• Inspiration comes from no set place
• Wind energy surpassing expectations
• A bit of everything good in Hupacasath economic development strategy
• Douglas First Nation hydro: From where the crow flies things are looking pretty good
• Tidal offers Canada boundless sources of electrical energy found on her coasts
• Days of bogus deals gone from Pic River (or, People get lost)

 

CANADA - SUMMER '07 - It is a job full of difficult travel to exotic places with minimal services. But the motivation is clear – to empower people to grow self-sufficient communities and to ‘green up’ the world as we know it. David Carter seems to have been born to this mission. This weekend he went to Stewart, BC, where the town mayor sees an opportunity to develop a hydroelectric site as part of the reclamation of an old gold mine.

Few locales are as remote as this. It is territory for big dreamers and big players. David explained how strangely wonderful it can be to meet such people in the most surprising ‘business’ environments. He told a story of walking deep into the wilderness between Dease Lake, BC, and Telegraph Creek, to examine prospects for one of his special projects, which are run-of-river hydro electric projects by Regional Power Inc.

He was standing next to the Stikine River in northern BC, a long famous home to unruly trout and steelhead. Out of the wild woods, Chief Jerry Asp of the Tahltan Nation emerged to introduce himself at the meeting place of the Stikine and Tahltan rivers. It was an awe-inspiring moment for David. For Jerry, this place was more than home – it is precious territory.

This is back country paradise seen once in a lifetime. Mountainous rock faces abutting staggeringly swift rivers, with fish the size of your thigh beneath the surface; a thunderous noise of rushing water both calming and confusing to everything.

To get there, fly to Terrace, BC, and drive east on Hwy 16 to Kitwanga, turn north, and step off the edge. David went up this week. He has positive experiences generating electricity for the Tahltan and others in the region. He worked with a few different groups to salvage a failing hydro project. “They had invested heavily and it went bankrupt, until we got it going and salvaged the project.” At a public meeting in Vancouver, Jerry Asp later concluded: “We should have partnered with Regional Power.”

David described standing before a sacred Tahltan site, called Eagle Rock. “It is sacred to the Tahltan. It is highly visible, a 400 ft rock face where the Tahltan River enters the Stikine.” David said the rock is hugely visible in the formation and unmistakable for the eagle.

“Jerry told me this place was a major food fishery spot.” Bear in mind where they were standing. Jerry was forthcoming about the large measure of protection afforded by a special breed of dog called ‘bear dogs.’ These small fearless animals are used to confront bears in packs to bother them away from the essential human task of the fish harvest. Bear dogs attack grizzly or black bears, allowing the Tahltan to function without fear through a busy and important season. The bear dog is a lost breed, said the chief.

In these wild and surprising places and situations, David meets positive thinkers working for the future of their communities. “Roy Michano paved the way for the Pic Heron Bay First Nation to join the 20th century. He dragged them into modernity,” said David. “He was chief of Pic Heron Bay for 20 some years – probably the longest standing elected chief in Canada.”. At first David was told to avoid Michano at all costs, “He was considered a radical and a lot of people in Thunder Bay warned me off.”

Michano had apparently removed a shoe from under the table at one meeting in the 70s or 80s and banged the table to make a point, à la Nikita Kruschev during the famous missile crisis debate. Following Michano’s leadership, David installed the first-ever privately financed (with any First Nation) hydro project in Canada, in 1988 on the Black River. He met Camille Nabigon, a Pic-Heron Bay elder, “He was the only one who had a boat! Camille took me up the Pic to the confluence of the Black River. He and his wife Ruby used to live in a cabin on the shores of the Black River.”

Camille asked David to describe the process of installing the hydro development and what was going to take place. “I drew the project in the sand beside the cabin on the shore of the river. When it was done, Camille said, ‘It's just like you drew it in the sand,’ and, Ruby said, ‘God must have held your hand when you drew it in the sand.’” It was a moment David never forgot.

In more recent times, he who lit the fire beneath the project of yore, Roy Michano, was appointed Honourary Elder by the Union of Ontario Indians, representing the 1850 Tribal Council Robinson Superior Area. It was meeting Roy Michano that turned David Carter onto the idea of proposing economically viable and relatively self-sufficient First Nation communities. “I wanted to make a difference, to come up with a formula that solved all kinds of problems.”

