Staff from Fortis Generation began public presentations with respect to a proposed dam on the Similkameen River with a visit to Keremeos council on March 17.
Joseph Sukhnanadan, Project Manager and Ruth Sulentich, Community and Aboriginal Relations Manager described the project to council during a Powerpoint presentation.
Sukhnandan told council the proposal called for a 165 metre high, 500 metre long concrete dam to be built on the Similkameen River, about 15 kilometres south of Princeton, near Copper Mountain Mine.
The resulting reservoir would stretch a further 20 kilometres south, creating 154,000 acre-feet of storage, which Sukhnandan said would be used to regulate downstream water flows and produce up to 65 MW of electricity.
Construction of the 350 - 400 million dollar dam could start in the summer of 2018, with an in service date proposed for summer of 2020.
Sukhnandan told council Fortis was in the early stages of the Environmental Assessment process, with First Nations and the first round of public consultations just getting underway. He suggested the dam would have positive downstream benefits for the Lower Similkameen, including “water shaping” to improve water availability, flood risk reduction, less flow variability and potential water improvements, in addition to its use to Fortis as a “base load” renewable hydro generator.
The Environmental Assessment is expected to be a two and a half year process. Under Fortis’ timeline, the company expects to receive its environmental certificate by mid 2016, with design and preconstruction completed by the end of 2017.
Sukhnandan suggested an opportunity for further downstream benefits might exist in the U.S. through payments for water storage.
Little in the way of transmission infrastructure would be needed, as a high voltage power line already runs to within 1.8 kilometres of the dam site.
Responding to questions from council, Sukhnandan said Fortis was still examining the question of how much power output the dam would be capable of, noting that a more extensive environmental study would have to be done for power generation exceeding 50 MW.
Sukhnandan also admitted that construction of the dam wouldn’t necessarily negate a proposal for a large dam at Shankers Bend in Washington State.
“That project would be built primarily for water storage, not power,” he said, “ so I would say it would not be rendered obsolete as a result. They are two separate projects.”
Mayor Bauer expressed a wish for Fortis to work closely with the Similkameen Valley Planning Society as they continue their work on the Similkameen Watershed study. Both he and Sukhnandan agreed to work together to share data and put together a “good communication plan.”