BC Hydro is adding new clean wind power to the provincial electricity grid, including two new wind farms in the Okanagan – the first ever for the region. Three agreements were recently announced for new developments near West Kelowna, Summerland and Taylor that will provide enough electricity to power 14,000 homes a year.

The agreements, with White Rock-based developer Zero Emission Energy Developments Inc., were signed under BC Hydro’s Standing Offer program – a program that offers a simplified, streamlined procurement process for small clean energy projects in B.C.

The three projects will add about 45 megawatts of clean wind capacity to BC Hydro’s system. Once built, the projects will bring BC Hydro’s total capacity of wind power to more than 700 megawatts.

Construction is scheduled to start late spring or early summer and will take about 18 months. Construction for each project will create between 25 and 50 job opportunities.

BC Hydro now has energy purchase agreements for 20 projects under the Standing Offer program that include solar, wind, biomass, biogas and hydro power. To be eligible, projects must be 15 megawatts or less in size.

“Wind developments integrate naturally into our system – we already have big hydro dams that can store power and generate firm electricity when the wind is not blowing. In B.C., more than 95 per cent of the power produced each year is clean power. New wind projects add to this total and further diversify the clean, renewable energy supply that powers our homes and economy,” commented Jessica McDonald, President & CEO of BC Hydro.