Aboriginal communities came to the fore of David’s attention and he quickly learned about their love-hate relationships with INAC. At a time when it was almost comical to approach investors about dealing with Indian Reserves, “I went 20 years ago to Bay Street (Toronto), and back to those reserves, where there was a real welfare mentality.” Sometimes it was too much for aspiring leaders to overcome. On some reserves to this day, people with jobs are ostracized for working.

Yet rapid change is underway because mentoring and success stories are taking root in communities. “The problem I have seen is how often leaders focus on land claims. It becomes all-consuming. Victimization is not something on which to base a future. You have to get past it. Put away false expectations. I've listened about land claims – the rewards and opportunities around them are immense. A pot of gold does exist, but they are looking in the wrong place.”

Opposition naturally delights when the opportunities are lost to Aboriginal claimants, saying, ‘But we offered them this and we offered them that,’ pointing to millions of dollars in negotiations. David said, “Sometimes First Nations need people from outside (with no INAC affiliation) to point out the opportunities.”

Meanwhile under the present regimen, the poorest managed communities get the attention in a dysfunctional reverse of the norm in Canadian society, rewarding bad behaviour. It is frustrating when struggling communities fail to engage in the search for opportunities before them.

David Carter could be reflecting on 20 years of lost opportunities, asking “Why?” Instead, he looks ahead at the huge expenses of investing in these communities, and asks “Why not?” It is amazing how often others agree and persevere with him to succeed.

 

Pic River First Nation made a decision to think of economic development as the priority for this Ojibway community. Byron LeClair was the Economic Development Officer who proposed investment decisions on electrical power generation to create solid foundations for economic and social development on the northern shores of Lake Superior.

Funds that flow from ownership of power generation facilities are needed to grow strong, healthy communities for years ahead. Byron said, "Most First Nations are not into electrical energy development and few have any ownership, even though rivers and lakes affect our people from coast to coast."

He said, "My message to First Nations is always the same: Look for the opportunities to get involved in long term non-government sources of revenue. Look at developments in the territory and find the role to play. For First Nations who have no economic base, no developments around them, they are seriously challenged."

Byron said non-government funding provides a different structural basis to approach the future, "Electrical energy development made the biggest change in small ways. The number of challenges in our community was too high to be specific." Most of the problems stemmed from lack of funding, Byron agreed.

"Today when proposals for development come into the community," he said, "you see First Nations have earned their place at the table. Companies that come to our communities demand far more than we can supply. We've made it worse for ourselves by having tremendous new responsibilities and lack of skills to meet them.

"To see our role expanded in things like forest management, watershed management," conducting reviews for mining prospectors, "where we have no expertise; Paying for it from outside is costing us a lot."

Nevertheless the Pic River experience provides a positive example in the business of resource sharing. "It's not the utility or anybody else proposing these developments. We have been successful building two generation stations, and now a third project is under construction, and the agreements include 50 years of investment income."

Pic River First Nation is part owner of two facilities and in 2008 a new one is coming onstream, "enough power to supply 35,000 homes." They started at 5MWh, then added 18.5MWh, and are adding another 25 MWh. The present investment to generate 25MWh is $61 Million. The new plant will be running directly east of the First Nation, a run-of-river hydro project.

Byron said, "Our electricity is sold into the Hydro One grid. We're in the middle of negotiations to develop wind power. Coming environmental assessments will determine the direction of wind; we have two or three more hydro projects impending. Life in our community has changed because the days of bogus deals are gone."

Pic River has 1,000 members split 50/50 between reserve and elsewhere. "We have the lake We have huge hills," strongly resembling mountain tops, and endless lakes, "We had a company in here tree planting last year." People get lost and sometimes never get found.

David Carter began Regional Power to develop environmentally lean and clean energy programs that reverse notions that industrial footprints have to wreak havoc. Regional Power was Blue Planet Prize Winner at the UN Environmental Conference in Montreal this year (hosted by then-Federal Environment Minister Stephane Dion).

Carter said, "We've got a lot of issues to deal with about renewable energy, including poor air quality, often from sources of power," (not to mention automobile engines the world over), "and coal-fired power generation plants. Regional Power is developing power projects in Canada to produce electricity in pristine environmental conditions while leaving conditions pristine. It is do-able, and David Carter is doing it (often), with First Nations.

