Rising cost of diesel moving Hartley Bay to electricity

The residents of Hartley Bay are moving forward with plans to give up diesel as the main energy source for the village and head towards electricity generated from lakes behind the village.

The Daily News examined the change in direction and the funding for the project that could make diesel the thing of past in the area.

Village has powerful reasons to build plant
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, June 15, 2007

Hartley Bay has received an almost half million dollar boost in their efforts to move away from using diesel fuel to power their community.

Last month, the province announced the Gitga'at Development Corporation will receive funding of $488,000 to support development of the new Hartley Bay hydroelectric project.

Bob Hill, chief council of the Hartley Bay Band Council, said the multi-million project has been under investigation for years but the ever increasing cost of diesel fuel is really encouraging them to move forward.

"We have done all kinds of hydro studies and found in the last few years it is become more and more evident we have to enter in to another form of energy for the community because of the increased cost of diesel fuel," said Hill. "The timing is right."

The project would see a 900-kilowatt micro hydro generating system developed on the lakes in behind the remote First Nations community, replacing the three diesel generators that are currently used to provide electricity.

"We are at the stage now were we have purchased the drawings and are looking at two turbines," said Hill. "The whole of the system does not require any kind of dams to be set up. We are using the natural gravity of the water coming in and releasing itself from the upper lake and lower lake and into the river whereby we set up a series of penstocks to redirect the water flow."

Over time, the project will pay for itself and allow the community to reduce its environmental footprint.

Getting electricity in remote North Coast communities, specifically those not connected to the provincial transmission grid, has always been a challenge.

Hill remembers many years ago when the community first looked at replacing coal oil lamps with small amounts of electricity.

"The village got together and formed a committee called the lighting committee and went on a fundraising initiative and managed to gather enough money for a small community to buy a one-cylinder engine. One single light bulb per household was all the energy it was supposed to produce," said Hill.

"I can remember the engineers cranking that thing up. It was interesting how we've gone from that to a hydro station which is unheard of and we can start producing our own energy."

While the community is making other steps, such as exploring new and more efficient ways to heat their homes, Hill said they have a long-term vision of setting up their own utilities company and developing other forms of electricity such as tidal and wind power.

Money generated from the sale of electricity could then be put into economic development and used to create much needed employment for Hartley Bay residents.

Other energy upgrades for coastal communities include plans by the community of Klemtu to upgrade its existing run-of-river hydro-power plant. Klemtu has also built new, local housing to be more energy efficient in collaboration with the province, federal government and the Kitasoo-Xaixais First Nations. The province is contributing more than $440,000 for increased hydroelectric capacity and new homes built to EnerGuide 80 standards.