During the regular meeting of council on Monday, April 7, Ruth Sulentich and Joseph Sukhnandah presented an overview of the proposed Similkameen Hydro Electric Project to council on behalf of Fortis Generation.
The overview included the proposed project location - 15 km south of Princeton and Hwy 3 towards Hope; that it would contain water storage and hydroelectric component with the dam at 165 meters in height and 500 meters wide.
Sukhnandah explained that positives to having a dam would include; ability to control the release of flow thereby shaping water levels (especially during summer months) improving water availability, having less variations in water flow, flood risk reduction downstream, possible water quality improvements and base load renewable hydro generation (how much energy at peak times - controlling when to release)
He also explained that Fortis was, “in the beginning stages of the process.” The beginning including First Nation Consultations, discussion with Copper Mountain Mine, community outreach and consultations. —the beginning of what is expected to be a two and a half year process.
The proposal if things go well for the company, could be looking at pre-construction at the end of 2017, construction in 2018 and commissioning by mid 2020.
If you are interested in reading the presentation visit princeton.ca Home > Regular Meetings of Council > Agendas > 2014 > 2014-04-07 Regular Agenda
Council awarded the construction of the Similkameen River Dike project to Princeton Redi Mix (1993) Ltd. In a report from Kevin Huey, director of Infrastructure and Parks, the project was recommended to provide additional flood protection along the Similkameen and as it is time critical —to be complete before freshet. The project is stated to be worth $183,216 before taxes. Two thirds of the funding will be provided by EMBC.
With the current Landfill Operations contract expiration date of March 31, 2014 and the Recycling Service Contract set to expire on September 30, 2014, a motion was made by Councillor Harkness and seconded by Councillor Pateman authorizing Mayor Armitage and Chief Administration officer Rick Zerr to execute a five year contract for both.
As the two services are provided by the same company with a proven track record of quality service,it was deemed practical to align the dates and extend the contract for services to JR Contracting for five years.