"Distributed energy developments benefit regional centres like Wawatay," Carter said, (Wawatay is Pic River First Nation's concern), and he worked with Byron LeClair, then, "a young economic development offier who wanted to invest the community into power generation."

Carter said, "Regional Power is owned 80 percent by Manulife," which he explained has been a financial boon to his ambitions of developing environmentally and economically stable projects. "It's a challenge that big governments have never been able to meet," he noted, with their monopolistic and bureaucratic operations.

"In days gone by the development of this kind of energy project was really tough. It used to be window dressing, if anything, and provincial power corporations had no incentive to change." Now big energy companies have incentives to drop the monopoly and listen to their own governments telling them to buy 'renewable resource based,' sustainably-developed, energy, a good thing.

"The moon and the stars seem to be lining up for renewable resources. Governments are behaving in a way they were not doing twenty years ago." Carter said, "Kyoto prompted at least some behaviour change. As popular culture hit the early 90s people were saying, 'We have to do things differently,' and Aboriginal people have had a huge effect on the changes in public policy about the environment. They are good lobbyists who know how the press behaves."

Regional Power installed 16 MW at Sechelt, B.C., and won the aforementioned Blue Planet Award from the United Nations in late 2005. The company installed 3 MW at Dease Lake, B.C. to increase the region's hopes for economic development in mining and forestry. "We operate as far north as the 59th parallel and provide the necessary expertise in three time zones across Canada." David Carter

Chief Darryl Peters is leading Douglas First Nation at the north end of scenic, picturesque (even hallowed) Harrison Lake, B.C., and works for 213 members whose aspirations have never been anybody's concern. They decided to work for themselves and the benefit of a scattered membership to change their prospects.

"I have worked for seven years to bring the run-of-river hydro project into being," said Chief Peters, even while untold megawatts of electricity hummed through giant transmission lines running over Douglas First Nation. He said, "We do this on a strictly economic stream. We found the business plan was very positive. The electricity will supply two other Inshuckch communities not presently found on the BC Hydro grid."

These communities are generally about 15 minutes from Whistler B.C. as the crow flies (and often does), and are not the only Inshuckch communites not on grid, either; Canadians would be astonished by the ways and means that power is generated in this territory, and at what cost to the 11-community Stl'atl'lmx Nation (to which Douglas First Nation members belong).

This valuable electrical power is a true study in how larger interests control the destinies of little folks, while Vancouver turned into one of the world's premiere jewels of economic development funded by huge amounts of electrical energy sold to Americans that is generated entirely, almost clandestinely, in the Stl'atl'lmx Nation..

It is hard to imagine the dislocation, yet, on the other hand, the chief of Douglas community (who made several tries before succeeding at politics) is completely sanguine about the difficult issues confronting these communities. (Douglas First Nation families once lived on prosperous salmon and trout fisheries of Harrison Lake, but no more.)

"This energy program reduces the costs of other projects for our communities," said Peters. "This grid provides us with badly needed infrastructure and ownership." They run the environmental assessment and construction phase and ensuing skills development will be both valuable and greatly appreciated by membership of Douglas, a number of which once worked in logging, in silviculture curtailed in provincial forestry policy.

"I never thought of my vision," but knew they had no infrastructure. "We needed to make the supply of electrical energy a priority. There was electricity once supplied to Douglas First Nation from a micro hydro system. We finally completed a renovation in 1999, with INAC assistance."

Micro hydro failed to produce enough electricity, and was prone to system failures. Nothing bigger than a cottage could be added to the grid, and they stopped building anymore after half dozen of those, a community unable to accommodate anymore homes.

"We could sustain a mere 70 of 213 members." The community Peters began to lead was hanging on with sheer determination to be a community where they had always been. "We would have no commmunity without more juice." At that point Peters encountered Cloudworks Energy and began consulting to clarify where they stood in dealing with Councils.

