, north of Cape Ball and south of latitude 54º.

WHY
- The RFP is for only the 320-megawatt Phase 1 of The Haida Energy Field project. The entire project, when completed, will have a 1,750-megawatt capacity.
- NaiKun has partnered with ENMAX Corp for Phase 1.
- The project will be developed in 5 phases.
- The full project will have between 67 and 110 turbines.
- Power will be transmitted to a BC Hydro substation onshore via a subsea cable.
- An Environmental study is being done.

Canada knows how to build wind. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Paul Taylor, President, NaiKun Wind Energy Group: "This is one of several steps in BC Hydro's RFP process…and one that reinforces our continued commitment to moving our offshore wind energy project forward and delivering clean, renewable energy for British Columbians."