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Bute Inlet Hydroelectric Project
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Plutonic Power Corporation(1) is proposing to construct the largest cluster of hydroelectric projects ever built in British Columbia, on streams feeding into Bute Inlet. The company claims it will have a "nameplate" capacity of 1027 megawatts (MW) - 10% of the total hydroelectric generating capacity in BC Hydro's legacy dams - from 17 powerhouses.
Plutonic's revised project description, submitted in December 2008 to the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO), states that:
The Project will be comprised of three interconnected groups of run-of-river hydro facilities on tributaries to rivers that drain to Bute Inlet on British Columbia’s central coast. In total, the three groups will be comprised of 17 run-of-river facilities, generating a total nameplate capacity of 1,027 MW. Six facilities (Southgate Group) will be located in the Southgate River Drainage, three facilities (Orford Group) in the Orford River Drainage, and eight facilities (Homathko Group) will be located in or near the Homathko River Drainage. Figure 1 illustrates the project location and general Project layout.
Each group of facilities will be connected to the proposed substation near the mouth of the Southgate River (referred to as the Pigeon Valley Collector Substation in figures associated with this document) through 216 km of 230 kV collector transmission lines on new right of way. From the proposed substation located near the mouth of the Southgate River, electricity will be transmitted 227 km through a 500 kV trunk transmission line to the point of interconnection with the British Columbia Transmission Corporation (BCTC) grid, at the BCTC Malaspina substation near Earls Cove.
21-Jan-2010 CEAA advises that the participant funding program has been cancelled, and will be re-initiated once Bute Hydro is in a position to confirm a timeline for the submission of its environmental impact statement, at the earliest, in 2011. link
03-Dec-2009 Bute Hydro notified the assessment agencies that the Environmental Impact Statement will again be postponed, likely until 2011. link
09-Nov-2009 On September 1 & 2 the Panel and Secretariat visited the Bute Inlet project site by boat and by air, Plutonic's East Toba and Montrose construction sites, and followed the entire proposed transmission line route. The presentation, including maps and photographs, is here. (Marie-France Therrien by email.)
17-Sep-2009 The announcement of the allocation of participant funding will be delayed until approximately mid-November, to coincide with the announcement about allocation of Aboriginal funding. (Marie-France Therrien by email.)
18-Aug-2009 Bute Hydro notified the assessment agencies that the Environmental Impact Statement would be submitted in May 2010. link
13-Mar-2009 Plutonic notified the assessment agencies that the project, titles to streams, etc., would henceforth be in the name of Bute Hydro Inc., a 100% owned subsidiary of Plutonic Power Corp. link
Project Info
BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) Project Info
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) Project Info