"We informed them about what we believed was appropriate impact on our rights and title in these lands. A negotiation began based on Cloudworks' prior success with Mt. Currie Indian Band," a larger, but no less determined community located closer to Whistler as the crow flies (and often does).Elders endorsed Cloudworks' development proposal, which is, that Douglas First Nation own Douglas Creek Project and Tippella Creek Project, with four other run-of-river generators built in Inshuckch territory (of the bifurcated Stl'atl'lmx Nation) including Stokke Creek, Fire Creek , Lamont Creek , and Upper Stave River.

"The whole project develops 150 MW/H of new electrical energy, and we are attached, to join the BC Hydro grid," he said. "My negotiations with governments took us back to the days of BC Electric. Electrical transmission lines were installed on our lands," promises were made, rivers were dammed, waters were diverted in often bizarre constructions of dams, lakes, pipes through mountain-sides, down to other lakes; changes occurred to water courses, and water ecologies, in unprecedented ways.

Today they live in a separate world of drive-in forests, in dwellings of tiny houses often two or three perched on a corner of a logging road, four-wheel-drive access only, no telephone, no hydro, and no drive-in restaurants, (in barely drive-in-able forests). Hundreds of families live in tiny communities that seem to predate the hands of time, found in the middle of nowhere,15 minutes to Whistler (by helicopter).

The construction for phase one of power development began with ground breaking Dec 8 06. "We will soon open a facility to house 200 employees and carry forward these developments for the area. We established an Education Endowment Fund from Cloudworks Energy that will provide members with scholarships and badly needed funding for educational training opportunties and longterm planning for programs." Peters recently negotiated ownership of a $100,000 sawmill.

David Andrews is a co-founder of CloudWorks Energy Inc., a B.C. company specialized in renewable energy, and presently working in partnership with Douglas First Nation and others. Cloudworks applied experience and wherewithal to the concerns of Inshuckch Nation people.

Andrews said, "These are small run-of-river projects that have received BC Hydro contracts." They received the go ahead to proceed with project developments as part of the 2006 provincial call for power. "Having met those conditions and in keeping with permits and all other regulations, we can start on building the projects."

He said, "Weather has an effect," and winter in Coastal B.C. was no picnic in '06-'07, but things are calming down. "Next month we start with what will take four years to build. It involves First Nation communities with the primary purpose to get them connected to the BC Hydro grid. Douglas First Nation will be receiving electrical power as part of the benefit, and jobs, too, and so with other Inshuckch Nation communities, and members."

Andrews said, "We build facilities that are urgently needed, and create jobs that have skills and transferable heavy construction experience." Cloudworks entered the territory by building a project in Mt.Curry Band (Lil'Wat First Nation at Pemberton). He said leadership organized a conference that tabled benefits to the community, then entered into business arrangements that were acceptable within forthcoming treaty negotiations.

It provides Mt. Curry with non-government income, and, furthermore, "Those Mt. Curry people trained in Pemberton are working in Olympic projects," said Andrews. There have been bumps on the roads to projects, which comes as no surprise to people who have driven those bumpy roads.

CloudWorks projects, "abide by the wishes of the people in their homes, their territories. We are a private company with 15 years of involvement in this line of work. My colleague and son set it up with me and we dedicated the company strictly to green energy and working with First Nations." Andrews said, "You do not dare develop resources without dealing with First Nations in B.C.."

Hupacasath First Nation took a running start at creating non-government income from energy generation, completing a project to generate 6.5 MWh in run-of-river hydro electricity and they opened for business just over a year ago.

Chief Judith Sayers, LLB, said, "At full capacity we can power 6,000 homes. We operate at capacity (or very near it) year round, though available generation capacity drops off in dry spells," or at certain times in winter.

She said, "It was year ago in December that we started generating electrical energy," and their system has rarely dipped below capacity in the closely monitored operations. She said, "Our community, the Hupacasath First Nation, led and developed this project, found partners, and equity, and spent two years in development before starting."

Chief Sayers said, "We chose China Creek, 10 km south of Port Alberni, for flows of water at a location that had no questions about impact on Hupacasath traditional use," neither anthropological nor environmental dislocation would be acceptable. In fact, the project ended up making no damage or imprint on the environment of central Vancouver Island.

She said, "We put the powerhouse on in existing gravel pit, and the water intake was 4.5 km of construction buried, a pipe to create down-flow and 'head build-up' required to hit the turbine. We had a BC Hydro interconnect right there and the project was constructed on private land, through existing gate access."

Hupacasath economic strategy continues, "We launched another project and are now designing another 10 km further south of China Creek, to add 7MWh of power to BC Hydro's grid with a 20 year contract." Provincial water licenses are being acquired and proceedings with adjoining First Nation are underway, and Hupacaseth consultants are doing preliminaries for environmental studies, especially on fish.

Chief Sayers noted, "There are no anadromous salmon on either of these creeks, neither China nor Corrigon. Our projects create new energy, employ Hupacasath people and build community capacity," which is so essential when the City of Port Alberni surrounds Hupacasath.

"Our community members have gone on to other related skilled jobs, and we retain many other construction benefits. We have had community members go into the environmental world for their careers," a particularly snug fit considering the surroundings.

The community enterprise employs two full time to run the system, "Our main operator has computers running 24/7 remotely running, monitoring the generation station, water flows," and a host of environmental data inputs.

Chief Sayers said, "We plan to do quite a few of these projects. It is a good dollar generator from long term income sources. It is doing the province a favour creating Green credits." It is adding opportunities to the future of her community members.

She said, "Ours is a unique partnership with 72 % in Hupacasath ownership, 10% in Ucleuelet, 12.5% in Synex Energy, and 5% owned by City of Port Alberni." The chief is pleased to say the city of Port Alberni has become an exceptionally good neighbour to her First Nation community, and fully supportive of Hupacasath energy projects. judith@hupacasath.ca

 

(Updated Late Spring '07) A group of tidal energy experts including Clayton Bear, Robert Moll, Chris Knight, and others, continue to put exciting prospects for tidal energy power into action for electricity generation. They wait for governments to unleash the power and the public purse to release permits and facilitate community liaisons to expedit this exciting direction for nationwide electrical energy production.

"The Ocean Renewable Energy Group is pressing government to step up with commitments to the developers of this technology in the country," said Bear. The BC government released its energy plan in Mar 07, and are currently working through the logistics of implementation, but risk falling behind the east coast where the governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick who are aggressively moving forward in supporting development of the industry. While the amounts of tidal energy potential are different on the various coasts and waterways of Canada (whereas the largest potential is indeed Hudson's Bay), they each have untold, untapped potential.

Clayton said, "You start out and the first few aren't going to be money makers. It is engineering expenses, and once 'over the hump' the tides will produce electricity in abundance at market values." New Energy Corp is receiving calls about putting their process to work in the spillways of large hydro dams. These dams have spillways with no issues about fish, ice, debris, and the program means incremental additions to the amount of electricity in the grid; all dams have spillways, and the world-wide increase of electrical energy would be an instant 5 percent.

As with everything else, the thing to do is find somebody to throw money and kick start the process. "It's not a huge amount of energy but if you have a one gigawatt in a hydro plant and you find an additional five percent out of downstream energy, that's 50MWh, and it's huge. New Energy Corp stands ready to make some announcements about the directions of the company for the future. They are testing the EnCurrent Turbine on run-of-river pilot projects (as previously reported), "We have a couple on the go, still in the environmental review process on them."

A west coast consortium is leading the way to harnessing energy from Pacific tides. Chris Knight is president of Canoe Pass Tidal Energy Corp., operating where the world's largest tidal energy potential exists, the redoubtable Inside Passage. Respecting the people who live in these surroundings, Knight said, "The best thing for First Nations is that tidal energy is the renewable energy source where opportunity in economic development is wide open."

Knight said, late last year, "We will see communities powered up by tidal energy. The International Energy Association, a cooperative that studies energy development, said tidal power is starting out cheaper to research and develop than windpower. Ocean energy will fall to within 4 to 8 cents per KWh kWh at commercial scale deployment."

The consortium, including partner New Energy Corp., is operating at Canoe Pass in traditional waters of the Cape Mudge Indian Band next to Campbell River, B.C. and has been testing the EnCurrent Turbine at various sites in western Canada, including the outfall from the Bonnybrook Water Wastewater Outfall Treatment Plant in Calgary (where they are presently increasing the electrical generation in that site).

Robert Moll, New Energy V.P., said, "The Canoe Pass consortium found optimum coastal conditions for deploying the EnCurrent Turbine, vigorous currents with flows exceeding three to four knots." They also have close proximity to the transmission grid, of BC Hydro on Quadra Island adjacent Campbell River. "Two EnCurrent Turbines 250 KW each, with 12 to 14 metremeter rotor diameter will generate 500 KW as a demonstration, gradually expanding to the 7 MW potential at Canoe Pass."

New Energy Corp. formed Dec 2003, after people researched the energy potential and a few of the turbine configurations for many years. "We are among a group looking at tidal energy developments," and bringing projects to market with their own turbine. Moll said, "We focus on man-made canals, irrigation canals, and water outfalls from sources like the Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment facility in Calgary; then, river systems; and, perhaps greatest of all, tidal currents."

Moll said the market exists for renewable energy generation that delivers in the range of 2MW. "We are working toward a turbine and generator that provides that amount of energy. We are positioned to offer solutions to remote communities and resorts and fishing lodges. The economic drivers are short term savings in diesel, rural electrification, and satisfying the growing demand for renewable energy."

He is pleased with coastal communities showing interest, "We are working with a First Nation community to install a demonstration system put on their river with a power generator in the 5KW range," but they will configure several turbines to raise the total electricity generation to 25 KWh. "Our path forward is to make larger systems up to 2MW."

Wind energy is on a major upswing in Canada. "Three years ago Canada installed 81 MW of new wind energy, the next year it was 122 MW, the next was 240 MW, and this year it is already 365 MW, shooting for 500MW." That was '06, said Robert Hornung, the President of the Canadian Wind Energy Association, a national association for the wind energy industry. He said wind turbines are now operating in all provinces except B.C., New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, but even these three provinces have plans to bring wind power on-line in the next couple of years.

CanWEA members include project developers, manufacturers, and service providers that do things like assess the viablilty and financing of large energy projects, or do the engineering and technical work to projects on the ground. Hornung has been there three years, "It's changed a lot, and the pace is continuing to change faster," after a third consecutive year of record installations in Canada, and a fourth on the way.

CanWEA is 21 years old, "with 250 corporate members, including project developers, turbine manufacturers, utility companies, and whole range of service providers to the wind energy industry." Wind energy comes from Alberta, "still the leader in installed capacity with 280 MW of wind energy," which is going to be surpassed by 2010 in Ontario, "and by 2013 Quebec will pass Ontario," said Hornung.

"Quebec has stated the intention to obtain 4,000 MW of wind energy by 2015." In the U.S. last year the second largest build of energy projects was windfarms; between 2005 and 2007 they will bring on an additional 10,000 MW of energy from wind. Hornung said it is possible for wind to meet 20% of Canada’s electricity needs in the long-term ( something like 50,000 MW).

"It will be an evolutionary process. Wind on the grid was hardly mentioned five years ago. It's a big deal now, making a significant contribution because of environmental concerns related to energy, plus favourable economics, and quick installation." There are many drivers to the growth of windfarms in Canada, including the increased costs in fossil fuels, and a shift in the world toward use of sustainable and renewable resources.

"There are market and public forces, and different scales of wind energy." Wind power is being delivered through windfarms or a single 2 MW turbine. Remote communities, many of which are First Nation town-sites, have seen diesel fuel cost go through the roof. In these cases smaller wind energy systems can make an important constribution to future energy needs.

Hornung said the wind energy industry has to make education a priority. "With any new technology people have to be experienced to get comfortable with it. We have to get them familiar with the concerns and concepts. We have to communicate with local governments, utilities, and the general public." Hornung said, "The variability of supply can be resolved by dispersal of wind farms , because wind varies but it keeps blowing somewhere. Weather forecasts make it possible for operators of wind energy grods to make adjustments," basically chase the wind. He said, "The myth behind wind energy used to be that 100 MW wind farms need 100 MW of backup energy from other sources. Now we know that the amount of backup energy required is actually 10 MW."

The other fact about wind energy is that governments are setting initial targets for new projects, and expected to exceed them. "When we look at renewable energy sources they are at different stages of development in Canada, which has four hydro dominant provinces moving at different speeds to introduce alternatives. Hydro Quebec has declared they will not build any fossil fuel plants. The future will all be hydro and wind. Manitoba is a keen wind champion, and frankly it's economically sound because wind energy peaks in winter, the time when hydro energy is least available."